Panel Sound

Just a 'within panels, there is nothing better than..'.

He doesn't give up, does he?

Very much in agreement with Harri009. I went to a Minneapolis audio dealer that had all the ML models and Magnepan models. One at a time he moved in the next ML model up in the line into the room and the sound was detailed but musical they were not. After the 3rd or 4th ML demo, I told him to bring in the Magnepans .the 3.5. Wow, now you're talking'! We then tried the 20.1 and it was great but not much beyond the 3.5. The Magnepans brought on a "you are there" factor the ML's simply could not.

I lived with the 3.3 and later the 3.5 for many years. But then I had one brief comparison of the Magnepans against the Soundlab U1's. It was not even close. The SL's so severely outperformed my beloved 3.5's. I shortly thereafter went for an older pair of SL A1's and have enjoyed them immensely ever since. The ML stats were not even close to this. Perhaps the later ML models have changed. Only an audition and direct comparison of the each of the speakers in your own system can confirm this.

John

When I heard the SL last year at the Newport show, even with mediocre electronics, the sound was surprisingly quite good. I would hope that the setup next time (maybe this year) will be done with far higher performance electronics .at least a top-notch preamp.

It would be in SoundLabs' best interest to assure that the demonstrator pair these speakers with appropriate electronics. But then again, so many many many exhibitors of "proud' speakers severely skimp on the electronics and the sound suffers immensely. Such a result for me and a friend meant we pretty much did a quick U-turn upon arrival to those such rooms.