Hi All,
Just thought I would jump in here to talk about terminology regarding driver types and also to touch on efficiency.
Maggies as well as my GTA Reference 3’s are planar magnetic and ribbon. The Maggie 3.7 and 20.7 are 3 way designs incorporating a planar woofer and mid range driver and a ribbon tweeter.
They may call their driver a quasi ribbon on some of their less expensive models..but its a planar tweeter...Quasi ribbon is just advert hype.
Audiophiles know the catch phrase "Ribbon" so manufacturers play on that to make sales.
My Reference 3 is a 2 way design with a planar driver that for simplicity sake we will could call a woofer, but in actuality its a full range driver, and a ribbon tweeter.
This whole full range ribbon thing dates back to Apogee who named their speaker this for a bit of advertising hype I would imagine... http://www.reality-audio.com/full_range.html
In actuality its a planar bass panel and a ribbon mid and tweeter.
There really is no such thing as a full range ribbon.
Regarding efficiency..,Maggies are listed by the manufacturer at about 86db, because the use inexpensive ceramic magnets.
My GTA’s use high energy neodymium magnets which are very costly but they give the speaker an efficiency of 93db and the lack of x-over on the planar makes it very easy for the amp to drive with flat 4 ohm load. This design endows my speaker with "Jump factor" something all the watts you throw at a less sensitive speaker cant make up for. It also allows for listening at low levels without losing dynamics.
I have been a long time fan of Maggies having bought my first pair in 1984...and other models in the ’90’s.
They were the reason I got into building my own planar ribbons.
For the $$ they are hard to beat.
I think Jay is a dipole guy like me..hard to go back to boxes once you fall in love with the openness of a panel speaker.
Greg
Just thought I would jump in here to talk about terminology regarding driver types and also to touch on efficiency.
Maggies as well as my GTA Reference 3’s are planar magnetic and ribbon. The Maggie 3.7 and 20.7 are 3 way designs incorporating a planar woofer and mid range driver and a ribbon tweeter.
They may call their driver a quasi ribbon on some of their less expensive models..but its a planar tweeter...Quasi ribbon is just advert hype.
Audiophiles know the catch phrase "Ribbon" so manufacturers play on that to make sales.
My Reference 3 is a 2 way design with a planar driver that for simplicity sake we will could call a woofer, but in actuality its a full range driver, and a ribbon tweeter.
This whole full range ribbon thing dates back to Apogee who named their speaker this for a bit of advertising hype I would imagine... http://www.reality-audio.com/full_range.html
In actuality its a planar bass panel and a ribbon mid and tweeter.
There really is no such thing as a full range ribbon.
Regarding efficiency..,Maggies are listed by the manufacturer at about 86db, because the use inexpensive ceramic magnets.
My GTA’s use high energy neodymium magnets which are very costly but they give the speaker an efficiency of 93db and the lack of x-over on the planar makes it very easy for the amp to drive with flat 4 ohm load. This design endows my speaker with "Jump factor" something all the watts you throw at a less sensitive speaker cant make up for. It also allows for listening at low levels without losing dynamics.
I have been a long time fan of Maggies having bought my first pair in 1984...and other models in the ’90’s.
They were the reason I got into building my own planar ribbons.
For the $$ they are hard to beat.
I think Jay is a dipole guy like me..hard to go back to boxes once you fall in love with the openness of a panel speaker.
Greg