Magnepan LRS

I just auditioned a pair of LRS’s today. The dealer powered them with a Moon Audio amplifier. I didn’t like them and I mentioned that the amp might be the reason for the underwhelming sound but the dealer assured me that it was the Maggie’s.

The impetus for me driving up to my local dealer to hear them is that I’ve been finding myself without a speaker due to a regular need for electrostatic panel replacements. So I’m looking for a backup pair of speakers or a hifi pair of headphones.

The dealer told me that the 0.7’s is where the Magnepan magic starts to happen. I’ll take his word on it but I’m convinced at this point that Magnepan’s are not for me.

i have to admit that i PLOPPED them down where i thought they should go and have not moved them much.  Everyone says they are finicky about where they are, what amp is attached, etc,etc,...   i am being critical, but i would also enjoy praising them too, if i can find what they deserved to be praised for.  let me offer one example: Playing the song "Chocolate Chip Trip" by Tool (thank you Cheapaudioman) shows that the LRS present a very interesting sound stage, especially the Width of it..  The tones are dancing from left to right and back again like i have rarely heard.  If someone wants to offer a test for the LRS that he knows the LRS can pass with flying colors, i would enjoy trying to replicate said test.

Cheers

I did purchase the LRS.  Took about 6 months from order date to delivery. It was worth the wait. They are very “musical”.  Image and soundstage is much different than a box speaker. And, if it’s a bad recording, don’t even bother……Speaker placement is critical. I’m using a Dynaco Stereo 70, which works well. Pre amp is a Dynaco PAS 3x. Took awhile for the speakers to break in - didn’t sound great for the first 100 hours or so, especially at higher volumes (80 db). But they have broken in nicely and can now play at 85 db (but do sound a little “stressed” occasionally). But we’ll worth the purchase, especially at the $650 price. 

I've heard the LRS and I don't know of anything that will approach it under $1000, if your goal is realistic reproduction of acoustical music. For rock, I'd choose something else or add a sub, because the LRS just doesn't have bass slam. It also needs a sub in a larger room -- with dipoles, you need a larger baffle in a larger room because of the way they interact acoustically (the closer they are to the side walls, the more the acoustic size of the baffle, and that means more bass). As Wendell Diller at Magnepan put it, when you put the LRS in a large room it turns into a midrange!

Also, re the larger Maggies, the dealer is right -- there just isn't a comparison. The LRS is unbeatable under $1000, but the larger models have more bass, better imaging, better highs particularly when you get to the 3.7i with its amazing true ribbon, and play louder. But you can get some of that magic by buying Magna Risers or making your own stand so that they're vertical and off the floor.

Finally, you'll never get pinpoint imaging with the smaller Maggies because of the separation between the acoustical centers of the woofer and tweeter, but the further back you are, the more precise the imaging is, and if you put absorption behind them they get close to pinpoint. (In live music, you don't get pinpoint imaging either, but it is cool when you do.) Usually, though, the best thing to put behind planars is diffusion.