Thank you for message and advice. I already inversed the plug on the amp for left and right panels.
The prb involved 1 speaker, the right one. And the fact that this part of this panel is humming sounds so strange…
Do you believe that dealer can fix himself, or does that need a shipping at Magnepan. I live in Europe, I hope that this kind of international shipping would be free (not charged for me), and I hope that the new setting could be done quickly. Have you ever experienced this kind of after-sale service from Magnepan ?
I really don’t know. If you bought them new, it seems likely there should be a warranty but that could vary outside the U.S.
Yes it is like this, with the bananas plugged in. Why ?
Thank you all folks who took time searching explanations. Actually, and paradoxically the issue was maybe too obvious to be guessed : lack of bass, simply because one bass panel is mute !
As my bass problem seems to be identified, here is a new sharper topic for finding solutions :
Just wanted to make sure the bar was there
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Major bummer, OP. Hopefully they get it fixed quickly for you.
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The good news is: that should be a quicker “fix” for you.
Glad you figured it out.
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Now I can appreciate the huge qualities of 20.7 compared to my old 3.5.
What an improvement !!! On all criteria : crystal transparency, speed in the medium, depth and width of space…
The only remaining concerns is that I believe bass could be even deeper in the xlow frequencies, and the bass is a bit boxy though and could be better focused. But at least the image is solid and strong.
Now, after 60 hours of burn-in (half at the dealer’s, and half in my home with my prb of banana-plug), it’s time for intensive and normal burn-in to improve all these qualities. I expect especially a bit more global articulation, fluidity, and spectral depth. But anyway, even now the sounding it’s an achievement.
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I bet you’re now facing the real “break in” issue.
How’d you address the amp problem?
Please see my message above, not the last but previous, 33 mn ago.
I am now listening Shostakovich 13th symphony, recorded in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw (Decca).
Except a bit dryness on some medium registers, the image is full, huge, devastating. A roller-coaster. It’s not my amp that was blown, now it’s me who is blown-away…
What is puzzling is that i listen at same level as with my previous 3.5, and the sound is so much louder !
I am also admirative with my old amp 2*30 watts which can command all this spectacle with such an ease and strength…
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Maggies like to be moved in small increments at a time—half an inch in/out/back/forwards at a time. Bigger ones may like some toe in too—very little.
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Indeed, I know about because I already experienced that with 3.5.
But now the 20.7 needs other position, and I also drawed back my seat.
Last week, I was longing for bass, now, I get too much. I mean too much bass in the whole. I now wish sthing even deeper, but less powerful in the bass-range.
Tomorrow will be 14 days I own my new 20.7. And I plug the amp correctly since 5 days. In the whole they play since 100 hours. Always the same supreme qualities, but I still feel a lack in the low bass range: a bit dry, and I wish more under 50Hz. Compared to my previous 3.5, the bass is more ample (“radiating”) and dense, but on many symphonic recordings I know, bass drums sounds hollow. I don’t know if the “break-in” will appear and when… Anyway, about alle other criterion, the panels are most satisfying!
One month later, some reactions. The image has stabilized and homogenized. And a bit deeper. I don’t think the bass register I was worried about will deepen any further.
On some recordings that I already knew, the extreme low register that I was getting with the 3.5 is absent (or weak, or dry) with the 20.7
What is very strange, on the other hand, is that I discovered extreme bass on recordings where I had never heard it. Or that I had never heard so loud and well defined *
It’s as if the boundaries have been redefined, sometimes in favor of the 20.7 and sometimes not.
But overall, the low register is sovereign, perfectly articulated, and much better than 3.5
*for instance, the 32’ in San Simpliciano church, or :
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I am glad things have settled down for you. You are now at the point mentioned in the Alcoholics Anonymous pledge, where you must distinguish the things you can change from the things you have to accept.
I previously shared that in my room I suffered from too much bass and I needed to install the largest ASC tube traps in my front corners to absorb the excess bass that bunched up there. The tube traps can also help diffract the higher frequencies. Some audiophiles build their own traps, but I am not sure how successfully. To decide if you need this remedy I suggest playing bass-heavy material and walk around the room to get a sense of how much the bass sound varies by position. If, standing in the corners, the bass seems oppressive like a snowdrift that will not melt, I suggest you need tube traps.
Magnepan’s 20.7 manual makes two suggestions on solving bass problems. First is to use multiple subwoofers, arranged asymmetrically in the room, and second is to use DSP.
I see you are a classical music fan so you don’t need the most powerful subs. You do need them to play cleanly in the bottom two octaves, but you don’t need them to sound loud. In fact you don’t want them to call attention to themselves at all. I am happy with the way my four subs smoothed out the lumpy bass frequency response of my Magnepans playing alone.
I also have a DSP unit which the microphone says makes for further smoothing. I sometimes use it for organ recordings but I prefer to do without it.
Lastly there are the things you can never change. In particular that the quality of the bass varies so tremendously in classical recordings. We must remember that the recording and mastering engineers did not use Maggies or anything like Maggies to monitor their work. In most cases they may have had very little idea what their recording might sound like on a modern full range system. And they may not have much cared - most end users then and now have no way to reproduce quality bass.
I don’t know the 1974 CBS recording of Carmina Burana that you dislike, but until 1970 (when he died) George Szell had final rights of approval on Cleveland Orchestra test pressings and it is said Szell used a pair of speakers hidden behind his sofa. To win his approval the producers had to boost the treble. I own a copy of the CBS Beethoven cycle led by Szell’s successor Lorin Maazel, and the sound is hardly any better than Szell’s. By contrast the 1976 Decca recording of Porgy and Bess with Maazel and Cleveland is one of the very greatest sounding opera recordings ever.
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