It is always interesting reading these posts.
I had various magnepans for years. The last one I had was the 3.6r. They brought great happiness too me.
For the money I think you get so far down the audiophile road, but at the same time they have so many weak areas where the ultimate performance is compromised.
The cross over has such average and low performing parts it is a must to replace them, let alone that fuse. Then there is the stand! The interaction of all that vibration between the floor and the rocking of the frame and the ribbons is destructive to the sound.
I seem to remember the literature for magnepan in the past used an illustration of the diaphram showing the sound pressure wave as arrows front and back. Remember it? Well imagine those waves wobbling slightly. I always felt there was a blurring to their sound and a lack of dynamic ability apart from the obvious planar restrictions. I guess its like a sprinter trying to get a good start, but slipping as he puts pressure down to accelerate. Much of this can be sorted out.
When I started messing around with stands for the magnepans I owned, I was struck by the image coherence and the bass improvements. They became more taught and cleaner. There was better defined space between the instruments, better leading edge dynamic, and deeper bass response.
IMHO all magnepans need the crossover replaced with better components simplification of the wiring (by passing extra soldering points) bypassing the fuse (if you have never blown it before!) a better stand and powerful amps.
Someone asked in an earlier post are these placebo effects? No. unless your are listening to the band Placebo!
I had various magnepans for years. The last one I had was the 3.6r. They brought great happiness too me.
For the money I think you get so far down the audiophile road, but at the same time they have so many weak areas where the ultimate performance is compromised.
The cross over has such average and low performing parts it is a must to replace them, let alone that fuse. Then there is the stand! The interaction of all that vibration between the floor and the rocking of the frame and the ribbons is destructive to the sound.
I seem to remember the literature for magnepan in the past used an illustration of the diaphram showing the sound pressure wave as arrows front and back. Remember it? Well imagine those waves wobbling slightly. I always felt there was a blurring to their sound and a lack of dynamic ability apart from the obvious planar restrictions. I guess its like a sprinter trying to get a good start, but slipping as he puts pressure down to accelerate. Much of this can be sorted out.
When I started messing around with stands for the magnepans I owned, I was struck by the image coherence and the bass improvements. They became more taught and cleaner. There was better defined space between the instruments, better leading edge dynamic, and deeper bass response.
IMHO all magnepans need the crossover replaced with better components simplification of the wiring (by passing extra soldering points) bypassing the fuse (if you have never blown it before!) a better stand and powerful amps.
Someone asked in an earlier post are these placebo effects? No. unless your are listening to the band Placebo!