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My thoughts on my move from the Magnepan 1.6 QR to the 3.6R

64.12.116.131

Posted by Bob01605 on October 3, 2006 at 13:27:56

Having lived with a pair of Maggie 1.6 QR's for the past year and a half, I was fortunate enought to secure a pair of 3.6's with Mye stands from Dr. Jazz (Thanks, Al ..) The following is my impressions of the differences between the 1.6 QR and the 3.6R

My system consists of ..

AC power coming through a Monster HTS 3500 series II power center
(except for the Bryston 4B-SST listed below which is direct connected to an AC outlet)
Classe CDT-1 CD transport
Stereovox HDVX digital cable
Bel Canto DAC-2 upsampling DAC
Preamp is a BAT VK-30SE (uses four 6H30P-DR tubes) with phono board
Amp is a Bryston 4B-SST which pumps out 500 WPC into 4 ohms
The speaker and interconnect cables are all Signal Cable and are well broken in
For vinyl I have a Music Hall MMF-7 turntable with a Goldring Eroica MC cartridge

The listening room is 12 feet by 27 feet by 7 feet 3 1/2 inches high. The speakers are about 54 inches out from the front wall (Cardas formula) and the tweeters are outboard. The front wall has some black foam rubber room treatment, the ceiling has acoustical tile and the floor has a berber rug.

Observations (1.6 QR vs 3.6 R) after listening to the 3.6's for about a month and again this is IMHO

1. The 3.6's ribbon tweeter has more extension and is cleaner and more dynamic than the 1.6's quasi ribbon tweeter. Listening to Classic Records reissue of "Time Out" on vinyl, Dave Brubeck's piano notes "plink" on the 3.6. On the 1.6 it's just a little slower like a "plingk"

2. The 3.6 has more bass (to be expected) - Using the 1.6 and the Stereophile test CD the 40 Hz band plays with a little less volume than 50 Hz band - BUT on the 3.6 - the 40 and 50 Hz bands are about the same loudness. The next band down on the disk is 31.5 Hz and has some usable output on the 3.6 but IS reduced in volume - so the minus 3 dB point of 34 HZ on the 3.6 is about right

3. The 3.6 soundstages differently (at least in my room) - The center fill on vocals etc. is a little more "up front" on the 3.6 whereas on the 1.6 it is a little further back into the soundstage.

4. The 3.6 has a more even response octave to octave - Vocals are a hair more realistic on the 3.6 but it's really a close call here between the two speakers

5. The 3.6 will play a little louder than the 1.6 but does require more power - I notice that I am turning the volume up just a little more - maybe 2 or 3 numbers on the BAT's volume control to attain the same volume level I had with the 1.6's

6. The 1.6 does soundstage width and depth very well - just as good as the 3.6

7. For about 40% of the price of the 3.6, the 1.6 has maybe 85-90% of the sound quality

Bob

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