My pleasure, and thanks back for the kind words. I hope yours come sooner, I think you’ll be impressed. As the day goes on I am enjoying them more and more. Still not sure they’ll replace the Focals but just the fact that I can say that is a statement of their incredible value. They are 1/9th the price! All that being said I think they need to be supplemented with Subs. I am using old Pro JBL’s that are ridiculously massive and to assuage the spouse and lower the footprint I ordered a pair of SVS SB-3000’s (Not the new micro ones) which SVS has on sale if you buy a pair for $1899. They supposedly arrive Sunday which I doubt but that’s what the email says. That will finish up my system for the foreseeable future.
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Congrats! It’s funny, the long wait seems to add to the enjoyment. I’m also tweeter outside, no toe in, and of course the mighty MagnaRisers. I haven’t tried the 6 degree tilt with the stands. They sent felt pads to create the tilt which is not an elegant solution.
Yes, sub or subs vital.
I love the sense of space, of music coming from thin air on a grander scale than my Sonus Faber. Not sure I can go back now.
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What amp are you using?
M700’s
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I’m using the Hegel H90. Which is great. But it needs more juice. Debating between getting a deal on the $4000 Hegel H190. Or maybe the Strata which is 150 watts into 8 ohms, but I’m not sure if that doubles into 4?
After the trade in of a closet bound YBA amp, and selling my Hegel, the Strata would be nearly free.
And it’s usually worth every penny.
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Thought I would add that I received my pair of LRS this week that I ordered December 4th. They really do sound great. I was able to put about 48 hours on them, then MagnaRiser stands arrived yesterday. All I can say is the stands do make a big difference. Both the LRS and MagnaRisers were worth the wait. I also have a pair of Dynaudio S40s that I plan to keep and rotate from time to time. I’ve included some photos of my system.
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Fabulous system!
Thanks!
Even if it’s 25-30 years ago, I still remember the difference after I hung my SMGa straight from the ceiling and therefore undid the tilt as well as positioned them higher, just as the stand does.
I must say that the effect to me was less a surprise as logically mainly connected to the more direct radiation towards the listener by undoing the tilt (resulting in a more focused soundstage and more detailed, crisper, less rich tonality and therefore an impression of a slightly better controlled bass) as well as a higher positioning of instruments (result was a matter of taste and depending on the given perspective of the recordings). The effect of hanging them from the ceiling also meant, no floor resonances anymore as well as a similar effect as the Isoacoustic feet have by compensating tiny speaker movements). The visual effect of having them with transparent strings and the missing visual connection to the floor was also nice.
So at the disadvantage of loosing highs when listening while standing (to avoid this was the meaning of tilting this small version)… putting the speaker upright just like the bigger models, just resulted in the kind of focus those bigger models had. Depending on the amplification, this could have also meant that this small speaker got a little to light in tonality. The bigger ones sounded richer anyway, so the upright caused lighter tonality effect matched accordingly.
The same thing would happen if you’d put any conventional speaker upright that was tilted slightly backwards. It has positive effects, but which can alter tonality and coherence in the wrong direction if the speaker was designed as tilted for good reason.
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Great feedback in explaining why I perceive improvement. It makes perfect sense. Thanks.
You rock—keep posting. let us know about toe in, distance from front wall, etc.
Thanks sir. So far I have them a little over 3 feet from the back wall, 2 feet from each side wall and very slight toe in.
Several Mags in, I’ve always found tweeters inside & pointed right at the listening chair is best. Distance measured from tweeter to tweeter is half the distance from ears to the speakers. Provided there is 2 feet minimum from side walls & 3 feet from side walls. My experience…that’s a good starting point that leads to several micro-adjustments.
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Sounds good. I’ll give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion
Direct point at the speakers might not be the greatest wide stage but you just can’t beat the center staging - and if they are tall enough - you can hear that the cymbal is actually about 2 feet higher than the snare. Do that with a small expensive box speaker…
Naive question: Do Magnepan speakers have a break-in period like some other speaker types?
Track in particular on that observation is Rapunzel - Dave Matthews if you want to try reference. Carter Beaufort is a percussion MONSTER. Saw them in Victoria JUST before they got huge - less than 100 people there. GREAT show.
Not being a big subscriber to the ‘electrical’ break in theory - I have to say having refurbishing several Mags, the bass really does not open up at first. Perhaps it is the glue loosening up, but I will attest - I have restrung quite a few tweeters and re-glued the bass panels on several sets of Mags and was severely disappointed with the results, but after a few weeks the bass opened up immensely. Now I’ve never owned new Mags but I’d assume the physics are the same. And Mags don’t produce subwoofer level bass, but the bass is incredibly accurate and ample - provided they are set up properly. They need room and they love LOTS of power. I had a Bryston 4B NRB on my MG-III and they did OK… but the M1200s really brought them to life. I’d love some 3.7is but I’m satisfied I saved & rebuilt my 30 year old MG-IIIs. That 4 ft ribbon tweeter is sublime.
And I’m pretty sure that every Magnepan owner’s manual I’ve read states that several (200?) hours are required before they produce optimal bass response.
I bought my 3.7is and DWM bass panels new from Magnepan. Yes, they do need to break in and a couple hundred hours sounds about right.