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REVIEW: Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6 Speakers Review by Skip at Audio Asylum

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This review is for the 3.5 version, I have not heard the 3.6 yet.

The woofer panels on these babys take a long time to break in. I had mine playing for 24 hours a day for two weeks, then probably at least 30 hours a week for the next month. You could not pull me away. I did not know what was happening in the world, watched no TV, etc. I just sat in the music room re-listening to all my old music.

About three months later I realized that the bass had arrived. It now caused my windows to rattle. I had to make sure that the window latches were locked to prevent this if I was going to crank it up.

I have always loved how the Magnepans fill a room with sound. Some people complain that the soundstage is too large, but for the types of music that I listen to, primarily rock, a large soundstage is perfect. Do not believe that these speakers cannot rock, try the Dead's Dozin At The Knick...
I Will Take You Home amazing details, even at high volume, with Brent Mydland's piano floating over everything else.

My friends all agree that they hear things they have never heard before on their cds. A favorite comment was "This song is not on MY cd."

The speakers are very revealing of other components. I recently upgraded my preamp to a Mark Levinson 380S, and found that 1) it seemed like I had just bought a subwoofer, and 2) extremely quiet sounds that were lost in the mix were now heard. Playing Emmylou Harris's Wrecking Ball, on the track Goodbye, her voice fades to nothing at the end of each line. With the new preamp I could still hear the ends of the words. I don't mean to turn this into a review of the preamp, I just doubt that I would have heard this on many other speakers.

I'm powering them with an amp that puts out 200 w. per channel into a 4 ohm load. At times I wish I had more power. I feel that when I play them loud there is a strain to the sound, though this is less noticable with rock music which often has the distortion built-in.

I have heard better speakers, but not for anywhere near this price. My favorites that I have heard so far are the Revel Salons, at about 5 times the price. They have a rear facing tweeter in addition to the main tweeter, which I guess provides some of the ambience that I am used to with the Magnepans. The bass from the Salons is fantastic, in another league, but I can live with the Magnepans, where I still can feel it in my chest.

I recommend them highly. Make sure if you go hear a pair that they are broken in. With the new model just making it to the dealers, you might have to wait a while to hear what they really can do.


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Topic - REVIEW: Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6 Speakers Review by Skip at Audio Asylum - Skip 11:03:41 06/6/99 ( 0)