Anyone ever run Magneplanar Speakers?

[stuwee]

Hey buddy, read this, http://www.dagogo.com/an-interview-with-roger-sanders-of-sanders-sound-systems , very long but, can give you some insight on what you are up against with speaker/amp interactions with a 'stat system.

His links in the article are not links, you have to look them up on your own, very informative though.

 

[OneTonScoutII]

Thanks for the links!

I had not messed with them any further but I finished my buddies WO back plane install on a 400 and turned my attention to the 2+2. Well I grabbed some of the correct 5a slo blo fuses from mouser and gave them another listen today.

It is significantly better than last time, I'm shocked how much bass they have! not to say its a lot of bass relative to other speakers but its amazing how much you can get out of the panels.
The mids and highs are incredible. You certainly have to point them in toward you and they are a fairly narrow listening area but not bad. They are super power hungry, I thought the 901's sucked up power but damn. It seems like the highs require a lot of power too by watching the meters. They are moving less with the highs and lows and are just kinda swinging around the 100w mark and on.

I need to look into the little upgrades and what not you can do now but I'm very happy with them and very happy I didn't need new interfaces

 

[nadude98]

I love my maggies... I have the 1.6qr's that I picked up on Craigslist for a couple of bills..... I got extremely lucky. Nothing I have ever heard sounds as good, though I haven't heard everything......lol ! Like others have said they are power hungry beast's. I have had a problem with my WOPL 400 and them, but that is being resolved.

 

[jbeckva]

I love my maggies... I have the 1.6qr's that I picked up on Craigslist for a couple of bills..... I got extremely lucky. Nothing I have ever heard sounds as good, though I haven't heard everything......lol ! Like others have said they are power hungry beast's. I have had a problem with my WOPL 400 and them, but that is being resolved.

Yep it is being resolved.. hehe. I should be doing some retesting over the weekend while waiting on some parts for the DCP.

 

[stuwee]

Hey ScoutII, you need to play with them ( I know, it's not easy with 8' 100lb monoliths ) , while you may like the sound toe'd in slightly...I have my Summits the same way. But, not like others and the manual says to do, it depends on your room and what is behind them!! I'll give you some tips based on recorded music that I'll assume you have. If ya don't, you should be shot and quartered J/K

Pink Floyd ~ 'Wish You Were Here', title track, David should sound like he is sitting on a stool about 3' from the floor, dead center with his right hand finger picks, his left hand fret work slightly towards the right speaker, then moving to center when he slides down the fret.

Pink Floyd ~ 'The Wall', disc two , starting with track 9 'Run Like Hell' thru track 12 ' The Trial' , you should have wonderful center images with all kinds of batshit crazy stuff sounding from beyond where your side walls are, this what a sound stage should sound like when set up properly, the walls dissolve!

Get the center image right and have at a least 6' from the side walls on both and the magic will reveal things that make you say Day'um!!

 

[OneTonScoutII]

Hey ScoutII, you need to play with them ( I know, it's not easy with 8' 100lb monoliths ) , while you may like the sound toe'd in slightly...I have my Summits the same way. But, not like others and the manual says to do, it depends on your room and what is behind them!! I'll give you some tips based on recorded music that I'll assume you have. If ya don't, you should be shot and quartered J/K

Pink Floyd ~ 'Wish You Were Here', title track, David should sound like he is sitting on a stool about 3' from the floor, dead center with his right hand finger picks, his left hand fret work slightly towards the right speaker, then moving to center when he slides down the fret.

Pink Floyd ~ 'The Wall', disc two , starting with track 9 'Run Like Hell' thru track 12 ' The Trial' , you should have wonderful center images with all kinds of batshit crazy stuff sounding from beyond where your side walls are, this what a sound stage should sound like when set up properly, the walls dissolve!

Get the center image right and have at a least 6' from the side walls on both and the magic will reveal things that make you say Day'um!!

Yeah you definitely need to play with them, They are currently about 2' from the back wall to the back of the panel, 5' from the outside of the panel to the outside walls and about 6' between the 2 panels. There is a window behind them with wooden blinds that typically stay closed and drapes that hang over the windows.

they have been playing almost continuously since and I'm very impressed. I find it surprising how much I am turning up the volume at times. I will turn it up a bit and then a bit more and then I realize I am playing it at considerable volume but I don't seem to have any listening fatigue.

 

[OneTonScoutII]

Looks like I'm in need of active cooling now

 

[laatsch55]

Trip the thermoswitch?

 

[OneTonScoutII]

No I just checked out of curiosity with the laser and the fins were in the 150's with about 70% volume. I stuck 2 quiet 120mm computer fans back there and the fins were holding steady in the 115-125 range.

Where is the cut off for the thermal switch ? 160's?

 

[laatsch55]

Depends, 160-170-----ish....

 

[OneTonScoutII]

Hey ScoutII, you need to play with them ( I know, it's not easy with 8' 100lb monoliths ) , while you may like the sound toe'd in slightly...I have my Summits the same way. But, not like others and the manual says to do, it depends on your room and what is behind them!! I'll give you some tips based on recorded music that I'll assume you have. If ya don't, you should be shot and quartered J/K

Pink Floyd ~ 'Wish You Were Here', title track, David should sound like he is sitting on a stool about 3' from the floor, dead center with his right hand finger picks, his left hand fret work slightly towards the right speaker, then moving to center when he slides down the fret.

Pink Floyd ~ 'The Wall', disc two , starting with track 9 'Run Like Hell' thru track 12 ' The Trial' , you should have wonderful center images with all kinds of batshit crazy stuff sounding from beyond where your side walls are, this what a sound stage should sound like when set up properly, the walls dissolve!

Get the center image right and have at a least 6' from the side walls on both and the magic will reveal things that make you say Day'um!!

The placement is a little different than I suspected...

After playing with them they MUST be toe'd-in, the center image doesn't come together until they are or you are in the dining room behind the couch that is the listening position. Once that center image is there it does indeed make you say Dayum!

My room limits me to the long-way orientation of the room.
in figure 4: the wide orientation, the right side speaker would be obstructed by the fire place which takes up the corner.

Moving the speakers further out in the room made a big difference too

Im still planning to build something cornscala like and that will take care of the "physically interactive sound levels " as Lee calls it. Im really enjoying these 2+2's and therefor I think the inherited pair of 901's will find duty elsewhere.

 

[laatsch55]

Yep , nothing like a pair of "super k's" to thump you in the chest...

 

[roccus]

I also read on Magies that after you achieve best positioning of the speakers it you stand 6' away from them raise you left leg to balance on your right leg, put you left hand in your right pocket and your right hand in your left pocket, then look up at the ceiling you will increase your listening pleasure by 50%

 

[8991XJ]

I also read on Magies that after you achieve best positioning of the speakers it you stand 6' away from them raise you left leg to balance on your right leg, put you left hand in your right pocket and your right hand in your left pocket, then look up at the ceiling you will increase your listening pleasure by 50%

Don't know if that is "listening pleasure."

With magneplanars, once placed, walk between them forward and back to hear the bass peaks and dips. Position the listening position in one of the peaks.

 

[Fishoz]

Drink a couple Dragons Milk and sit anywhere...it'll sound just fine...

 

[62vauxhall]

When I got my Kappa's, I fiddled with speaker placement for a couple of weeks trying to fine tune it. What I ended up with was needing to have one speaker about 2" farther in front that the other. I attributed that to a suspended slate hearth on that that side of the room. I live in a much smaller space these days and my listening position is far from dead center so I am less critical.

A co-worker had a pair of Beveridge - even said he visited the factory at the time his pair was under construction. Six foot tall coffins with a top to bottom vertical slot for an opening. I saw them but never heard them. My co-worker friend said you had to be directly in between them and seated. He claimed that by standing up, your head would poke above and out of whatever "soundfield" that made them special. He found that a bit too much to live with and sold them.

 

[OneTonScoutII]

When I got my Kappa's, I fiddled with speaker placement for a couple of weeks trying to fine tune it. What I ended up with was needing to have one speaker about 2" farther in front that the other. I attributed that to a suspended slate hearth on that that side of the room. I live in a much smaller space these days and my listening position is far from dead center so I am less critical.

A co-worker had a pair of Beveridge - even said he visited the factory at the time his pair was under construction. Six foot tall coffins with a top to bottom vertical slot for an opening. I saw them but never heard them. My co-worker friend said you had to be directly in between them and seated. He claimed that by standing up, your head would poke above and out of whatever "soundfield" that made them special. He found that a bit too much to live with and sold them.

I read that is why the 2+2 was developed. with the models that have all the panels at ground level, there is apparently a horizontal beaming. It seems just as you described, sounds good while sitting but you stand and are above the sweet spot.

 

[stuwee]

Since the 2+2's are a flat speaker, you will get beaming from the front and a small sweet spot. The sound coming from the back will open things up a bit, that's why playing with the position is so important, along with what is behind them.

As I've mentioned, all 'dipoles' are not the same, they all have placement requirements. I tried placing the Summits on the short wall and close to the side walls so I could sit back far enough to get the concert effect. That did not impress me. Great center image, shitty sound stage. Granted, the Summits have a curved 'stat panel which expands the front wave and compresses the back wave somewhat. Not ideal by any means!!

Mine need next to nothing on either side for at least 6' and at least 4' from the back wall, 5' would be ideal but, I don't have that kind of room with them on the long wall. Then they just Bloom. On certain recordings there are no walls, I'm sure your 2+2's are more than capiable of the same...get a back brace and some of your buddies plied with beer and keep moving them around !! I really think you need them on the long wall and about as far out in the room as your wife will tolerate buddy

 

[laatsch55]

Not many wives will stand for 2 small monuments in the middle of the room....