Magnepan vs B&W: Same specs, different bass?


Hey everyone,

I recently acquired a set of Magnepan 3.7 speakers which are rated down to 35 Hz, and I've been comparing them to my B&W 803S speakers (also rated to 35 Hz).  While I enjoy the big sound and clarity of the Magnepans, the B&W's blow the Magnepans away in the bass department in an A-B comparison test.

I figured this would be the case, but I can't explain why there's such a big difference in bass when the speakers have the same specs.  Can anyone explain?

B&W 803S specs:
35Hz – 22kHz ±3dB

Magnepan 3.7 specs:
35Hz- 40 kHz

Thanks,
Chris
128x128cjwessing
Moved them out 40% of the room width per the instruction, seems crazy to me that these speakers need to basically be in the middle of the room to sound good?
@cjwessing 


What are your room dimensions? Remember every room is different so you may have to tweak it a little. The Limage placement methodology for Planar have yielded great success. Please read this post 
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1279867740&read&keyw&zzcoupling+planar

Cheers
Interesting article on placements, I'd love to mess around with it but I'm afraid I don't have the space to have the speakers 40% out into the room.  My room is also not a rectangle but more L shaped with a large opening to a dining room off to the right of the speakers which may be throwing things off.

For now I'm thinking I may have to live with the sub-optimal placement and supplement the bass with a subwoofer.
I can sympathize.
I have my speakers essentially in the middle of the room, but luckily it is the boundary of the living room and dining room. It works pretty good.
Can you show the opposite side of the room?
Maybe you need to reorient your room.
Also, I see a lot of bare wall and metal blinds. I think you can use either some more furnishings (bookshelves, pictures, etc) or sound traps. I think it would eliminate any resonance issues.
B