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Opinions on Magnepans sales/marketing approach to

Is anyone else somewhat frustrated at the inability to audition the 20.7s except at a very very few locations in the country? The fly to MN to hear does not really appeal to me either because let's be real, an hour listening to decide on 14K speakers in a strange system is simply not enough and in MN they do not do a side by side with the 3.7s to allow auditioning both through same electronics any way.

I recently purchased Maggie 3.7s with the option to upgrade to 20.7s within 6 months . The 3.7s to my ear are a cut above the 3.6s when it comes to sounding like a single cohesive speaker versus the ribbon tweeter always drawing some attention to itself.

Problem is how do you tell if upgrade from 3.7 to 20.7 is worth it if the dealers do not have them on floor? The best would be to audition in you home on your equipment but at least if the dealers had both you could audition where the only variable is the speaker.

I have spoken wo Wendell about it and there is 1 dealer who Boston who will let you try and return but that is virtually an isolated approach..one which I applaud. Of course they have to really qualify the buyer but again, if you have 3.7s and want to upgrade, Magnepan and most dealers expect you to "buy on faith or reviews" which in my mind, in today's economy, is simply ridiculous. While I am sure some have bought them "blind", the argument that the 20.1s were better than the 3.6s so imagine how much better the 20.7s are the the 3.7s will not make me pull the trigger.

Long winded way of asking about others experience and opinion of how Magnepan and dealers are handling the 20.7s

MikeH
mn2hifi
misterneutron
7 posts
 
At this point in time (June 2019) I wonder if anyone knows if there is still a big backlog of 20.7 orders, and thus still a 20.7 waiting list?

I live in the Minneapolis metro area, where we have a single dealer for the whole state.  I was told the dealers are allocated 1 pair of 20.7 speakers per 20.7 manufacturing cycle, which I gathered was maybe 3-4 times per year?  The dealer said they order 1 pair of 20.7 per manufacturing cycle and by the time that pair is manufactured, they have been sold to a customer.  Thus, they never have a pair of 20.7 on the demo floor.
I would guess that if the dealer is only able to order/sell 3-4 pairs of 20.7 per year, a customer would end up in a waiting list that could be 12 months long or more?

Would there be any time advantage in ordering direct from Magnepan, and sidestepping the wait list that the dealer likely has? 

Thanks for any insight.
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misterneutron
7 posts
 
Oh yes, I've been thinking I should call the factory and see when I could drive over and listen to 20.7s.  It's only 33 miles from my house.  To date, I've only heard 1.7i and 3.7i.

Is there any benefit in buying from the a dealer when Magnepan is right here "in town"?  I believe the Magnepan warranty coverage would be the same, either way.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
It is very frustrating but few dealers will keep very expensive speakers on the floor because the market is so limited. It is not Magnepan's fault. If they insist on dealers displaying the top of their range they just lose dealers. The dealers that do display them have a clientele that is more likely to purchase them. 
I have not set up 20.7s yet but I have 2 pair of 20.1s which are very similar. The 20.7s have what is arguably the best tweeter ever made. The ultra high end is even better than an ESL. Because they are taller than the 3.7s they project power in the mid bass better becoming linear arrays down to about 150 Hz. Like the 3.7s the bass is going to be very sensitive to position and they will not do below 40 Hz with absolute authority. I always set them up with sub woofers then done correctly you have very close to the ultimate sound at less than 1/2 the money. There is no point source speaker that can compare. The only speaker I would prefer is the Soundlabs Majestic 845 or 945 and they are about 40 K and much larger.
In short I have absolutely no problem recommending the 20.7. If I am wrong you can publicly roast me on this forum
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