Magnepan 3.7

I live about 15 minutes from Gifted Listener in Centreville Va which is outside DC more mid-Atlantic than southeast.
Tom Unger the owner has carried Maggie's for years and as of two weeks ago he had his floor 20.1s still. He had them on sale when I was there and he has the 3.7 and 1.7 with system driven by nice Ayre gear

Tom is a very nice guy and his store is where the 20.7 reviewer bought his 20.1s

Mike

I listened to my brother's 20.1s and then the 1.7 and 3.7s at local Maggie dealer here in Portland. So different electronics, but still fairly easy to discern things like coherence (3.7s win) and dynamics/bass (20.1s win).

I owned the 3.6R's and thought about the 3.7's after a demo. Very nice, but I was still disappointed in their micro dynamic limitations and slightly obscure/inflated soundstaging. Inevitably they sound a bit flat and unexciting unless pushed. I have to admit dynamic speakers deliver, well, dynamics better.

My 3.7s arrived and must say an improvement over my old bi-amped MGIIIas. The tweeter no longer seems so distinct from the total speaker if that makes any sense. Need some time for the to break I and still want to swap my old Velodynes subs for a pair of JL Audio F112s. Regardless it is a wonderful speaker right out of the box.

Down side is I am already starting to want to hear the 20.7s but will wait a couple months. Magnepan wants you to come to MN to audition and depending on what the 3.7s sound like after break in and new subs, I may take them up on that. This will likely be my last speakers but 20.7s with the 2 subs is close to 20k.

I knew getting the "upgrade bug" again might get expensive :-)

Mn2hifi, congrats on the new 3.7's. Let me suggest that you replace the jumpers and fuses asap. Jerry made me up a pair of Audio Magic liquid air jumpers, but while I was waiting on those I sacraficed an old pair of Anti-Cables and made my own, which were a huge, huge, improvement over the stock jumpers. I also got some of the Audio Magic Liquid air fuses which substantially reduced grain. Both of these tweeks produced immediate, obvious improvements.
I also bought Mye stands, which were an improvement over the stock feet, but not the same order of magnitude as using Mye stands with my old 1.6's.

I think you will find you probably get 90% of the break in at about 50 hours.

I too want to hear the 20.7's. I'll be in Minnesota in May and i would love to stop in and give them a listen.

Enjoy!

Browns fan,
Thanks, I actually have been using anti able jumpers for a few years on my MGIIIAS but may try the audio magic since you have experience with both.

When I sold them I kept the anti able jumpers :-)

Still debating the Mye stands. My buddy does custom home set ups and has acoustic panels I can try along with a computer program to help tame the room.

Haven't looked forward to set up adjustments for a while so this will be fun

Take care,
Mike

Mn2hifi, congrats on 3.7s. I love mine. They come into their own at about 300 hours. Especially the bass. Drastic change there where it is like subwoofers turn on. I tried different jumpers and best to my ears are emperical designs custom tweeter and midrange jumpers for maggies. I also use supreme hi-fi tuning fuses and those helped too.

I own a pair of infiinty renaissance 90 speakers as well as b&w nautilus and magnepan mmg's. I must say the infinitys have continued to amaze me. They continue to sound better and better as i've improved the system around them and it makes me wonder what their ceiling is. I've auditioned the magnepan 1.7 that I thought sounded beautiful but they were a tad bright and lean in the bass. The infinitys are incredibly dynamic with tight deep bass, beautiful mids and natural highs, musical and non-fatiguing. Their best quality however is their ability to disapear wth 3D soundstage and great spaciousness, but again they need enough power, top source equipment, cables and proper setup. The comment about them having less resolution than the maggies may be because of their more laid back presentation. The maggies and especially the b&w's tend to be more forward especially on the top end.

Hi Bimmer 8

I own also a pair of Renaissance 90 and I agree on almost all the points with you. But I was shocked the day I heard the Magnepan 1,7 by a dealer with my Cds and almost the same set-up I have home for the Infinitys. The 1,7 are without any doubt much more resolving, I could for example hear the space in which the recording sessions of my Cds had taken place ...

I would consider magnepan down the road due to the infinity's age and difficulty to find parts. They seem to be very good for the price, but I would miss the dynamics especially the low end frequency. I know this can be handled by a good sub but i dont want to deal with that in my stereo setup. The rens are a very balanced speaker but very dependant on the equipment and room placement. They also are very non-fatiguing and sound dull with poor recordings and come to incredible life with great recordings. The maggie 1.7 are an upgrade to the 1.6 because of the full range quasi-ribbon and super-tweeter for more detail and coherancy. I've heard some say they can become fatiguing with extended listening.

Bimmer, if you can swing it, the 3.7 or 20.7 should do better in the dynamics department. If you want more than that and have the space, you can do what I did and get a used pair of Tympanis.