• RE: Yeah, apples and oranges - josh358 15:23:41 10/07/15 (8)
  In Reply to: RE: Yeah, apples and oranges posted by Mark Man on October 07, 2015 at 06:37:17

  Sounds like the Mini Maggies were poorly set up. Phasing between DWM and the satellites is critical and as with all planars, they need space to breathe. I heard them right after hearing the 3.7's and they were comparable, which is to say spectacular -- it's hard to believe that that sound is coming from two little speakers. This was nearfield listening, though, as desktop speakers. When I moved back a few feet from the desk, they were still good, but lost some of their big-speaker-in-a-tiny-package magic.
  
  Not comparing them to the LS-50's, which I haven't heard, just pointing out that you appear to have heard them under poor conditions.
  

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  • the two places I have heard them... - Mark Man 19:57:02 10/07/15 (7)
    In Reply to: RE: Yeah, apples and oranges posted by josh358 on October 07, 2015 at 15:23:41

    The first place was in KC up to Rotel intergraded fed off an I-pod with AIFF files...it was a desk set-up and DWM was under the desk and just boomed...no tone or connection to the mains...they mains sounded really nice...
    
    The second place I have heard them on 3 different occasions was the Magnepan Production office...same set up with a Wadia (sp?) and a I believe a Philips CD player...Once again the DWM was under the desk and just boomed and sounded very disconnected...
    
    Now Shelia in customer service used them in an HT set-up with two DWM's and said they sounded very good...
    
    I do not doubt set-up properly they could sound really good, as I said the mains sound good, but the DWM was under a desk both times and just boomed...so I am only saying this has been MY personal experience with the Mini's system...
    
    The LS 50's being the same price as the .7's that was my bench mark for comparison...I much preferred the ,7's, but as a Maggie guy...I have a bias towards di-pole presentation...
    
    thanks for chiming in Josh...good to hear from you...
    Thanks
    Mark
    
    
    

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    • RE: the two places I have heard them... - josh358 20:05:08 10/07/15 (6)
      In Reply to: RE: the two places I have heard them... posted by Mark Man on October 07, 2015 at 19:57:02

      Hey, Mark!
      
      Funny, we both heard them at Magnepan but the one's I heard were in Mark Winey's office with, IIRC, dual DWM's. I don't remember any boominess or sense of disconnection. Mark's desk faced out into the room whereas as I recall Sheila's faces the wall, that could have something to do with it.
      
      By chance, I just read Steve Guttenberg's review of the .7's, and like you, he seems to prefer the .7's to the LS50's:
      
      "Of course, some folks can't live with large panel speakers, and they will be happier with a small, high-end stand mount monitor speaker like the KEF LS50. It's terrific, but it sounds awfully small after you hear the Magnepan .7. The SVS Prime tower speakers sound bigger than the LS50, but the Primes are still no match for the .7 for producing closer to life-size music in your living room."
      
      http://www.cnet.com/news/new-sensations-the-radically-different-magnepan-7-speakers/
      

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      • RE: the two places I have heard them... - Mark Man 20:57:20 10/07/15 (5)
        In Reply to: RE: the two places I have heard them... posted by josh358 on October 07, 2015 at 20:05:08

        You obviously have more Juice than I do...I did not make it into Mark Winey's office...
        
        Yes, Shelia's desk is up against the wall...and the place in KC where I heard them was the same scenario...so not letting DWM's do their thing...
        
        The 3 times I have been to the Maggie factory have all been great experiences...Lots of MN "NICE" floating around there, hard working Midwesterners with extreme pride in the work they do...lots of hands on go into every pair of Maggies...Good peeps making great speakers...
        
        And they still survived without a Stereophile reviews and measurements...go figure... ;)
        
        thanks Josh
        Mark
        
        
        

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        • RE: the two places I have heard them... - josh358 06:05:05 10/08/15 (4)
          In Reply to: RE: the two places I have heard them... posted by Mark Man on October 07, 2015 at 20:57:20

          Here's the arrangement in Mark's office. Of course, it helps to have the designer seated next to them, they're on their best behavior!
          

          
          
          

          
          
          
          

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          • The Mount Rushmore of Magnepan...question - Mark Man 06:54:20 10/08/15 (3)
            In Reply to: RE: the two places I have heard them... posted by josh358 on October 08, 2015 at 06:05:05

            Like I said Josh...you have allot more juice than I do...great pic...
            
            Who is currently the chief designer and came up with the .7 series using QR for the base and series crossover? Is it Mark?
            
            Thanks
            Mark
            
            
            
            

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            • RE: The Mount Rushmore of Magnepan...question - josh358 07:55:28 10/08/15 (2)
              In Reply to: RE: The Mount Rushmore of Magnepan...question posted by Mark Man on October 08, 2015 at 06:54:20

              Alas, the one condition on my visit was that the design process was off limits -- otherwise I had the run of the place. I would have loved to see the R&D lab!
              
              I do know though that the foil quasi ribbon was what Jim had originally wanted to use on the Maggies, and that they had used wire instead because of manufacturing practicality -- it's easier and cheaper to apply the wire. IIRC, they'd also had a model with a series crossover, and I read somewhere that Mark had wanted to eliminate the external crossover box -- he told me that most customers these days are less interested in bi amping and crossovers, which makes sense considering the availability of decent-sounding high powered amps -- bi amping still sounds better of course, but less better than it did in the days of the D-76.
              

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              • Still in the Black Opps or Skunk works mode... - Mark Man 08:14:30 10/08/15 (1)
                In Reply to: RE: The Mount Rushmore of Magnepan...question posted by josh358 on October 08, 2015 at 07:55:28

                I was wondering who the Chief design is and/or how many engineers on staff???
                
                I do get, getting rid of the outboard factory passive x-overs...and since this tweaking Maggie board at times and how much people like to "upgrade" their Maggies...when they changed to the series x-over, I remember this board and all the sky is falling posts...But we have Neo, doing surgery on the 3.7i's, now...so it begins...
                
                It does not surprise me they did not let a guy like you in the R&D lab...
                (that is a complement, by the way, because you would "know" what you are seeing...unlike a guy like me that would just say..."cool")
                
                thanks for sharing...to their credit, the end results speak for themselves...
                
                Mark
                
                
                

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                • RE: Still in the Black Opps or Skunk works mode... - josh358 08:55:58 10/08/15 (0)
                  In Reply to: RE: Still in the Black Opps or Skunk works mode... posted by Mark Man on October 08, 2015 at 08:14:30

                  I do know that they're big enough to have a specialized engineering staff, e.g., production engineer, QC engineer, etc. And of course Mark and Jim are engineers themselves. While I didn't get to witness the R&D effort, when I was there I was impressed by how everyone worked together. It seemed a very collegial atmosphere and they're used to working as a team.
                  
                  While he couldn't show me current products, Wendell did offer to show me some of the projects they've worked on in the past. I would have loved to see them, but we ran out of time. I did see by chance a bunch of prototype Mini Maggie baffles of all shapes and sizes. It gives you an idea of how much tweaking and experimentation goes on to produce the sound we take for granted.
                  

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• RE: Yeah, apples and oranges - johnvb 09:23:14 10/07/15 (0)
  In Reply to: RE: Yeah, apples and oranges posted by Mark Man on October 07, 2015 at 06:37:17

  It's encouraging that the 20 something crowd is buying anything audiophile related...maybe there's hope for the hobby yet.
  

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