Magnepan .7 Alternatives

I have always liked the planar or ribbon sound. I hadn't tried the Magnepans so a few years ago, I found someone selling the LRS speakers nearby and went for a listen and really liked them. I loved them but also felt a loss in the bass and dynamic area so I sold them and found a used set of .7s which I thought were better in all respects. I had a guy listen and he asked if I had a subwoofer going. They were in a large room that is my office so they are out from the wall about three feet but there are open shelves of boxes and files behind them. My office not a good set up for listening because I have a half wall in the middle. My computer and chair where I do a lot of my listening is about 12 feet away and is semi-blocked by some partial walls but that is where I am working which is what I do a lot when I am listening.  

After listening for a while, the nagging feeling of missing dynamics and bass kept creeping in. I kept looking at forums and found discussions on open baffle speakers. The main thing that jumped out was the description of the sound to be similar to Magnepans but with the dynamics and bass. I followed trails and finally honed in on Spatial Audio Labs as a source. I saw some sound demos from a dedicated buyer on YouTube and the sound quality came through even on that format. 

I lucked into finding someone selling their X5s about 100 miles away. I drove there and listened and got a great deal and brought them home. Again, since I don't really have things set up to really set up the room, I just plopped them down and plugged them in and it was everything I wanted. The price I got was in the low $5k for the almost new speakers but it is definitely my endgame speaker so there's that. The other problem is that it made me acutely aware of my electronics so I've spent money switching to tubes and fine tuning a DAC and then spending stupid money (for me -- I buy almost everything used and try to keep it reasonable) on cables and connects. That is because you can hear everything. 

The neat thing is that it sounds great from my normal work listening position but the magic happens if I sit about 2 or 3 feet away from these speakers. Depending on the quality of the recording, you cannot tell that sound is coming from the speakers and there is an image projected in front of you. 

The different speakers they have also influence the amp. The X5s and the X3s have a powered woofer so they are extremely easy to drive and you can use a very low powered SET amp or a higher powered amp. The X4s have a passive woofer that still are fairly efficient but need more power to bring it out. There's also an M4 which has a different tweeter but is far less expensive. I've seen some of Spatial Audio Lab speakers being sold used from time to time so you can check the used markets if you have any interest. 

So that's my deal. Having said that, let me also second much of what others have told you. The quality of the recordings are going to really impact how well the sound is. Also, since the sound is bouncing off the back wall, you are going to have deal with the out of phase, bass canceling bounce back and room treatments or just moving the speakers may help a lot. The Maggies are power hungry animals and the electronics may really bring out more of that sweet sound and even give you significantly more bass. 

we have a set of amazing mini monitors that will give you a warmer sound with more precise imaging 

the speakers are jern cast iron and graphite loudspeakers 0 cabinet resonances so they sound like planners 

and they match with your subs 

we have ome pair on speciel normally 5k

see our ad on audiogon

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect nj

jern importers

The peddler Dave and Troy strike again!

There are 3 immediate problems I see: 1) the room is too small to allow a dipole to work properly. 12 x 18 would be more like it. 2) the acoustical panels would be of more help on the sidewalls helping to scatter and diminish the first reflections, effectively helping the room sound bigger. 3) the dimensions are nearly cubical, causing a cluster of eigentone resonances in the 100-120 Hz range.

For speakers, the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G works well with the face only 24-30" from the back wall and 18-24" from the sidewalls. With dual 6" woofers and dual rear-facing ports, bass tuning is easily matched to your taste and the room. While the Soundstage will never be as big as a Maggie, you'll never get that with Maggie's in a small room anyway. But the midrange clarity and dynamics of the MAs will capture your attention every time. Anything with larger 8" woofers will likely overload the room. Other high quality brands with similar configuration 2X6" woofers, stuffable ports will yield similar results, only with their own 'flavor' e.g. B&W, Focal, Dynaudio, to name three.

I'd also consider a few more acoustical panels. The short critical distance in a small room means the reverberant field overwhelms the direct sound very early. More acoustical treatment will help mitigate that.

Once you've addressed the the big acoustical issues, then if you wish to pursue tweaks, you'll have an environment where you might actually be able to hear minor improvements. 

Finally, different mixes of the same song from different platforms can and do sound dramatically different. Some will favor your rig, and some won't. 

There is always an alternative, except one...

Your biggest issue is the room.  When reading your room was near square I thought 'ow, the only save is a low ceiling...'  Yeah, some room treatment would help, even with anything new to the situation.

AMT fan myself when I'm not listening to my Walsh, so I 'do' dipoles and omnis...in a larger space ( 16w x 20' 'ish', 12'h average, sloped). 

The MMGa’s I lucked into are pleasant if a little ’polite’ imho. I run them with a sub that needs to be tweeked to fall in the mags...works for me.

They are particular as to what sounds best from them. Vocals are nice, melodic works best. But they need space about them to do their dipol thing, lightly furnished on the back wall...

My condolences to the OP, and family first. Take the time. ;)