New Magnepan 1.7 R

Dordevic, I agree regarding the bass but planar bass is different from a dynamic driver. Some people simply don't like the way bass sounds through a planar. I hear the difference but can live with it considering all they do right.

Wendell

Sorry, I was trying to use 'bass!' in a sarcastic manner. They do have a different bass and I'm actually quite satisfied with it. And that's coming from my previous speakers (Altec 604 with an Eminence 15" woofer on the bottom).

Preference on bass may well revolve around one's preference for music, in my experience. If you are a hard rock fan that goes to live rock concerts and want to recreate the kind of sound pressure levels and bass you hear at rock concerts, then dynamic speakers tend to excel at bass impact over the planar speakers whose sound is more diffuse by nature than that of cone woofers. On the other hand, I believe that Maggie's bass response is more "realistic" than that of most dynamic speakers based upon my experience hearing low frequencies in classical concert halls. Thus, for jazz and classical music, I believe the planar bass (Maggie 20.1's in my case) provides "better" bass than the dynamic speakers I have heard. They also do quite well for rock music, but if that and other associated non-acoustic, amplified, loud spl music genres were my bread and butter, I might look elsewhere. As it is, I am quite happy with the Maggies. :)

Luvwine,
Good one...like the way you delineate between the two kinds of bass. Haven't thought about it exactly that way before. I too, think Maggie bass is exceptional...but there is no one perfect approach!

Thanks, Dordevic, but I assure you that I am not the first person to describe it this way. Most will agree that cone woofers "shoot" the sound at you and thus provide more impact. Planar speakers provide a more diffuse image, but with an inherently larger soundstage which I value highly. The impact provided by cone woofers is probably one of the more obvious differences between planar speakers and box speakers. The absence of boxy coloration in planar speakers is another. Some box speaker lovers never get over the lesser impact of the bass and don't understand what all the fuss is about and then some planar lovers can never again tolerate the boxy colorations and lack of openness and smaller soundstage of many or most box speakers. All speakers are compromises on some level and one most choose one's priorities and where one is willing to live with compromises.

All the best to you.