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2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM

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Posted on February 13, 2015 at 10:03:20
zulugone
Audiophile

Posts: 98
Location: Seattle, Washington
Joined: August 31, 2013
 Has anyone tried 2 pairs of 1.7? I have a pair and a DWM. I'm curious because I was thinking about buying a second DWM. A pair of DWM costs $1600 vs. a pair of 1.7 for $2000. Aside from the $400 what are the pros and cons?

 

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RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 13, 2015 at 11:00:23
neolith
Audiophile

Posts: 4842
Location: Virginia
Joined: February 21, 2002
Contributor
  Since: December 2, 2004
 $2000 + $1600 + $1600 = MG-3.7i (almost). Why do you want more bass? Adding another DWM is not going to extend your bass any not to mention you will need more amplification and you could get the same thing by turning up the volume. If you want to extend the range then think about a sub. Just my opinion.



"Our head is round in order to allow our thoughts to change direction." Francis Picabia

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 15, 2015 at 04:56:03
Swamis Cat
Audiophile

Posts: 272
Location: Illinois
Joined: September 7, 2013
 Where do you place the DWM? In my room, placing one in the middle of the room added mainly upper bass and low midrange. I needed to couple it to a side wall to get 60 to 100 hz. But placing it to the side would pull the soundstage way out of balance. Thus to get good smooth bass reinforcement, I have needed to use two DWMs both coupled to a side wall.

I have 3.7I's.

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 15, 2015 at 08:12:22
zulugone
Audiophile

Posts: 98
Location: Seattle, Washington
Joined: August 31, 2013
 I have an opportunity to buy a used pair of 1.7. For some recordings (I listen to mostly classical and jazz) my one DWM makes a big difference. Online I have seen several examples of a pair of DWM plus 1.7. That is the context for my question.

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 15, 2015 at 12:40:16
Swamis Cat
Audiophile

Posts: 272
Location: Illinois
Joined: September 7, 2013
 So, I assume you put it between them? How far out from the Front wall? Which frequencies does it work in? Any negative side effects?

What effect are you interested in?

Two DWMs twelve inches closer to the listener along the side wall will have a very noticeable effect on bass from 60 to 300 hz. It will get both smoother and louder, with judicious placement and tweaking. It does nothing for low bass, despite various claims to the contrary.

I have also tried two pairs of three series at the same time and found the effects strange. It made bass significantly worse, with power and three dimensionality significantly better.

I kept my DWMs. I did not keep running two pairs of three series at the same time. It does sound kinda like MBL speakers though.

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 15, 2015 at 17:20:47
zulugone
Audiophile

Posts: 98
Location: Seattle, Washington
Joined: August 31, 2013
 Thanks for the info. My 1.7 are in a 20' x 13' room 5' out from the front wall; 4' apart; with listening position between 8' and 12' feet from the 1.7. The DWM is centered and 1' in front of the 1.7. One of the 20' walls is open for 15' into another space 9' wide and the other 20' wall is books. The front and back walls and the ceiling are exposed rock wool and are dead.

This sound is great, lots of bass so I am in a 'can it get even better' mode. I was thinking about getting a second DWM until I saw a good deal on a used pair of 1.7. I was thinking about a low pass filter just using their bass panels or pulling the fuses. Coupling to the side walls won't work for the DWM as I am missing one wall.

I have just started testing with a Radio Shack SPL meter(C weighted) and the Reference Recording test disk. Jazz sounds pretty good with many speaker positions. Getting all the instruments especially viola, cello and double bass to show up in Classical music is something of a challenge perhaps often due to recordings.

The meter and I can hear bass at 25 Hz and significant bass at 31.5 Hz. I can't hear past 12500 Hz. Here are stats from my first pass with the meter:
Hz dB
25 64
31.5 68
40 70
50 88
63 86
80 86
100 86
125 87
160 86
200 88
250 87
315 84
400 80
500 80
630 82
800 82
1000 82
1200 79
1600 80
2000 78
2500 78
3150 74
4000 73
5000 72
6300 73
8000 78
10000 80
12500 79
15000 72
20000 69

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 16, 2015 at 04:54:05
Swamis Cat
Audiophile

Posts: 272
Location: Illinois
Joined: September 7, 2013
 Thanks, great info.

With these measurements, I do not think you would need a second DWM. In my experience it won't add anything at all below 50. It may add a bit in mid or upper bass, but you don't need anything in these areas, and even a small increase could be too much, thickening up the bass.

With two DWMs (mine don't work in the middle of the room, possibly because I have more of a Limage set up --- 10+ feet out from FW) I am not even sure how much added bass you actually get, since you effectively double the amount of the panel you use when you wire both channels to a single DWM.

As to a second set of 1.7s. I cannot answer. As I said, I tried something similar and got a kick out of it for a few days. I did not prefer it all things considered. However, there are countless ways to configure multiple pairs, so maybe we should do more experimentation.

Do keep us updated!

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 16, 2015 at 05:11:00
Swamis Cat
Audiophile

Posts: 272
Location: Illinois
Joined: September 7, 2013
 Just for kicks, how do the measurements change when you disconnect the DWM?

 

Just in Swamis...he has tried his DWM's everywhere..., posted on February 16, 2015 at 17:33:28
Mark Man
Audiophile

Posts: 1079
Location: MN
Joined: January 31, 2010
 Swamis has lived these for quite a while and has configured them just about every way possible...
Welcome aboard...lots of great inmates on this board that share freely...
Good Luck...
Thanks
Mark

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on February 17, 2015 at 04:58:56
Swamis Cat
Audiophile

Posts: 272
Location: Illinois
Joined: September 7, 2013
 Thanks, great info.

With these measurements, I do not think you would need a second DWM. In my experience it won't add anything at all below 50. It may add a bit in mid or upper bass, but you don't need anything in these areas, and even a small increase could be too much, thickening up the bass.

With two DWMs (mine don't work in the middle of the room, possibly because I have more of a Limage set up --- 10+ feet out from FW) I am not even sure how much added bass you actually get, since you effectively double the amount of the panel you use when you wire both channels to a single DWM.

As to a second set of 1.7s. I cannot answer. As I said, I tried something similar and got a kick out of it for a few days. I did not prefer it all things considered. However, there are countless ways to configure multiple pairs, so maybe we should do more experimentation.

Do keep us updated!

 

RE: 2 pair Magnepan 1.7 vs. 2 DWM, posted on March 8, 2015 at 14:41:12
zulugone
Audiophile

Posts: 98
Location: Seattle, Washington
Joined: August 31, 2013
 When I was taking the dB list I occasionally checked the DWM alone, The 1.7 alone and all together. I one case I remember I got say 90 dB with all, 88 dB with 1.7 alone and 82 dB with DWM alone.

I just borrowed a second DWM from my dealer for some overnight testing. I had one amp for the 1,7 and one each for both DWM. The amps have one gain control per channel and have an adjustable low pass filter.

Adding the second DWM did add more bass. If I set the low pass filter on both to 250 Hz the added bass is dramatic. Without a low pass filter I have to set the gain on the DWM below the 1.7 or it gets more than it can n handle. As I turn down the low pass filter I can turn up the gain on the DWM. With one DWM set to 250 and another to 80 or 100 both in the center stacked I move into subwoofer territory.

If I get the used pair of 1.7 I would try pulling the fuses and putting them on their own amp with a low pass filter at 400 or 250 and positioning them side by side with the main 1.7s.

 

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