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Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7

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Just have an interest. After owning the MMG, and 3.3r was curious as to others feelings as to these two systems. I am presently on my third set of ET VIII's and am pleased but wonder if I am missing something on the
Magnepan side of the world with the 1,7 series. Any opinions or conjecture will be greatly appreciated..

Cheers...

Follow Ups:

RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - KotBegemotNY@gmail.com 23:08:04 07/03/15 (4)
I'd go on a limb and say that for my listening tastes and situation the ET 8bs sounded better than even Maggies 20.7... And yes I listened to both extensively, as well as to the 3.7s in NYC metropolitan area ... Ended up buying ET 8bs... Short of Apogee Diva and Eminent Techs long discontinued own model 6s, no planar can match ET 8bs for "real music".... But then I'm more of a music lover and Maggies more often than not apply to the tastes of the audiophile recording lovers (there are plenty of those out there) and certain types of acoustic& jazz recordings... Of course your impressions may differ... :) Of point of interest: there is a new company in New Jersey called GT works, and I listened to their speakers extensively during NY audio show... Liked the musical natural of their sound better than most speakers at the show, price be damned. They are hybrids, but relatively seamless, however their price now has gone up substantially from the initial $1900 point, three years ago, and I think now about 5 to 6 thousands.

Edits: 07/03/15 07/04/15 07/04/15 07/04/15
- RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - GStew 11:42:28 07/04/15 (3)
  That makes the current $2500 retail price of a pair of LFT-VIIIb's a real bargain, then!
  
  And while I don't see any on Audiogon / Audiomart / Asylum Trader right now, they do appear on Ebay occasionally for a huge discount, if you don't mind used.
  
  There was a pair there a few weeks ago with a starting bid of $100 (did not sell due to the reserve, they had a Buy-it-now of $700). I purchased the pair of LFT-VIIIa's I have for $600 plus shipping on Ebay a few years back.
  
  Kot, curious about your impression of the VIIIs vs the LFT-VIs? I have a couple pair of VI's here that need a bit of TLC, been enjoying the VIIIs so much I haven't been motivated to work on them versus other DIY audio projects. Do you think I'm missing out?
  
  My original pair of VIs has one driver in each speaker with a midrange section out. The other pair had been abused before I got them for a song and they have a number of dead driver panels (I haven't checked on how many).
  
  I have new mid-woofer diaphragms from Bruce here and my plan is to put them in one pair of the set and use the best of the remaining drivers in the 2nd pair. I'll use that pair as additional woofer area for the setup.
  
  Any feedback on VI's versus VIII's would be very welcome!
  
  Greg in Mississippi
  
  Everything matters!
  - RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - KotBegemotNY@gmail.com 13:57:14 07/04/15 (2)
    The Et 6s are one of the best speakers ever built in mine not so humble opinion, and I ve heard pretty much of most whats SOTA out there since about 1987... From about 40 hz to 20 khz, they are sublime ;) . Couple them with a great crossover and pair of highest quality subwoofers you can afford ( see if you can find Nestorovics subs used, or even the new Pinnacle's top of the line models are fantastic) and frankly short of Apogee Grands, or may be Apogee Full Range NOTHING in the planar world (or for that matter VERY few dynamic models) can approach them .... As far as ET 6s vs ET 8s its tougher to judge, the ET8s sound more dynamic and "loud" in lower freq. due to its dynamic woofers and produce higher sound pressure levels. With latest version of ET 8bs that I ve got sound being quite seamless and wholesome... In any event the ET 6s are DEFINITELY worthy of restoring and investing !!!! After listening to ET 6s (or 8bs) most other acoustical speakers will sound distorted and unnatural to you... Of course high quality amps are a must!!!!!! Symphonic Lines amps from Germany are match made in heaven with those!
    - RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - Satie 09:45:17 07/05/15 (0)
      Generally, for moderate SPL listening in a small room the LFT6 is a better speaker,
      For louder playback it needs a subwoofer. or you would prefer the 8b, which still needs a subwoofer.
      For full power real life SPL you can't get enough output from either one of the models since their midrange output is limited. When I had to choose I ended up with a Tympani since it could put out the raw SPL and has a ribbon tweeter. While the stock XO does not give you the most out of the tweeter, the ribbon maggies (particularly the .7 series with their simpler XO) have an advantage there over both these ET models in top octave performance. But the PP midrange of the ET speakers does not compress as early as the SE maggies. so you get a more dynamic presentation given sufficient power. The LFT VI is very insensitive. .
      I do wish ET would come out with a new version of the LFT 6 with the new neodymium magnets now available. I know it would be a $10k speaker, but there would be a much larger range of rooms and matching electronics that could drive a higher sensitivity and higher SPL capable speaker.
    - RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - GStew 18:24:26 07/04/15 (0)
      I'll take your opinion, not-so-humble or not. While I have been out of the worlds where I can listen to a number of different speakers in various setups for the last 25 years or so, when I got the LFT-VI's in 1996, they replaced (and generally bettered) a pair of original ML CLSs. I also liked them better than the highly-modified Acoustat 1+1's I also had at that time (which I liked better than a pair of somewhat modified MG-IIIa's which they replaced in the late 80's).
      
      The VI's have been down since I moved from Minneapolis to Mississippi in 2006, but I've finally started to setup the room where I want to use them. So I'll put their rebuild on my list for later this year after I finish some DIY source projects.
      
      And until then, I am really digging the VIIIs in their place!
      
      Again, THANKS!
      
      Greg in Mississippi
      Everything matters!
RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - Jonathan 90 06:40:55 06/17/15 (0)
Most people don't really know what they want but they're pretty sure they haven't got it - its all good ☺
RE: Opinion Eminent Tech - sbrians 13:26:07 06/16/15 (0)
So, what made you choose those over the 3.3s? I had wondered about ETs years ago, but had not easy way to hear them.

Edits: 06/16/15
RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - Satie 09:39:05 06/16/15 (3)
I would say that the things that led you to choose the LFT VIII over Maggies still apply today. If you have an earlier version see if you can get it updated to the new "b" version that has solved a few long standing nits in the design.
- RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - jazzbeat 02:42:28 06/17/15 (1)
  Well aware of the obvious. I was trying to see if anyone who has had both could make a comment. I have heard the 1.7 and series have some nice improvements and looking for realistic comments as to set up, tonality,
  staging .......
  - RE: Opinion Eminent Tech or Magnepan 1.7 - Satie 13:09:06 06/17/15 (0)
    The LFT VIIIb has two great advantages -
    1st is that the midrange dynamic capacity is greater than the MG1.7 in that it is a push pull design so does not compress as badly as the maggie.
    2nd in the bass the sealed cone driver can produce much less distorted bass in the 50-100 hz range (see URL and note)
    
    An advantage of the LFT VIIIb in the past vs maggies is that the transient (and thus imaging) critical range of 500-6000 hz was covered by one driver. It is not obvious how much this applies to the 1.7 as a 2 + 1/2 way speaker with a supertweeter. but it has a midrange 500hz bump and 8khz dip in phase which indicates a transition in the drivers active at these freqs. That implies a 4-500hz to 8khz coverage by the midrange, which would provide similar potential performance to the LFT VIIIb.
    
    Note: I have not found an actual 50 hz THD measurement but here is an example from the 8" driver of the ML hybrid Ethos speaker. The 8" driver in the LFT VIIIb should provide much less than 10% THD at 50 hz 90db spl
    
    http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/floor-standing-speakers/floor-standing-speakers-reviews/martinlogan-ethos-hybrid-electrostatic-speakers/page-5-the-martinlogan-ethos-hybrid-electrostatic-speakers-on-the-bench.html
    - Note bass THD in these measurements (Open in New Window)
- Agreed - sbrians 13:25:27 06/16/15 (0)
  I do not prefer the 3.7s over my 3.3s.

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