Magnepan 30.7’s

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.

Forgot to post my opinion on the 30.7’s from my local store demo. First I should note that our local Magnepan dealer over the last several years has decided to chase home theatre over two channel and because of that they really don’t have the components on the floor to do the 30.7’s justice. I think for them home theatre made sense so I’m not knocking them on their decision - it was smart for them.

Wendell brought in an amp they’re working on producing that may or may not be a good amp, but with everything going on with the large open floor plan of the store it just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know what was going on but I’ve heard the 3.7i and 1.7i’s sound better in the same space so I think it was just the room and associated equipment that just didn’t work.

I won’t say if I was going to spend $30K on a pair of speakers I would pass on the 30.7’s but I will say if I had to make a decision immediately I would run out the door with a pair of B&W 800 D3’s in a heartbeat, which I’ve heard in another local store on worthy equipment. Actually it might be a little difficult running out the door with either speaker.

I’m sure the 30.7’s are very nice speakers and probably good value; saying that because I feel Magnepan has always made speakers that perform well above their price point but like any revealing speaker they need quality equipment and cables upstream.

Not sure about the PBR blue side rails they are using to showcase these... with white cloth. I think if they’re hoping to get preorders something like walnut with dark gray cloth may be more pleasing. I didn’t hate the palette but of the thirty some people at our demo pretty much everyone question the combination.