A note from Magnepan about the "30.7 for Condos" tour


Wendell Diller of Magnepan asked me to pass this on:


No, Magnepan's tour is not scientific market research

Dear Press and Future Attendee,

Last night, I had the privilege to talk to Robert Deutsch of Stereophile at the "30.7 for Condos" event at Audio Excellence in Toronto. Robert was there to report on the concept of a public focus group (not on the speaker we were showing). As Robert noted, there has been a lot of research on the value of focus groups. Is a public focus group more effective? (good question)

Toronto was only the second stop on this tour, but it already has the same shortcoming as the 30.7 tour in terms of reliable feedback for Magnepan--- low participation. Attendees on all the 30.7 tours were very vocal about their opinions of the 30.7, but when it came to making their opinion public, approximately 1 out of 20 attendees (or less) went online to give Magnepan feedback. This tour is much the same.

There is one obvious question on the minds of attendees--- "Has Magnepan 'sold out"? They were too polite to say it in such stark terms. Most attendees are familiar with Maggies and the problem of integrating a dynamic woofer with a panel speaker. This issue is the focal point of these tours and there was much discussion.

If you are able to attend one of the upcoming events, you can see the response of the group for yourself. But, in terms of an online consensus, the sampling rate will rate will probably be too small for a reliable indicator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ-R8MERlHQ&feature=youtu.be

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=55342

- Wendell Diller, Magnepan


josh358
@andy2, before I had a friend who was a high end dealer (I bought some stuff from Brooks Berdan when he was a salesman at GNP in Pasadena, then followed him when he opened his own shop. Over the years our relationship evolved into a personal one.), I assumed demo units were provided to retailers at no cost. Uh, no, they are not. Dealers are shipped product, usually with 30-days dating (the dealer has 30 days to pay for the product). Whether that product is for demo use or to sell to a customer/client is immaterial.
Stereo Unlimited in San Diego has the 20 series and the room to make them sing. The Jacintha on Revox RtR is sublime with them 8’ out into a big room, Mac 601 have the grunt for sure.

I have never counted but Bruce the owner believes in inventory - I am guessing there are about 100 pair of speakers spread over the 5-6 demo rooms and tucked away here and there....and, and this is a BIG and, he and his team know how to get good sound...

Josh358, I didn’t recall any ads in Absolute Sound (I no longer subscribe to Stereophile) so I went and looked for them and did find one I recalled seeing.  It said they were going “On the Road Again” to “select cities”, but no mention of when or where.  Only possible link (I say “possible” since they don’t direct you to the link) to more information was to their web site.  Oh well ....
I've learned a little bit more about it. I gather that the dealers are handling the invites, but there's been some notice on the forums as well, e.g., the Planar Asylum. Kind of frustrating if you want to be notified of an event near you . . .