Magnapan vs. Von Schweikert

I have 3 complaints about the 3.6's.

1 - The more power you feed them the better they tend to sound. This can get you into a viscous power upgrading circle once you realize this.

2 - They are not very dynamic. However the more current you can feed them, the more dynamic they become (another viscous circle). The 3.6's dynamics just do not compare to great box speaker dynamics.

3 - Bass performance below 35hz or so is lacking. This is very forgivable.

Everything else about the 3.6's is world class. Mids and highs are darn amazing as is transparency. I had the 3.6's for almost 3 years, and loved them dearly.

KF

I would guess these two speakers are VERY different sounding, no? (i've heard VonSchweikerts 4.5 mk3 as well as planars... totally different strengths)

which one you prefer i think would be pretty subjective.

I have a set of VR4 Gen III's & if you want bass down to 20Hz these will do the job. I understand the SE goes down to 16. I put some Soler points on them & that tightened up the bass & even cleaned up the highs some.

I'm using an Ayre V-5x with them & have no complaints whatsoever.

I have a good friend not far from me who was a big Maggie fan, yet he still needed a Janis sub with the maggies. He finally decided to go with a full range box.

I think it boils down to what you like to listen to & how you like to listen. I don't think either speaker will disappoint but you've already pointed out you can't audition. The VR's are more dynamic sounding & I can listen to all kinds of music on them w/o fatigue. Of the two different Maggie's I heard, which don't include the 3.6R's, they lacked the necessary cohesion to play rock. They had a great mid & upper range but lacked the bottom end.

BTW, I did a review of the VR4 Gen III's back in Sept. Here's the link if you're interested: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?rspkr&1032415483&read&3&4&

Good luck in your search.

Well..I hope you have a dedicated room for the 3.6s...because they are huge....and ideally they need to be 3-4ft from all walls to perform at their best...I am not familiar with the VR4s...however...a friend has the Maggie 1.6s...which is more than enough speaker for large rooms...and they are the speaker to beat below 5k or so...also...Maggies from 20 yrs ago were bass anemic...not anymore!

You are comparing apples to mangos. These are two completely different kinds of speakers, not only in construction but also in sound. Anyone who's read my threads before knows I am a maggie fan but the vons are good also. Do you prefer acoustic music, voices, jazz classical, blues etc? The maggies work great for this but if your tastes are closer to a lot of Zeppelin and Hendrix type of R & R a planar might not be the best choice for you. Finally, The 3.6 is an amazing speaker especially at its price point.I also dissagree with the perception that Magnepans don't do bass, they have kick ass bass, it isn't bloated so some people think its weak. It's not weak it's accurate.