About 4 years ago I was able to buy Magnepan 3.7i's. I've added a couple of REL subs. I've heard many brands over the years and unless you're spending 10x the money or more, nothing (IMHO) has come close. Love a good pair of Wilsons, or Magicos, but I feel I'm 98% of the way there with these, and can retire without the guilt of spending 6 figures. Every time I sit and listen, I am truly amazed.
After the thrill is gone
I think we all understand there is no “perfect” speaker. Strengths, weaknesses, compromises all driven by the designer’s objectives and decisions.
Whenever we make a new (to us) speaker purchase there is a honeymoon period with the perfect-to-us speaker. But as time wears on, we either become accustomed to the faults and don’t really hear or hear past them, or become amplified and perhaps more annoying or create minor buyers remorse or wanderlust.
I am guessing the latter would be more prevalent when transitioning to a very different design topology, eg cones vs horns vs planars etc.
While I’ve experimented with horns, single drivers, subwoofer augmentation … I’ve always returned to full range dynamic multi-driver designs. About to do so with planars but on a scale I’ve not done before, and heading toward end game system in retirement.
So I just wonder what your experiences have been once the initial thrill is gone? (Especially if you moved from boxes to planars)
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This question really speaks to me. After reading all the glowing reviews of Magnepan, I took the plunge. I dumped my boxes and blindly ordered a pair. I live very rural and there simply wasn't an opportunity to audition them. They arrived, I did all the "things" recommended to bring out the sonic bliss I read about. I fired them up and...you know the smiley face emoji with the straight mouth line? That was me. I felt almost sad and perhaps a bit duped. They were.... Ok. This was a big deal for me and I was so disappointed. I kept reading, kept dicking around with them, following more advice I would read. The result? Pffft. I blew all this hard earned money and I had gotten these big, thin sounding, far over rated speakers that mostly just sounded annoying. Buyers remorse? Oh yes Sir. I quit reading all the "expert" advise given. I decided I don't like them anyway so let's try a different approach. They are just going to sit there and gather dust anyway. One day, a couple months after buying the Magnepans (and still kicking myself for my stupid purchase) I received an email from Klipsch. There was a sale on subs. Of course I had read all the "expert" opinions that subs were impossible to integrate with Magnepan- unless you wanted to waste more money with their bass panels. No way would I spend another penny on a panel that to my ears, could not do squat with real bass. Incidentally, I am not a thundering bass guy. Anyway, I looked at my meager checking account balance and thought "gone this far, what have I to loose?". I ordered a 12" sub and waited. Yes snobs... I know... a Klipsch. Keep in mind the idea of a REL or anything like that was out of my financial scope and considering how I was feeling, it was remarkable I even bought a THAT! The sub arrived and without any anticipation or excitement, I hooked it up. I went in and changed my crossover, draining all the bass out of the Maggie's. Sent everything below 100 to the sub. I fired the system up, expecting to be kicked in the teeth again. OMG..... These wimpy, tin-sounding overpriced weaklings lit up! I mean they came to life! For the first time I smiled. They were lovely. As for not being able to easily integrate a sub with Maggie's? What a crock. I keep the sub pulled way back.. I am barely aware of it- no thumping or banging. What it (the sub) allowed was for the Magnepans to shine where they are able. The sub added the warmth and richness that was absolutely missing. So, here's what I think in regards to switching from a box to a Maggie. You will lose the ability to play back ALL types of music- say goodbye to Madonna but hello to Shubert! The speed and crystal sharpness of electronica will dazzle you. Out of the box you MIGHT be disappointed but with some fussing, you will get it right if you like that sort of thing. To much fussing and you have diminished returns. You MIGHT find that at higher volumes they are not pleasant. At lower volumes, they can be sublime. Irrespective of what "experts" say, a sub is your friend. Probably it can be summed up like this- Magnepans are like a mail-order bride. You won't have a honeymoon period but instead, you will grow to love them. It was not what I personally expected when spending that much money but, in the end, it's ok. As an aside, I am 59 and though I never thought of this as my "retirement" system maybe it is lol. I suspect I will be buying again in the future and run two systems. I won't get rid of my Maggies- I truly appreciate them for what they are. |
@inscrutable I'm rather where you are however my pop (RIP) made the choice for me. I inherited his system which was SOTA 25 years ago... I'll spare you all the full front end inventory. The electronics and speakers however are Jadis pre and Defy7 amp and the speakers are B&W Matrix 800s. Yes, the big "ugly" ones: https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/691bw800/index.html I haven't heard them in over 20 years. My concern is moving to them from my Acoustat 1+1s and sub. I LOVE the soundstage the panels give me even if they're not the last word in detail. I'm worried the B&Ws won't deliver... As it is, the big beasts are still in storage until I can reconfigure the livingroom and because they are so large, and the amount of effort to set them up is considerable, it might be a one way trip to disappointment town when I do. Good luck on your adventure! And as always... Happy listening. |
All the posts connecting rooms and speakers hit on a key to end game satisfaction. Room design and room treatment are a bigger deal than many are willing to admit. If budget isn't a consideration, designing a room is a big challenge with large potential rewards. If not, a thoughtful approach and some experimentation with room treatment will go quite a long way. Many praise DSP vs room treatment, which might be effective for some, but I prefer not adding more boxes, cables and potential signal degradation to the path. Panels, etc. might be more of a PITA and less attractive to many...so listen with your eyes closed ;-) or take your time finding or making something that appeals to you. For every speaker type, I've heard plenty of systems of modest cost outperform others at multiples higher cost, mostly due to serious room treatment and optimized speaker/seating placement. Cheers, Spencer
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