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Magnepan LRS in the house!

I've been a Magnepan fan since day one. Recently I decided to trade up from my MMGs to the new LRS. I had someone hot and heavy to buy the MMGs so I let them go a few months ago and called Magnepan to order the new LRS. I was informed that in a couple months there would be a new version of the LRS called LRS+. So I decided to wait on the order and see early reviews. The reviews are way over the top! Some are claiming the best speaker ever made! So time to order, called Magnepan and was told that the current wait was 8-10 months!!! 

 Si I ordered them and then tried to find a used pair of the older LRS to have something, Magnepan, to listen to over the winter. Luck would have it, there was a like new pair available in Colorado (I'm in Massachusetts). But I was too late...SOLD! Now it gets interesting. I posted a "Wanted To Buy" ad at US Audio Mart.....A fellow, one town over calls me and tells me he bought a pair from a guy in Colorado and when they showed up, his wife said "No Way Jose!"...Get them out of here!.....A plan made in heaven!

 He delivered them on Saturday. Sunday morning I woke up early and welded up a set of risers as I read everywhere that using risers and placing the LRS dead vertical really makes them come alive.

 Once the pain dried I set them up in the listening room.....Node2i into a Gustard X16 DAC...into a Schiit Freya...Into a Pass Labs First Watt F5v2.....

 Oh my! These are NOT older Magnepan MMGs! HUGE improvement! These speakers have bass..Well defined, tight, dynamic base! But the biggest difference is midrange vocals...Not sure the risers are the reason, but vocals are right there! No moving around. I'm still playing with placement for imaging and sound stage, but even just plopped down in the room, they are magnificient!

 Going to be a great winter!

 

rbertalotto

Showing 3 responses by allenf1963

allenf1963
275 posts
 

Fellow Members, if this is a dumb question I apologize in advance.  I've read raves about the LRS and LRS+ speakers over the past year, but I've never looked up the price.  I'm used to reading threads on this site where $20,000 and higher speaker prices are as common as Big Macs, and the Magnepans I've seen before were $8,000 to $40,000 a pair.  Am I reading correctly that the LRS+ speakers are less than $1,000 a pair???  If so, that is fantastic to hear such raves about the performance quality of a speaker that is affordable to even young music fans just entering adulthood.  Again, if I've miscalculated the price of the LRS+ speakers, sorry.  Thanks.

allenf1963
275 posts
 

@richopp 

I agree with every comment you made.  I also have never thought the price tag matches the "quality" for MANY of the consumer products bought and sold over the history of commerce...especially in the automotive, electronics, and "bling" categories.  I was just initially really surprised at the low cost (low in my humble opinion -- $995 may just as well be $1 million to other members) considering the unreal prices I see on many products highlighted on this site.  It pleases me to know a speaker with highly reviewed sound qualities is in the reach of music fans such as my 31 and 28 year-old sons, both who are Public School teachers.

 

My first experience with Maggies was in 1978.  I arrived at my High School girlfriend's house for the first time, I was 16 and she was 15, to pick her up for a date and to meet her parents.  As I approached the front door, I heard Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" rocking the front of the house, and my eyes and libido lit up as I thought to myself, "I thought Vicki said her parents were going to be home!".  To my surprise, her Mom opened the door to greet me with her Dad sitting in his listening chair in the den, those beautiful Maggies being pushed by a McIntosh MC275 while "Paranoid" was spinning on a Thorens TD125.  Needless to say, I got along with her parents VERY well.

allenf1963
275 posts
 

@richopp 

Loved your story, also.  My High School best friend was (and still is) a fantastic drummer.  In the 1970's, his dad owned a Music Shop in town that rented instruments to Junior High and High School students, plus sold a complete line of guitars, bass guitars, drums, and PA systems.  It was located in the downtown of the sleepy little East Tennessee town I grew up in, right on Main Street where weekends were spent "cruising" up and down the street all night, showing off your car and your girl.  Many, many, Friday and Saturday nights were spent jamming live in that Music Store -- unless it was gig night which took up two to three weekend nights each month.  We used to love watching the cars go by outside the store front glass windows, as the car passengers in turn cheered at us like we were rock stars, LOL.  Simpler times.

 

His dad sold me my first "big boy" stereo system when I turned 14.  A Kenwood KA-9100 Integrated Amp, Dual Turntable, Kenwood Tuner, Kenwood Tape Deck, and ElectroVoice speakers.  I wish I still had that system, but alas, it was a victim of a home burglary in 1991.

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