I was this many years old when i learned of this unit (guessing it’s defunct, but still)
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Does anyone have any experience hooking up a Wadia amp with a maggie? For example, the Wadia a315 puts 150 watts into 8 ohms and 250 into 4. Its wide band damping factor is 320 for 8 ohms and 160 into 4. On the surface, it looks like it could be a good fit - high current, large damping. Am I reading this right?
I’m new to the Maggie world, arriving only 6 months ago. Numerous YouTube videos and print reviews left me with the impression that it’s very difficult to find an amp capable of getting the best out of Magnepans. In a very recent @Paul Ask Paul video, he said that in his long experience with Magnepans, that they are some of the easiest speakers to amp match.
Perhaps it’s best to not build too many sand castles devoted to the concern of the perfect matching amp. Just get in the basic neighborhood, which certainly Wadia must be, and let it fly.
As a follow up on Upscale. Once upon a time they would negotiate on price. In recent dealings with them it seems they prefer to stay out of competitive pricing. Their business is roaring along, so why bother? All else being equal, Music Direct, Underwood, and HiFi Heaven remain the places to bargain.
I spent about an hour on the phone with one of their sales people last week, talking about a possible Aurender N100H purchase. He wouldn’t budge on its price, but intimated that they might be flexible on other, unnamed, lines. He also said that if I bought the Aurender, I’d be entitled to their 20% accessory discount program for established customers, which includes…wait for it…cables!
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@Craig_Burgess HiFi Heaven and Underwood are AGGRESSIVE with their willingness to reduce prices. HiFi Heaven offered me a huge trade in value towards a purchase, way more than anyone else. Underwood destroyed the competition with a non trade in new price. And Music Direct, unless otherwise noted, will knock off 10%.
Upscale told me they don’t price match or discount because it creates ill feelings between dealers and a poor customer experience. What a bunch of baloney! As a customer, I sure am more happy when I overpay 
Also, I asked about the Pathos or Primalina pairing with the LRS a couple of months ago and they said it would be fantastic. Asked again yesterday and they said it wouldn’t be so great and steered me elsewhere. Same salesman.
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Still a month to go for me getting my hands on my LRSs. But was curious about 4 things, and would like your feedback:
- Tweeters on the outside or inside?
- How long a burn-in do they need.
- How far from front walls?
- How much toe-in, if any?
Thanks folks
I have been using them 38" from the wall behind them, leaned back, tweeters to the outside, and no toe in. Sounded great at 50hrs better/best? at 200hrs, haven’t been able to tell any difference since.They have hundreds of hours on them now and this setup still is best for my room. Been great fun swapping them in and out with the Focals. Love having both
@Palouse how exciting, almost there! I prefer the tweeters on the outside just because I listen to music while cooking, thus move around. If you have a specific listening position, then tweeters on the inside, toe in, and vertical (not leaning back) which is what Nelson Pass suggests. I find a full 4’ from the back wall sounds best, really opens up the soundstage. They are so lightweight, it’s easy to store them against the wall and pull out for a listening session. As for break in, not sure, they sounded great from day one and have improved a bit, though difficult to quantify.
I recently read a The Absolute Sound review of the 1.7i’s, of which the LRS are a mini version of. TAS suggest time aligning the tweeter with the woofer. Because the tweeter runs top to bottom, if the tweeter is on the outside, to toe out a wee bit to make the woofer (on the inside) closer to you. Haven’t tried that yet, but will next time I listen. In either scenario, inside or out, vertical does seem to sound best because it better aligns the woofer and tweeter, and the MagnaRisers only improve the effects of verticality.
- Tweeters inside
- Mine sounded pretty good out of the box though they did seem to open up a bit more after a while. Of course I was moving them around and got some stands so it’s hard for me to say if more hours helped or other adjustments helped, likely both
- 72" from the front wall. I originally had them in a much smaller room and they were only 38" from the wall. The effect was to have music just dropped in my lap. I wasn’t a huge fan of that and was lucky to have another room to try so I moved them. Soundstage is much deeper and wider now with a good center image. With room treatments, DSP, and having the LRSs further from the front wall the soundstage has improved by quite a bit.
- Only really using a very small toe-in. I kept reading about needing to get the tweeters at least 1" further from the listener than the rest of the speaker so I toed-in just a bit to accommodate. I tried other, deeper toe-in angles and didn’t like the effect as much. Seemed to pull everything more to the center, where I prefer a wider soundstage. Since moving to the new room, I have yet to try swapping the speakers to see how they sound with tweeters outside but may well get around to that one of these weekends.
Enjoy the journey! The LRSs have been really fun/challenging to get sounding ‘right’ to my ears but it’s been worth it and I’m sure I’ll keep futzing with them until I think about getting some other speakers. I agree with other folks here that stands are a really good idea and probably a subwoofer if you don’t already have one.
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@dancingsea Thank you. 4 ft will work fine for my room, and your observation of tweeters outside helping spread the sound is very welcome—I have my dining table off to the left of my “music” room.
Yes, I do have MagRisers coming too.
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@trey0thompson thanks, the toe in info is helpful. And the LRS should be so mush easier to move around than my spiked Wharefdales.
The Magna Risers 2nd Airborne I use on my 1.7i pair just glide so well and I move them into position everyday. I bet you’ll like the Magna Risers with your LRS in both sound improvement and the added ease of mobility.
Yeah, @Clarity I am so looking forward to that, after having heavy Wharfedales on spikes for so long!
Re: time alignment and toe-in, I’ve found that Magnepan’s instructions to keep the tweeter side no closer to your ear than the woofer side to be spot-on. I keep mine so the tweeter edge of the panel is one inch farther away, and the resulting focus is uncanny. That means that if you have the tweeters inside, the toe-in will aim the panels at a convergence point somewhere in front of the listening position. If you have the tweeters outside (which I do), the aim convergence point is somewhere behind the listening position.
I also recommend vertical placement, and if stands are in your future as a means to accomplish this, I can’t recommend Magna Risers highly enough. And I keep mine about 4’ from the wall behind them.
Thanks Craig. Solid info. MagnaRisers were ordered at the same time. Robert Raus expects he’ll have 'em to me by June 1.
Great insight. I have the tweeters on the outside, and the panels perpendicular to my listening position, which is essentially the kitchen. I don’t sit in one place, I move about. Seems in that scenario the only way to get the tweeters 1” further away from the movable listening position is to toe the speakers outward. Does that many any sense whatsoever? Do people toe out speakers???
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DS,
I do a 5-degree Toe-Out of my Ascend Acoustic Sierra-2EX Monitors to expand width, depth and height well beyond all room boundaries while maintaining rock solid center vocal images…Soundstage is huge, HUGE!!! 
Ted
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@dancingsea I’ve been pondering that too. In my case, one side will is open (becomes the dining room) so reflected sounds from that speaker would be a whole lot lower than the other speaker that would aim at a wall.
With my current speakers I have found nirvana with no toe-in——it gives the best center image, depth and focus.
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