I own both of Magnepan models the Magneplanar Tympani 1D and Magneplanar Tympani IV-a. I have also have the MC1 (not for met at all).
Let's just sum it up. The smaller the Magnaplanar panel, the smaller the promise of good sound. Sure you can try getting in the near field, but that isn't what they speakers are about AT ALL. The bigger the panel the less the woofer panel has to move to move the same volume of air and the area of air moved goes up with the SQUARE of the linear dimension. And distortion goes up as Xmax increases.. so the further the bass panel has to move the further from the real thing the speaker becomes. So lets say you have a 2 foot by 1 foot panel... thats 2 square feet. Now let's take a 6 foot by 18" panel thats 9 feet of area..AND THERE ARE 2 of Them. So thats 18 feet of area or 9 times the area of the smaller Magnepan. So that same drive for the same volume of bass only has to move very little. IMHO I feel Magneplanars don't really work at all until they are Tympani size and if they could be bigger they could be even better, but few people have the homes for these. I tune systems for some of the VP's of the Los Angeles and Orange Country Audio society and for events like CES, RMAF, T.H.E. Show Newport Beach and The Absolute Sound and Stereophile both like my rooms.
So here is a secret about tuning. Tune to a speakers strengths , play music that is within the speakers limits, and put them in rooms that fit them. Never tune to a speakers weakness because you with compromise what eh speaker does well at a much faster rate than the gains of what it does poorly.
Magneplanars are not about a near field experience like a mini monitor. When they are at their best they produce IMHO more of a 14th-24th row experience than 5th row. But they do a fantastic job of this experience and frankly for a lot of music- that the distance you should listen to it. Putting your ear 2 feet from a. violin isn't at all pleasurable or having your ears 4 feet from. kick drum.... instruments were not voiced and optimized for those distances... because why would you want to limit the audience for just people within 12 feet when you could have things sound fantastic for groups of 200? Perhaps the cowboys harmonica might be voiced for smaller close by groups or castanets but beyond that... a Steinway grand is not a near field piano.
I know it is much easier to position a single panel newer model because of size and also there are many more variables in a 3 panel array. However once you understand what movements and what positions affect parameter software the sound the Tympani's are much more versatile towards getting a more believable sound closer to the original event you have to move and voice the Tympani for the experience that it is voiced best for...
Now understand if you do this, you STILL will get a decent image of more closely mic'd group of chamber music performers , but if you have to understand that the different drivers are going to take some space back from the speakers to integrate. Its not like a Mini monitor where the tweeter is 3 inches from the Midrange and producing a Quasi near point source.
SO What is different about the Tympani 1D vs the Tympani IV-a? I feel the 1D does a really great job at integrating its drivers. It can do a decent image in a good size room, but the IV-a really can step up to fill a large room given enough quality power.
If you feel like modding the IV-a using very high quality Duelund Caps and Or an electronics crossover, and high quality copper coils or inductors... You can have an other worldly experience. If you just want to run a good sized tube amp 150-200 wpm .that has headroom, You can get away with the 1D. The 1D is also lighter weight and I bring them to ski houses because I can fold them up- toss them in the SUV and still have room to pack everything .
The ribbon on the IV-a benefits from higher quality fuses and crossover components. If you do that - that ribbon is amazing and doesn't ring harshly like so many other ribbon tweeters. I think ribbons are a great solution for some systems, but a few multi magnet silk dome tweeters with good extension and great crossover design and components can sound more natural than unmodified Tympanis. But Modded tympani's can do amazing things.
