Not dissing the Magneplanars at all - I’ve owned 3 different flavors over the years.
But, to bruce-in-philly’s point, to my ears they need to be “biased” into a range of linear (in a dynamic sense) operation. I auditioned the 20.7’s a while ago and really liked them, but I had to crank up the overall SPL by 4 - 6 db vs other designs to get to the same “toe-tap satisfaction level.” This has implications for wattage needed and the ability for the room to absorb the energy.
But if/when everything comes together, they can work magic, and you’d have to spend an insane amount of money to better them.
It was an early stereo recording in 57 so some of the instruments are close miked and only in one channel but their are some very complicated passages that let you hear the whole soundstage. The castanets sound so clean and live. The skin of human hands clapping in your room. Not my normal kind of jazz but still appreciate the innovations Mingus brought to this world.
As a former Maggie owner I can confirm this. I still count them as best buy as extremely coherent and transparent speakers…just dynamics and liveliness and therefore also the toe tapping factor lacks dramatically after used to some other speakers.
I have a question. If you had a budget of say 16K what speakers would you buy instead of Maggies? Music I like is: Blues, Classic rock, Americana, acoustic.
This is not a dig on PSA at all. Just my thoughts. I believe the speaker is subject to change again. I thought Paul posted something about making the speakers 2 pieces, Modular design. I wonder how much of Arnies design is still left in it? Seems PSA is still in the development stages. Paul also wants to make them wife friendly ( which for sales I understand ). But to me since this is PSA’s first speaker, I think a home run out of the gate is needed. Not wife acceptance. Those lesser models should come later. So I have trended away from the PSA speakers until I see it proven otherwise. Again, I LOVE PSA, it’s products, and people. Most of my gear is all PSA. But I have concern on this subject…
Where do you live? I would find one of the few high-end dealers and go and listen. I did.
I really don;t think you can take folks recommendation for speakers. Even these high-end units all sound different. They all present music differently. I am kindof amazed and disappointed in this… I would think that after all these years, the industry would be converging on some ideal design or sound. Not so.
Amps… heck even a DAC… good ones are all converging on good sound and the differences between the good ones are small and nothing like the differences between speakers. No, electronics don’t all sound the same, but the good ones are just that… good.
Regarding speakers, I have scoured reviews etc, then gone into dealers and could not believe how much I would disagree with a review… or whatever was getting all the fanfare. For my Focals, I had no real desire to buy them other than I knew they were a top maker. I went into Overture in Delaware, and give them my budget for my office system… think I said 4K. They pulled out their best… barf. I knew within seconds. I just kept going up the price ladder and ended up with Focals. Even the cheaper Focals sounded pretty colored and bad to me. (So what does this mean? Are Focals good or bad? I would never recommend their cheaper lines. But there pricier stuff is special.)
I recommend thinking about the room size, shape, how far out into the room you and your other will tolerate, and how you will be listening to them… a chair, couch, background. Be honest about how you listen. Then go to a reputable dealer. If you have an amp you love, particularly if it is a tube unit. Bring it with you. Be ready to consider a new amp… amp-speaker matching is very very important especially if you don’t have a good, higher current amp at home. Call ahead and get an appointment like when they first open in the AM.
Sorry, speaker recommendations don’t work for me. They only let me know the brands to consider. That is about it.
BTW, when you hit $10K… you can get a fabulous speaker and that extra money and buy a matched amplifier. Spending north of $10k, for me, is touchy… there is so much fabulous product out there that it is all about presentation… and they all do this so differently that price is not much of a factor above this line… in my experience.
I see none of the features disappearing, just voicing/adjusting some drivers (without changing the principle) maybe construction/electronic parts and cosmetics.
Bruce I agree 100% on speakers. So far my 3.7i are sounding nice, but as I consider the 20.7 I was just curious so to see what I could demo. Not a ton of high end dealers near me ( sadly ) The dealer I got the Maggies at only demo the 3.7i. Not that I am looking into these but I can get a great price on anything from Golden Ear, Def Tech, Martin Logon, Focal, Dynoaudio, and several others as I buddy is a dealer. But I went to another dealer I didn’t know for my maggies. I was impressed with the Golden Ear Triton R a bit. Imaged real nice, great bass, but still sounded like a speaker.
