Magnepan LRS

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.

The front of my KEF LS50s are 18" from the wall; a KEF KC62 sub at the foot of each LS50 stand extends another 10" from the wall. My plan is to leave the LS50s and subs in place and move an LRS in front of them for easy swapping. I’d use Magna Risers for the LRS. Any problem with that? I suppose the LS50s could be viewed as a type of a diffusion. Amps are Parasound JC 1 monoblocks.

db

How far away from the front wall should the LRS be placed to get reasonable performance?