Classical music, symphony AND planar speakers

Thank you for the very kind words, brownsfan; the feeling is mutual. Sounds like you found a winner in that bass reflex design. Congrats! 

FYI, when I was using my Maggies I was living in a very large loft-style apartment in which the Maggies had a great deal of breathing room. Scale wise, the sound was spectacular on orchestral recordings. Some of the best soundstaging I have ever experienced. The discontinuity between ribbon tweeter and midrange panel had been ameliorated a great deal due to extensive xover and wiring mods. In that large a space it was practically a nonissue. As unbelievable as it may sound, I measured reasonably flat response to 28hz! With In my current home, my listening space is much smaller and the Stax perform beautifully; although bass extension is lacking. A pair of REL subs are activated for orchestral music with reasonably good (not perfect) blend. The tonal purity of the Stax is fabulous; as is the sound staging, but on much smaller scale.
Regards and good listening.

I listen to classical about 20% of the time, and it is usually while I work. I really enjoy classical music on my desktop Monsoon MM-2000 planars and sub-woofer. I have the desktop planars spread 6 feet apart. (The other 80% of my listening is to jazz which I prefer on my headphones.)

Recluse

where in SE are you? I live in Ft Lauderdale. You’re welcome to come hear for yourself.


I have owned Magnepan 3.5Rs, had a long in-home audition of MLs, also owned Accoustat 2+2s. Aside from the 2+2s the others simply lacked the foundation of full orchestra classical music, which many of us have tried to incorporate with subwoofers. I have tried several brands of powered subs, but unless you also plan to spend good money on a quality active XO you are not likely to get a seamless blend. It bothered the hell out of me


I now have Emerald Physics 3.4s, which are not planar, but are open baffle. They are 96dB efficient and can be powered with small amps. They throw a similar wide and deep sound stage, and reproduce all music exceptionally well, and IME, much better than planars.

My room is 20+ x 35+ x 12ft peak and I need more bass support. For that EP makes OB speakers with 15" woofers. I have a pair of 2.8s coming soon, hopefully tomorrow


Best part is since they’ve been discontinued you can buy them for a song

HTH

Thanks for the offer Tweak. Unfortunately I am a ways away from you.

Thanks BDP, I will definitely look into the LFT 8b. One question: The crossover helps with driving the speaker if you bi amp? Or does it help with making the driver and planar seamless? Do many use horizontal or vertical bi amping?

Does anyone enjoy these speakers in a smallish room with lots of furniture? Hoping to move into a larger room someday.

Seems a lot of reviews refer to surface area making a difference in the bass quality, yet none of the vendors or reviews seem to publish surface area, but rather overall dimensions which may be misleading. What do these speakers look like behind the cheesecloth, *Magnepan*?