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Optimal Placement for Magnepan 3.6?

Distance from rear wall and side walls….distance between speakers (imaging)….distance from speakers to listening position?

Concerns: Unwanted glare from ribbon tweeter. Room dimension constraints (how small is too small…speakers need room to breathe).

Also: concerning bass extension…in a small room are the 3.6’s adequate without a sub? How well does the 3.6 integrate with a sub?

Background: I want more resolution…I seek a more resolving speaker. I truly enjoy my Krell Res 2s because they are incredibly dynamic and cohesive and they maintain control at extremely high volume levels. They work great on large orchestral movements, rock and any other music with great dynamic contrasts. I do however yearn for the superior resolution of planner speakers when I listen to acoustic music and vocals. I admire the strengths of the Krells, but since I spend more time listening to acoustic jazz, acoustic guitar, vocals and string arrangements, I feel the need to make a change.

Right now, I just need basic information regarding optimal setup requirements. At this point, my actual room measurements are of little consequence.

Note: This is a Magnepan 3.6 thread. At this time, I am not interested in hearing about other speakers (unless they can be had at the same price as the 3.6s and offer the same - or better, attributes).
Thanks
2chnlben
philjolet's avatar
philjolet
2,306 posts
 
fwiw some people prefer the 1.6 to the 3.6 because the QR blends to the woofer better than the ribbon on the 3.6

When I had the 1.6 I felt the tonal balance was nearly perfect

Also when I had the 1.6 I never felt the need for a sub. Set up correctly they go down to the 30s. I am not sure you could achieve that response with your arrangement however...

I know you want this thread to be about the 3.6 but I feel some of this info is pertinent...
jimburger
104 posts
 
My 3.6s are in a larger room that is irregularly shaped (max width about 18' by 25' long). But my Maggies are set up on the short wall 4 feet from the front wall in the near field (8 feet from the listening chair about 6 feet apart). I really had to work hard to get the 3.6s to disappear. It was quite a long journey (5 years so far), experimenting with different amplifiers, different preamps, surround processors, tweeters on the inside or outside, use of a resistor to pad the tweeter, adding subwoofers, changing crossovers, etc. Biggest milestone in getting the Maggies to disappear was changing to a twin Vandersteen subwoofer setup with the Model 5 balanced high pass crossover to the Theta Dreadnaught II. I might add that getting a transparent disappearing act in the same room was much easier with the Maggie 1.6 which I lived with for 4 years prior to the 3.6s.
socrates7
77 posts
 
I was just talking about this with a support person at Magneplanar. His comments were that even the 20.1's would work "fine" in a room like mine -- 13' wide wall shooting across the top crossbar in a 'T' shaped basement. The thing to keep in mind is that the farther apart the ribbons are, the bigger the sound stage. Distance from the ceiling isn't an issue with a line-source (very little vertical dispersion), but as others have mentioned, there is quite a bit of horizontal dispersion. The trick, then, is room treatments -- pay special attention to side wall reflections and you should be okay with a "smaller" room. Good luck!
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