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Magnepan Needs Your Help: 30.7 for Condo's Prototype Audition

TitaniumTroy

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Magnepan needs your help

Are you willing to publicly give your feedback of Magnepan's proposed new speaker concept? Below are the cities and dates of select cities for the first tour to hear public opinions. Instead of filling out focus group forms or giving information to Magnepan's representatives at the demonstration, Magnepan is encouraging public debate. (Negative feedback can be just as valuable as positive feedback.)

If you are interested in hearing this speaker concept, it is critical that your dealer have your contact information. Winter storms could cause a delay of the tour.

Chicago-- Quintessence Audio, Wednesday, December 11th
Toronto-- Audio Excellence, Saturday, December 14th
Pittsburgh-- Butch's Sound and Vision, Monday, December 16th
Northern New Jersey (Verona)-- Audio Connection, Wednesday, December 18th

I took a couple of days off, so I can take my time on the drive back. I'll be attending the December 11th event, at Quintessence Audio. Really looking forward to hearing the Condo Mag's, seeing their size factor is small maybe I can get Wendell to swap them into the "tweets in" position, haha:;>



Quintessence Audio is in Morton Grove IL, which Google maps says is 15.9 miles and 33 minutes from Chicago. It also says I was there 4 yrs ago, forgot it was that long ago. I went to hear some of the Magico line of speakers, I think that I ended up preferring the Sonus Faber speakers.
 

SIY

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Magnepan needs your help

Are you willing to publicly give your feedback of Magnepan's proposed new speaker concept?

It would be interesting, and I'd love to sneak my CLIO Pocket in with me, but they apparently don't think that westerners are useful. :D
 

Burning Sounds

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From the hifiplus article "These woofers are purpose-built for dipole applications and fit on a V-shaped plate, with four woofers positioned on each side of the 'V' (the 'prow' of the 'V' faces forward towards the listening area). Regrettably, as this vital part of the design is subject to a patent application, it's the one part of the system that I was not allowed to photograph. "

This is new?

Where have I seen Maggies underpinned with dynamic woofers purpose built for dipole applications mounted on a V-shaped baffle before?

View attachment 40781
DSC_0578mg25r.jpg
 
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Tks

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What is there to give feedback on exactly? If it's a new concept, then it's an attempt at reinventing a wheel. If there is a necessitation of reinventing the wheel, an explanation needs to be offered as to why?

All that is required is to describe why the new concept exists or is being proposed in the first place. As in - what benefit is it offering compared to existing concepts. After that is isolated, the only thing that need be done is devise metrics that are to be tested and see if such benefits are actually manifesting themselves. Only then can we begin evaluations on whether such benefits are are only possible with trade-offs of existing concept benefits. And THAT is when user opinions should be used in the realm of discussion.

I don't understand the point of exclaiming there is a new concept, and asking people to try and play hide-n-seek and seeing if they can find the alluded benefit a new concept would entail. Tell us what the benefits are, demonstrate that they exist objectively, and then do user testing to see if anyone cares.
 

SIY

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What bothers me is that Wendell Diller seems to think this is so innovative that Magnepan can get a patent.

Getting a patent is easy. Getting a valid patent is a lot harder.
 
D

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What bothers me is that Wendell Diller seems to think this is so innovative that Magnepan can get a patent.
The whole marketing-speak and crowd-evaluation approach with this latest "development" is eye-rollingly stupid. Mating dipole woofers (using conventional drivers) to disparate speakers has been done for decades. There's nothing here they can introduce that hasn't been done already by numerous DIY'ers and a few commercial efforts.

Dave.
 

MRC01

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Producing bass from an array of small drivers instead of a single big driver is not a new idea, nor is a conventional driver set up as a dipole. But getting it to work together well still requires some engineering. Even their mid-sized model, the 3.6 or 3.7, are physically large and also require a medium to large room. They are large because they have limited excursion, but large surface area drivers at moderate SPLs are barely moving, which reduces distortion.

Most of the panel's size is dedicated to bass; if the panel only did midrange on up it would be less than half its size, so what Magnepan is doing here makes sense if you want a smaller speaker. But I don't see how a smaller speaker solves the problem of making them work in small rooms. Dipoles (even small ones) are more sensitive to room placement & configuration than normal speakers. They sound best in a medium-large room, placed a good distance away from the walls. I don't see how they could sound good in an apartment, condo or other small room.
 
OP
TitaniumTroy

TitaniumTroy

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Well my MiniMags work great in my computer room, 12'x12' of course they are really small. A second DWM woofer panel makes the bass more than acceptable to me, of course I am just using them as desktop speakers.

Also the less impactful planer bass keeps my neighbor from banging on my wall, like he did with previous conventional sealed box, hybrid system not to mention it blends so much better with the planer satellite's sound.
 
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watchnerd

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Magnepan needs your help

Are you willing to publicly give your feedback of Magnepan's proposed new speaker concept? Below are the cities and dates of select cities for the first tour to hear public opinions. Instead of filling out focus group forms or giving information to Magnepan's representatives at the demonstration, Magnepan is encouraging public debate. (Negative feedback can be just as valuable as positive feedback.)

If you are interested in hearing this speaker concept, it is critical that your dealer have your contact information. Winter storms could cause a delay of the tour.

Chicago-- Quintessence Audio, Wednesday, December 11th
Toronto-- Audio Excellence, Saturday, December 14th
Pittsburgh-- Butch's Sound and Vision, Monday, December 16th
Northern New Jersey (Verona)-- Audio Connection, Wednesday, December 18th

I took a couple of days off, so I can take my time on the drive back. I'll be attending the December 11th event, at Quintessence Audio. Really looking forward to hearing the Condo Mag's, seeing their size factor is small maybe I can get Wendell to swap them into the "tweets in" position, haha:;>



Quintessence Audio is in Morton Grove IL, which Google maps says is 15.9 miles and 33 minutes from Chicago. It also says I was there 4 yrs ago, forgot it was that long ago. I went to hear some of the Magico line of speakers, I think that I ended up preferring the Sonus Faber speakers.

Yes, if they come to Seattle area. Amir is here! And lots of geeks with cash.
 
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TitaniumTroy

TitaniumTroy

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They look like customized frames based off of the Magnepan 2.6 model, due to the smaller than current True Ribbon Tweeter size. However I'm just throwing out my best guess, customization could be by Peter Gunn.
 
D

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Those don't look like Peter Gunn's work to me. And he generally steered clear of the ribbon-tweeter models anyways.
But, a nice looking set of speakers with LX521 dipole woofers mated. I imagine that setup sounds pretty good, if integrated properly.

Dave.
 

watchnerd

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From the hifiplus article "These woofers are purpose-built for dipole applications and fit on a V-shaped plate, with four woofers positioned on each side of the 'V' (the 'prow' of the 'V' faces forward towards the listening area). Regrettably, as this vital part of the design is subject to a patent application, it's the one part of the system that I was not allowed to photograph. "

This is new?

Where have I seen Maggies underpinned with dynamic woofers purpose built for dipole applications mounted on a V-shaped baffle before?

View attachment 40781View attachment 41000

Didn't the Carver Amazing Loudspeaker combine dynamic dipolar woofers with a wide range ribbon way back in like 1989 or so?

809719-carver-amazing-loudspeakers-with-8-new-original-woofers.jpg
 

Burning Sounds

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What model Maggies are those ? They look to be in custom frames with relocation of the tweeters.

MG2.5R - I got them for next to nothing as the MDF frames were cracked - I'm guessing they had been knocked over - surprisingly the ribbons were intact, although I have replaced them since (not a fun job). The oak frames were built by a local carpenter. The tweeters are in the exact same place as the originals.

They are active with the x-over changed to a Linkwitz LR4 which gives the ribbon a bit more protection. Some of early reviews of the 2.5R (Stereophile and HiFi News) state it had a first order x-over but mine certainly didn't. It had a Butterworth 18/12 - I guess Magnepan may have changed it at some point during production as a first order @1kHz would have put that ribbon under quite some stress. Mine x-over to the Linkwitz woofers at 80Hz.

What always amazes me is how much the ribbon is shaken when you play loud - not by its signal or vibration from the main panel - I can detach mine - but simply by air pressure. Loud bass notes will move the ribbon even when the ribbon signal is turned off. It's not a huge amount, but it is noticeable when the light catches the pleats.
 
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What always amazes me is how much the ribbon is shaken when you play loud - not by its signal or vibration from the main panel - I can detach mine - but simply by air pressure. Loud bass notes will move the ribbon even when the ribbon signal is turned off. It's not a huge amount, but it is noticeable when the light catches the pleats.
Yep, a pressure differential since there's an air path through the ribbon assembly. The Apogee speakers were much more noticeable in this aspect, since the long mid/tweeter was unsecured over most of its length and tensioned very lightly to begin with.

Dave.
 
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