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Sound Lab vs Magnepan 20.7

I owned Sound Labs back about 2005. I loved them: enter divorce... not related.
Now a decade later remembering those monsters I'm wondering how they compare with the Maggie 20.7. I realize the technical differences, but still am aware of their relative strengths. Just wondering if one of our more articulate brethren on here can sum up the differences and who wins?
Thanks.
Larry
lrsky
lrsky OP
1,118 posts
 
Stringreen,
Why?
raytheprinter's avatar
raytheprinter
1,234 posts
 
Analysis Audio,Sound very good,surprised more are not on this site.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,807 posts
 
Stringreen, The newer SL ESLs are not only more reliable, they are also a lot easier to drive and sound better at the same time. They appear to have wider bandwidth and higher efficiency than the Maggies do, whereas a few years ago I would have said the 20.7s were more efficient.

Put another way, most of our MA-2 amplifiers produced used to go to Sound Lab owners. Nowadays you can do with a set of MA-1s what used to take a set of MA-2s... That is a nice improvement!

I do think though that the 20.7 is one of the better deals in loudspeakers...
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,800 posts
 
Based on what I heard this past weekend at T.H.E. Show in Irvine, CA, there I another speaker you might want to consider. I don't know the model name or number, but it's the $20,000 Sanders ESL. You get two panels with a sub in each (175Hz x/o freq), a crossover, and power amps for the panels and woofers. They sounded really, really good---highly transparent, seemingly completely uncolored, great coherence and timing, and providing life-size images. The dealer used recordings featuring a stand-up bass, pipe organ, vocals, drumset, and varied stringed instruments. The timbre of every single one was spot on, and the dynamics were startling. The really quick "snap" of the bassists fingers pulling off a string, the string buzzing as it slammed back against the neck , the tone and resonance of the body of the bass changing as the note died away. I want to hear them again with my own source material, so I have to look up the dealer and pay him a visit.
lrsky OP
1,118 posts
 
Bdp24,
Thanks for the heads up. I've been a fan of Sanders since he and Gayle started Martin Logan.
The issue is the transparency lost through the crossover in the bass/mid bass region. I'm not saying that this has that problem, but that IS the universal issue when trying to blend a conventional driver with the electrostatic panel. With my pair of SL's that I had a decade ago the bass was wonderful and perfectly blended with the whole spectrum.
After going back and forth on this for a long time, I'm convinced that I'm simply trying to go for fewer dollars spent.
Boy, this is a lot of money.
Larry
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