Magnepan LRS

for the price, lrs are amazing in my setup. worth the try if you have the space and gear.

How far away from the front wall should the LRS be placed to get reasonable performance?

reasonable performance 3 ft - better performance, 4-5 ft

then get magna riser stands, play with toe in to listening position

How far away from the front wall should the LRS be placed to get reasonable performance?

The front of my KEF LS50s are 18" from the wall; a KEF KC62 sub at the foot of each LS50 stand extends another 10" from the wall. My plan is to leave the LS50s and subs in place and move an LRS in front of them for easy swapping. I’d use Magna Risers for the LRS. Any problem with that? I suppose the LS50s could be viewed as a type of a diffusion. Amps are Parasound JC 1 monoblocks.

db

I've heard the LRS and I don't know of anything that will approach it under $1000, if your goal is realistic reproduction of acoustical music. For rock, I'd choose something else or add a sub, because the LRS just doesn't have bass slam. It also needs a sub in a larger room -- with dipoles, you need a larger baffle in a larger room because of the way they interact acoustically (the closer they are to the side walls, the more the acoustic size of the baffle, and that means more bass). As Wendell Diller at Magnepan put it, when you put the LRS in a large room it turns into a midrange!

Also, re the larger Maggies, the dealer is right -- there just isn't a comparison. The LRS is unbeatable under $1000, but the larger models have more bass, better imaging, better highs particularly when you get to the 3.7i with its amazing true ribbon, and play louder. But you can get some of that magic by buying Magna Risers or making your own stand so that they're vertical and off the floor.

Finally, you'll never get pinpoint imaging with the smaller Maggies because of the separation between the acoustical centers of the woofer and tweeter, but the further back you are, the more precise the imaging is, and if you put absorption behind them they get close to pinpoint. (In live music, you don't get pinpoint imaging either, but it is cool when you do.) Usually, though, the best thing to put behind planars is diffusion.

I did purchase the LRS.  Took about 6 months from order date to delivery. It was worth the wait. They are very “musical”.  Image and soundstage is much different than a box speaker. And, if it’s a bad recording, don’t even bother……Speaker placement is critical. I’m using a Dynaco Stereo 70, which works well. Pre amp is a Dynaco PAS 3x. Took awhile for the speakers to break in - didn’t sound great for the first 100 hours or so, especially at higher volumes (80 db). But they have broken in nicely and can now play at 85 db (but do sound a little “stressed” occasionally). But we’ll worth the purchase, especially at the $650 price. 

i have to admit that i PLOPPED them down where i thought they should go and have not moved them much.  Everyone says they are finicky about where they are, what amp is attached, etc,etc,...   i am being critical, but i would also enjoy praising them too, if i can find what they deserved to be praised for.  let me offer one example: Playing the song "Chocolate Chip Trip" by Tool (thank you Cheapaudioman) shows that the LRS present a very interesting sound stage, especially the Width of it..  The tones are dancing from left to right and back again like i have rarely heard.  If someone wants to offer a test for the LRS that he knows the LRS can pass with flying colors, i would enjoy trying to replicate said test.

Cheers

I just auditioned a pair of LRS’s today. The dealer powered them with a Moon Audio amplifier. I didn’t like them and I mentioned that the amp might be the reason for the underwhelming sound but the dealer assured me that it was the Maggie’s.

The impetus for me driving up to my local dealer to hear them is that I’ve been finding myself without a speaker due to a regular need for electrostatic panel replacements. So I’m looking for a backup pair of speakers or a hifi pair of headphones.

The dealer told me that the 0.7’s is where the Magnepan magic starts to happen. I’ll take his word on it but I’m convinced at this point that Magnepan’s are not for me.

@m3apx 

I would recommend don't upgrade your Amp for the LRS unless you are able to hear them first.  IF you first listen to the LRS and love them, then go for it.

per a long and thorough review by Audio Excellence Canada on Youtube, the LRS is NOT an audiophile speaker.  it has good soundstage but does NOT have good imaging.  they say "what it does well is beautiful" but i am not sure what that is yet.  These guys are SALESMEN for the LRS - they would not talk bad about them, so when they explain some of the good points and bad points i tend to believe them.

From my own experience, they do have a nice sound stage that is not as boxy, but the sound image is kind of nebulous - less precise detail.  And they certainly can not handle loud rock music as well as more traditional box speakers.  Who knows, maybe i don't have them spaced out correctly.

Good luck to you!

Thanks all. Especially appreciate the advice on the Crown amp. Will head over to Magnolia this week and audition some speakers.  Will also give consider the Maggie’s. For $650 I don’t know if I can go wrong. I’m real old school.  Don’t laugh, but have been using a pair of home built speakers for many years - transmission lines (4” radio shack driver mounted in a pvc pipe........when did radio shack go out of business??.....). Finally time to try something else. Actually, recently heard some KEF Q350’s and realized that I’m missing a lot. So I think I’m on a mission.........

Yoda said something profound about......trying.... and DOING....

run the Carver first

I see the amp is rated to double it's power at 4 ohms which is usually what you want with Maggie's I'd give it a try.

@OP, 
I would PM Audioconnection.
John Rutan sells the Maggies, and would know if your dynaco is up to snuff.
And, don't worry about contacting a dealer. Johnny is the real deal and won't try to sell you something. He gives great advice- for free.
Just search for him on the Audiogon forums.- You'll see...
Bob

@dougsat 

 " 'mini' is but a state of mind "

-- verne troyer

:)

+1 for the Crown XLS 1502! $399 new and 500+ wpc/4ohms! Now if it only had an extra zero in its price ...

Fantastic speaker for the $.
Just as important as the amplifier is the room you put them in.

You might want to consider the Crown XLS 1502 amp.
The Crown will drive the LRS speakers without breaking the bank.
The dimensions of the LRS maybe smaller compared to other Magnepans but I certainly wouldn’t call them ‘mini’.

Big open sound you only get from panel speakers. So I say if you have the room and are curious you can make it work.

Then I guess that my dynaco stereo 70 would even be worse.........ughhhh. Thanks for the feedback. 

LRS are mini maggies but they need real, adult amplification that can deliver substantial current into low impedance

leaving aside power needs, LRS will also reveal any poor quality in the signal being fed to it

iirc carver m1.0t has issues with thermal overload

not a good pairing i would say

LRS and speakers like it are interesting... 600-700 bucks for the speakers, but you need a couple grand of serious amplification to do it justice