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Can Magnepan survive Wendell Diller?

I bought my first set of Magnepans in 1976, and I currently have a pair of 1.7i's.

It is difficult for me to upgrade to the 3.7i's because their are so many things that the company can do to improve their product that they simply won't offer; upgraded crossover components, a solid wood/rigid frames and better stands are examples.

Other companies are now doing this, but Magnepan always says Wendell doesn't think that is a good idea.

Can a man who suggests using lamp cord for his speaker line really have that much control over an otherwise unique technological approach to speaker design? I must be missing something obvious when a product is hand assembled in MN and any of these upgrades would, in my mind, warrant factory upgrades. Who wouldn't spend an extra $1k for a 1.7i with a hardwood frame and an upgraded x-over? Adding a ribbon tweeter to the 1.7i would warrant an additional $1k, still bringing them in $2k under the 3.7i.

Is it common for one person to hold an entire company back in high end audio? 
128x128william53b
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,857 posts
 
OP, you stated this: "and they can buy these back from me". Interesting comment! Have you somehow approached Wendell, or anyone at Magnepan, and they have turned down your offer to "improve' their product-- at a price! This would explain a lot of where you are coming from, inquiring minds and all that...hmmm.
ps
746 posts
 
OP is merely another disgruntled, anonymous keyboard warrior with certain, shall we say "issues." Meanwhile, Magnepan is very much alive, vital, and doing quite well.
william53b's avatar
william53b OP
211 posts
 
@daveyf

Yes, several times. Either it’s crickets, or sorry not invented here. Heck, I even tried through an order form out of desperation, after posting this originally.


While they have a devoted following, and their customers would love dearly to help them, they seem immune to reason; almost cult like.


I’ll even throw them a bone here: No reasonable engineer would design a sound panel with square corners, for the same reason airplane windows are not square, or that junctions between two planes are vastly stronger with fillets: corners magnify vibrations and create vectors for sympathetic vibrations, and they are a major weakness in mechanical design.


No one currently working on the planer model of speakers that I know of seems to notice that the sympathetic vibrations and standing waves generated in the membrane on the panel are a result of those corners, just as audiophiles understand that standing waves in a room generated by parallel walls and uniform depth combine to destroy coherent sound.


So in the domain of planar speaker patents, that one just left the building because it’s now in the public domaine, if it wasn’t already.


Most people have no idea how time consuming researching prior art is, so no, I wasn’t going to bother considering the changes I’m making to my panels is just for my personal enrichment.
ps
746 posts
 
I'm reasonably certain it was Wm. Congreve who penned the immortal line, "hell hath no fury like a _ _man scorned. Anyway, somehow, reading through this thread reminded me of an English lit class I took when I was a lad. :)
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,857 posts
 
@ps  The OP's reply to my inquiry explains everything. Your post above should be the end of this thread...therefore, +1000!
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