Planar Speaker Asylum: REVIEW: Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6 Speakers by foomh@simedarby.com

Model:	Magneplanar MG3.6
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$3750 ($3950 w/Cherry Finish)
Description:	Planar Magnetic Loudspeaker
Manufacturer URL:	Magnepan
Model Picture:	View

Review by foomh@simedarby.com on September 27, 2007 at 01:34:55
IP Address: 218.208.111.10 Add Your Review
for the Magneplanar MG3.6

I know this is really quite an old product that has been reviewed many times by inmates as well as famous reviewers in the hifi press. I have just received mine in cherry wood finish after a six months wait! It was meant as a birthday gift to myself but I did not reckon on such a long factory backlog so now I am enjoying my present six months later. Talk about a belated birthday!
Anyway I have absolutely no regrets even though I bought the speakers without any auditioning but solely on the good faith that I will get a much better speaker than the MG1.6QR that I was having. In my country it is almost impossible to have such an audition as the local distributor does not stock any demo unit.
Now onto the sound, it was clear immediately on set up in my largish 20ft wide and 35ft long hall with a cathedral sloping ceiling that something special has happened! The music now has bloomed and provides a much larger soundscape than previously available from the 1.6QR and yet every note and word is clearly heard. The weight is that much more bodied(I can think of no other way to say this) and real and now truly I have Diana Krall or Ella, and the whole orchestra there in my house performing for me! The realism projected has never been experience by me in my 30 years of hifi.
At this stage, it has only been about 10 hours of usage and I know many comments have been made that the bass is yet to come. Maybe so but when I heard the double bass notes from the Diana Krall album, I really thought it sounded like the time I heard the same instrument in the local concert hall. When the high notes rang out my wife thought from the kitchen that I had dropped our precious crystal glasses.

I spent quite a lot more for the 3.6 compared to the 1.6 but for once when I got my wife to sit down and listened to her favourites, she asked what is the next speaker further up the maggie range. When I said it cost 3 times more, well she said why not buy that! I really wish I can afford the 20.1 but I still have to worry about my daughter's college cost and my retirement in a few years time so I now have to happily live with the 3.6 which I think is a good compromise of the best sound and affordability.

Product Weakness:	Imposing presence will not suit all rooms both aesthetically as well as breathing room for the speakers
Product Strengths:	Speed and warmth, clarity at all registers and naturally bodied

Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier: Mcintosh MC402
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): Audible Illusion M3A
Sources (CDP/Turntable): Marantz SA11SI
Speakers: Maggie 3.6R
Cables/Interconnects: Acoustic Zen/Audioquest
Music Used (Genre/Selections): Jazz, Vocals
Room Size (LxWxH): 35ft x 20ft x 12ft
Room Comments/Treatments: Normal household furnishing
Time Period/Length of Audition: 10hrs
Other (Power Conditioner etc.): Powerware fitted with silent fan
Type of Audition/Review: Product Owner

Amplifier:	Mcintosh MC402
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	Audible Illusion M3A
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Marantz SA11SI
Speakers:	Maggie 3.6R
Cables/Interconnects:	Acoustic Zen/Audioquest
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Jazz, Vocals
Room Size (LxWxH):	35ft x 20ft x 12ft
Room Comments/Treatments:	Normal household furnishing
Time Period/Length of Audition:	10hrs
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Powerware fitted with silent fan
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner