In Reply to: DMW posted by timm on March 9, 2017 at 19:13:55:
As others have pointed out, what appears to happen is that the panels couple acoustically, creating a larger baffle, and to the proximate side wall as well. In some cases, this reduces dipole cancellation, increasing bass output and extension.
The magnitude of the effect depends on room and setup, which is why Magnepan doesn't advertise it -- it works in their listening room, and it apparently worked in Chris Martens', but Magnepan has no way of knowing whether it will work in yours. I would think that proximity of your mains to the sidewalls is important.
If you're using a model that goes lower than the DWM's, you could model it by making two barriers the size of the DWM and placing them between your speakers and the sidewall, then measuring with the barriers in different positions. A full height barrier that completely coupled the speaker to the wall would give you a 6 dB increase in bass output. These barriers aren't full height, but then, most of the lowest frequencies are produced at the bottom of the Maggie, so a DWM-height barrier may have a disproportionately large effect. (Remember when visualizing this to think of the floor and walls as mirrors -- any baffle is "reflected" and becomes twice as wide or tall.)
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