Speaking as a pro musician for 50 plus years, I find that people who complain about bass on Maggies, especially larger ones, do not know what real bass is supposed to sound like.
Replacing My Maggie 3.6R
Many of you know I have been a Magnepan fan for a long time with my first pair of 2.6's in the 90's. As I evolved to prefer tube power with these speakers I upgraded to the 3.6R, Manley Neo Classic Amps and Vandersteen 2W Sub. About two years ago I added stereo Rel's and truly thought the quest was over. Over the years I have tried to move on from Magnepan but could never find a box to deliver the soundstage and imaging. I've listened to Revel, B&W, Focal, KEF, Harbeth among others. More recently listened to Acora, Joseph Audio, and Magico and many other A listers. I came close with SF Amati and even closer with Vimberg Mino, with the Mino's just out of my financial reach. I then attended AXPONA 2024 for the first time and listened too so many I've forgotten, but I did listened to MBL's and I was sold!
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I decided to visit Mark Jones Audio in Ajax, Ontario, Canada to hear the Clarisys speaker. They had the most expensive one in a room that was too small for it. The dealer explained to me the circumstances of having the big one there instead of something smaller. Whatever the case the sound was setup well without any fatigue, The system was driven by $100k CH amp from Switzerland. A great sounding amp and one that I thought would be great with my Yamaha NS5000, until I heard the price. The rest of the gear was also CH. As you can imagine the system would have sounded very good. In comparison to my LRS+ it was not even close. The LRS+ has a bit of a muffled sound. With my excellent gear in my office the LRS+ is the weakest link. The Clarisys has none of that muffled sound. It is an almost pristine sound. Not bright just clear and beautiful. It uses a ribbon, and it reminded me of the new RAAL 1995 Immanis headphone. RAAL 1995 headphones, Magna and Immanis | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org The Immanis are incredible and the Clarisys came close to having the same level of clarity. There was a sonic resemblance between the 2. I figured the ribbons must produce the sound the same way in both. Since the room was too small, I was not able to hear too much outside the speaker but inside the speaker was the wall of sound like the LRS+. It had depth like the LRS+. The main difference was the great clarity in the sound. Now if I put my CODA #16 amp on the Clarisys I would have the same clarity. The #16 on the LRS+ really blows it up but not the utmost in clarity. I say this because I have the #16 with my Yamaha NS5000, thar is amazing. The LRS+ is limited in the clarity aspect. I thought that when I first got it and compared it with the KEF LS50 META + KEF KC62 sub. The KEF was a bit sharper or cleaner sounding speaker. However, that LRS+ wall of sound (and depth) was way more important. The speaker in the Clarisys line that I am interested in was the new Picolo. It is supposed to sound like the speaker I heard, but better for a smaller room. The dealer had heard it at Axpona. When I heard that the cost was $20k I decided I would pass on the Picolo and keep using the LRS+. I did hear the Luxman M10x at the dealer and that or the SimAudio 761 will be an amp that I will get for either the LRS+ or the NS5000. I am keeping the CODA #16.
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It's been a minute but I returned the MBL demo speakers and received my pair in October. I have absolutely no regrets as they simply provide more of everything. I do wonder however if they are being optimized using my 250W tube monoblocks vs the class D MBL amps which produce 540W into 4 ohms. My room is just 12x14 so I'm probably good for a while. I am using my subs much less now. |
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