It makes a lot of sense that the true-ribbon and quasi-ribbon dipole plana-magnetic transducers, for the midrange and treble output, are positioned next to each other in the same panel. This is because soundwaves in these frequency ranges have a very directional radiation pattern that need to be precisely positioned in relation to the listener's ear positions when seated at the designated listening position in the room for optimum midrange, treble and imaging results.
Conversely, it makes very little sense for bass transducers, in any form (dipole, open baffle or dynamic), to be positioned in the same panels with or even in close proximity to the panels containing the midrange and treble transducers. This is mainly due to the fact that bass frequency complete cycle soundwaves are physically much longer than midrange and treble frequency complete cycle soundwaves. The lower the frequency, the longer its complete cycle soundwave and the higher the frequency, the shorter its complete cycle soundwave.
This results in a continuum of all audible frequencies having complete cycle soundwave lengths that are directly proportional; from the deepest audible frequency of 20 Hz having a complete cycle soundwave length of about 56 feet to the highest audible frequency of 20,000 Hz having a complete cycle soundwave length of a fraction of an inch.
Greater understanding of how we all perceive sound is gained by the fact that we are unable to localize sounds (determine exactly where the sound is originating from) at frequencies of about 80 Hz or less but increasingly more adept at localizing sounds at frequencies of about 80 Hz and above.
Some deep bass soundwaves have actual lengths that exceed the physical room dimensions in many typical domestic listening rooms and humans require at least one complete full cycle bass soundwave to be present in the room before our ears can detect it, send the information to our brains and have the brain create the perception of the corresponding bass tone. The brain also requires the input of multiple complete full cycle bass soundwaves to create the perception of a change in bass pitch. By contrast, our brains have a relatively easy task of creating midrange and treble tone and pitch perceptions due to their much shorter soundwaves.
Given the above, my main concern is the bass response performance of the Magnepan "Concept Speaker". Would I consider its bass performance, utilizing DSP but only 2 bass cabinets of unknown design with 6.5" woofers and seemingly positioned haphazardly, as fast, smooth, powerful, dynamic, effortless and detailed as the Audio Kinesis Swarm/Debra distributed bass array system (DBA), utilizing no DSP but 4 bass cabinets of sealed or ported design with 10" woofers and each sub positioned strategically and sequentially?
I think it's only fair that I reserve judgement until I actually listen to it. I attended a Wendell led demo of the $30K 30.7 speakers at a local high-end shop here in Indy a few months ago and was highly impressed.
When I asked him whether he ever considered combining the 30.7 or 3.7i speakers with a AK or custom 4-sub DBA system at a significantly reduced price, however, he seemed to be completely unaware of the scientifically proven and very effective 4-sub DBA concept.
This was not very confidence instilling but I decided to buy a pre-owned pair of 3.7i anyway and create my own "concept speakers". I'm certain that this combination represents a smaller version of most of the 30.7's very impressive attributes at a significantly reduced price of less than $10K, even with both purchased brand new.
Tim
