I’m curious. I wonder if the 20.7 is mainly just more bass surface would I be able to achieve that sound with say a pair of the bass panels? I would power from a Stellar amp pair to avoid the 2 ohm load wired through the bass panels. Not sure my BHK 300’s want a 2 ohm load all day long!
Darren, you owe it to yourself to audition a pair of 20.7s. They are different. The structure of the panel is stiffer, larger bass and midrange, push pull magnets. More dynamics, and bass depth. I don’t think that adding the DWMs would be enough of a change. There is a guy on YouTube that is modding a pair of 3.7i’s. OCD HIFi Guy. Tons of changes to IMO get to where the 20.7’s are right now. If I had the scratch I’d get the 30.7’s for my next level.
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The 20.7 is the only Maggie I have yet to hear. The 30.7 are amazing. No dealers near me have anything more than the 3.7i in the showrooms. I heard the 30.7 on tour
If you say the 20.7 has more dynamics then that alone is more than enough for me to sell or trade in my 3.7i.
I auditioned both, although a while ago. Both were really good. But with all planars (planar magnetic, 'stats, or ribbons) I’ve found that the bigger (i.e.the more surface area) the better. Bigger panels can simply move more air. Better dynamics. More impact. More meat on the bone.
Given the insane value of the 3.7’s, I was tempted, but I measured the bass rolloff (with the studio 6 app) right at 45 Hz. Below that, the bass response drops like a rock due to front/back cancellation. It’s possible to tweak placement to use the room response to get some extension, but subs are a must if you want that last octave in an optimized set-up. I wasn’t in a position to deal with the complexity of that at the time. Sadly, I wasn’t able to deal with the size and weight of the 20.7’s either, due to an upcoming move and uncertainties relative to future room size and configuration.
If you have the space (critical), I’d go for it.
If you’re on the East coast - or even anywhere within 500 miles of Wilmington, DE - my reco would be to arrange a visit to Overture AV, even if it meant a road trip. One of the last real dealers standing.
My room currently is 23’ X 24.3" with 8’ ceilings. Employed is a pair of JL Audio F113v2 subs!
Definitely enough room, you lucky guy.
Bigger is better with planars… period.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Exclamation point. !!
+1 for Overture… that is where I purchased my Magnepan 20 and my recent Focals. However, you may not believe this, but Overture did not display the 20s at that time. They said the demand fell off and Magnepan had laid off many of their craftsmen. But… again at the time… he would call up to see what the status was. He then told me that demand was ticking up and they were in the process of re-hiring the old-timers… but I would have to wait.
I purchased those speakers un heard… I purchased them purely on my experience with owning their 2.5R series and then other speakers after that… I had it with others, back to Magnepan I went.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Yes It do!! It do!!
BTW, just dawned on me. Magnepans have a real weakness I rearely read about… volume latitude. The smaller the speaker, the less volume latitude it has. What I mean is my 2.5Rs had an optimal volume. Higher volume than this threshold … well they just started losing their magic. Less volume and tonal balance would change… not all that bad, but really it was more a threshold above which things fell apart pretty quickly.
The big MG20s didn’t seem to suffer from this much. Maybe it was their push-pull magnets? But the smaller the panel, the more this narrowness of latitude comes into play.
Having written this… hmm… Even when I had my big MG20s, I always ended up listening to them at the same volume all the time… I wonder… hmmm…
Peace
Bruce in Philly
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Was more of a cause of the headroom on the amp possibly?
No… good thinking, but no. Back when I purchased my 2.5Rs… the press would talk about Magnepans having an “optimal volume”… but then I never read about that again. Odd… because I think they do… they definitely have an optimal volume.
The big diaphrams are not really free to move. They are glued taught like a drum. A traditional speaker cone can move freely along the shaft and the spider that centers it on the pole is designed to not impede its progres. A Magnepan diaphram is glued and pinned solid around its circumference.
I hate to rain on everyone’s Magnepan parade here, but they do have limitations. I still loved them and if I still listened in the way I used to… in a listening chair in a big room, I would still own them.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Can you explain the difference in your listening now vs then with the Maggies?
My life is centered around my computer and my office desk. I work from home a few days a week… all PowerPoint, Word and Excel (consulting) and I am big into photography… my office and desk is where I spend probably 75% of my indoors time. I have two large monitors, one a huge professional NEC monitor calibrated for perfect color. A cheapie but large monitor sets to the right. I have Foobar on my cheapie or running Xfinity streaming… news (or what goes for news these days) or YouTube.
I just was not using my big system anymore. Just not. I tried buying a small system for my office they just don’t work… so I sold my Magnepans and purchased some Focals. I can’t enjoy the imaging like I used to love but I still have great sound. The Magnepans were spooky in how it imaged and were so comfortable to listen to… while being accurate. But the system sat silent. However, I listen more hours per week than I ever did at anytime in my life… I am surrounded by music now.
So now in my office, I am enjoying the rockin’ these Focals can do… I get what Steve Gutenberg call “fun”. But they aren’t Magenepans and Magnepans won’t fit in my office… just won’t work. Sigh…
Peace
Bruce in Philly
My photography blog:
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Didn’t look through too many but enough: amazing! Impressive composition and color! You clearly have talent.
Yah. Maggies are not your background listening type of speaker. You need to sit and listen. That’s it.
Myself - I’m a soundstage freak. And you know what the 20s do. Give me holographic w depth and I am in heaven. The fact that a tympani sounds like a real tympani on the 20.7 just adds to it all.
I started my journey to Maggie’s when I heard Charles Mingus ysabels table dance from his Tijauna Moods album on a pair of 3.7s with a solo sub (not sure what brand) at a Minnesota Audphile society meeting. The setting was not ideal. Big room with lots of people. But the realistic portrayal of me sitting in the studio with Mingus and his crew just hit me in the gut. I went home and played the same song on my Monitor Audio platinum 300 and did not get the same feeling. I made the leap to the 20.7s without even listening to them. I am so happy I did. Try out this tune for comparison sake and you will be amazed at what these speakers can do.
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Hi Bruce, I do understand what you are talking about. Every speaker has it’s compromises and limitations. Dynamic cones drivers IMO increase in distortion the more they vibrate as the cone starts to break up and the surround begins to deform when you give more wattage to them. My Maggies and smaller maggies that I’ve listened to over many auditions do have a wattage or given input sweet spot, however when given more wattage, then begin to gently compress the sound vs increase in distortion as long as the amplifier isn’t driven to distortion.
I find that Maggies bass weight is not linear in lower volume levels even with world class amplification, until it gets to a given volume level, then they perform superbly. As far as imaging/soundstage, they are hard to beat given they are linesource technology IMO.
Cheers