Magnepan vs B&W: Same specs, different bass?


Hey everyone,

I recently acquired a set of Magnepan 3.7 speakers which are rated down to 35 Hz, and I've been comparing them to my B&W 803S speakers (also rated to 35 Hz).  While I enjoy the big sound and clarity of the Magnepans, the B&W's blow the Magnepans away in the bass department in an A-B comparison test.

I figured this would be the case, but I can't explain why there's such a big difference in bass when the speakers have the same specs.  Can anyone explain?

B&W 803S specs:
35Hz – 22kHz ±3dB

Magnepan 3.7 specs:
35Hz- 40 kHz

Thanks,
Chris
128x128cjwessing
Thanks for the input guys, sounds like everyone thinks with the similar specs they should perform similarly.  I thought maybe conventional woofers with more throw might have more punch than electrostatics or some other explanation like that.

I'll try moving the Maggie's around the room a bit to see if I can get more bass out of them, but it's such a big difference I doubt I'll be able to.  I'll try to take some measurements this weekend and post them.

I'm using a Levinson 433 amp rated at 400wpc at 4 ohms which should have plenty of power, right?  =)
Also, "conventional" speakers sounds as though they have more bass if they have a rear port and postioned close to a corner - it reflects off the wall/corner.

My current speakers were quite good in a smaller room, but now they are in a larger room their bass has "normalized" and those lower frequencies that were present all the time are now only there when actually present in the music.

Last time I heard excellent sounding Maggie’s they were in a room with 4 ft behind them and around 5ft in from the side walls and 7 ft between them.

Hope you have a large enough room

Regards - Steve
@markalarsen I think I'd agree, I moved the Maggie's all over the room and can't get near the amount of bass out of them...
Hey guys, I took some measurements today with a calibrated microphone and as suspected the Magnepan 3.7’s are not performing nearly as well as the B&W 803S’s below about 75 Hz. I pulled the Magnepans out about 4 feet from the rear wall hoping that it would help but didn’t make much of a difference.

Measurement Picture:
http://www.socalhifi.com/Maggie_3.7_vs_803S.png

Setup Pictures:
http://www.socalhifi.com/Maggie_vs_B&W_1.JPG
http://www.socalhifi.com/Maggie_vs_B&W_2.JPG

Thoughts?