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Puzzled about reasons why there seems to be no shortage of used planner speakers

All the over the top reviews of the Magnepan LRS has awakened the old puzzlement of how good are my DIY speakers and is it worth it to make a change?

I am very satisfied with my current system as far as my analog sources go.  I have a Denon direct drive turntable in a custom plinth, a Jelco tone arm  and a Transfiguration Temper Supreme cartridge. The phono pre is the octal version of the Hagerman Coronet with Lundahl step up transformers. I'm using a Toshiba HD DVD player for playing CD's. I'm using a Rotel RSP-1098 in analogue bypass for all sources. My amp is a VTL 50/50 tube amp.

My speakers are transmission line and utilizing parts from North Creek including hand wound coils and Harmony capacitors. Any one who has heard them has been impressed with them and with one being brought to tears of joy having never heard his favorite song played through a system such as mine.

That leaves me with a dilemma. If I go with the LRS, I will have to sell the VTL amp to get a used amp that can power the LRS. 

What is troubling me is seeing so many used planar speakers for sale on Ebay and Audiogon. Is that because they grow tired of them, or feel a need to try something new? Or are they upgrading to another planar speaker, or all of these reasons?
 
I'd like to hear from those that sold or are selling their planar speakers. 

I've only ever heard one planar speaker in my life and that was for about 5 minutes when I was taking my daughter through one of Seattle's high end stores to let her hear the differences between between differing levels of quality speakers as she was planning to get a her own system in the near future.  I've never heard a Maggie.

I don't want to get in the position of having sold my VTL to make this change and winding up with probably an amplifier that really doesn't come up to the same level quality and would most likely be a SS amp.

My goal here is to try get the best information I can from those that felt the need make similar decisions. I am retired now and living on a fixed income in a town in New Mexico (Las Cruses) that has no real Hi-end stores.

Any offers from anyone locally to let me hear their system would be most appreciated.  
rogue_angel
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,412 posts
 

@lwrobertson, terrific post! The Tympani T-I’s were also my first planars, but mine were the original 1972 version, no A, B, C, or D. I also moved on to the Fulton Model J, but soon missed what a big planar does that NO box speaker I have heard can, regardless of size or price.

I later got into the original Quad (both single, and stacked pairs), and recently back into Tympani’s, with the T-IVa’s I now own. I once heard some big Sound Labs (driven by big Atma-Sphere amps) at a hi-fi show in SoCal, but something was seriously wrong---there was some what sounded like amp clipping going on. I have also heard the Sanders, which I thought were excellent. And now Roger Modjeski (Music Reference) is making an ESL, and offering it with a direct-drive tube amp. I’m planning on hearing it on my next trip down to California.

With the new Magnepan LRS being available for $650, there is no reason for an audiophilic music lover to resign him or herself to a box loudspeaker!

noromance's avatar
noromance
9,404 posts
 
@firstnot That 5.1 Magnaplaner set up at AXPONA was awful.
josh358
286 posts
 
Rogue Angel, Magnepan is a giant among high end manufacturers. I suspect the reason you're seeing so many for sale is that they sell so many.

Like any other speaker, planars have both advantages and disadvantages that suit them to a particular type of listener. I've been an unabashed planar fan ever since my friend scores an old pair of KLH-9's in college. I was taken by their realism on acoustical music, something I'd never heard from dynamics (and still, I confess, haven't).

Planars also have very high bang for the buck. The most expensive part of a speaker is the cabinet and planars don't have one!

However, dynamics have their own virtues. They have higher wife acceptance factor, many fit in small spaces, and they can often play *louder* than planars.

The LRS is an amazing speaker -- I've never heard anything close for $650! Steve Guttenburg compared them to $2000 speakers. But as the smallest, entry-level Maggie it isn't going to work in a large room without a sub and I think you'd want a sub for rock as well. And it isn't going to cruise at 120 dB like a Wilson, or 110 dB like a big Maggie would. So it should be considered with those limitations in mind, as well as the 50 Hz low frequency limit -- surprisingly sufficient since most fundamentals are above that but you will hear the difference of more extended LF response.

What planars will do in general is give you a more realistic rendition of acoustical instruments. On the bigger ones, that can be spookily realistic.

Anyway, you're exactly the person the LRS is designed to reach! The LRS is an "appetizer," as Magenpan puts it. They sell them at not much more than cost and they have a generous return policy. The reason they sell them without making money off them is that they know that a certain percentage of people who buy them will fall in love with the planar sound and buy their bigger models.

Of course, a lot of people will just stick with the LRS, and they get a great bargain.

But I wouldn't hesitate to try them -- they're wonderful speakers and that's exactly what they want you to do (and while they hope you'll move up, they don't mind if you like and keep them). The main issue seems to be your amp. I wonder if you could get a loaner to try them with? You could listen with your VTL to get an impression of the sound, but you'd have to play them at background music levels and won't be able to test their dynamics.
josh358
286 posts
 
@noromance,

The room was too small for five Maggies, and it was suffering from the midrange emphasis that bedevilled the rooms at Axpona. I've heard that Exasound and Magnepan are planning to get a larger room next year.


josh358
286 posts
 
wumwhat3,

According to Magnepan, the LRS does dip below 4 ohms, but it doesn't seem to be the amp destroyer that the 1 ohm Scintilla was! Steve Guttenburg tried them with a receiver with poor results, but a Schiit Vidar drove them well (only $700) and he had even better results with his Pass.

Like the x.7 Maggies, which also have an impedance dip, a decent high current audiophile amp that can nearly double power into 4 ohms should work well. When I heard them at AXPONA they were being driven by a prototype 150 watt/channel Magnepan amp and they sounded great.
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