Magnepan 30.7’s

I heard the original version some 40 years ago (gulp!) in a salesman's home, which had a sufficiently large living room to let them breathe

~ 6 years ago, I bought my first maggies 3.5Rs and began my love hate relationship. I bought custom silver jumpers both in/out of the XO, I then went active, but could never get the low bass magic.I sold them and bought Emerald Physics (dipoles) KC IIs then $2K + I had them replace the oem internal wiring with wireWorld OCC ($500 upgrade). The KC IIs give me a comparble sound stage AND the warm and bass missing from the maggies. EP TOL is ~ $10K. I've never heard it, but I bet it gives most maggiees a run for their money and is room friendly 

I heard the Magnepan 30.7 demo at Absolute Audio in Santa Fe last weekend.  I don't usually date speakers that are taller than me but I thought they were very nice  and well worth making an effort to hear.Wendell was very low key-no tiresome 30 minute lecture on all the technical features.  He mostly just let the speakers do their thing.  Fun!

I just heard the 30.7’s at the Denver ListenUp store last night.  I was a bit disappointed but can’t decide if it was the room, the setup, or the 30’s, or all of the above.  To my ears the lower mids and down to the bass were a bit bloated and for lack of a better term, ‘boomy’.  

The room was Absolutely too dead and took the sparkle off the top end. I have the 20.7’s and I know that the top can be extended, clean, and very real sounding with the right amps.  The sound from the 30’s last night was a bit dull on top, very little shimmer or life or air; it was all sucked-up by the overdamped room.

The room was also Too square for my tastes; 20 w x 23.5 L x 10.5 h.  That’s a width to length ratio of .85.

Also, the amps and the front-end were all McIntosh. This surprised me since every other Maggie demo that I’ve seen by Wendell used Bryston amps.  I think that the Mac amps were the big MC1.25KW. In any case I’m not convinced those are the best amps for Maggie’s.

Overall, a bit disappointing.  But, dealer demo rooms can be a mixed bag.  Following some of the conversations on previous 30.7’s demos around the country I have heard some other complaints on too much lower mid and bass energy in the presentations.   

Were you at a demo in a better room? A bigger room or perhaps one not quite so square?   

Living Sound in Wichita is hosting an introduction of the Magnepan 30.7s July 23rd. Wendell Diller of Magnepan will be here to present these new offerings. Our purpose will be to showcase these new speakers (see http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/magnepan-307-loudspeaker-part-one/), and to enjoy good music. Refreshments will be served. Please contact dayradebaugh@hotmail.com if you are interested in attending.