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RE: Probably the only honest opinion!

As I recall, one of the reasons Wendell chose the walk-around strategy was that at the typical seated demo, most people don't get to hear the speakers at the sweet spot, so he wanted people to be able to rotate into it.

Of course, that's compromised by poor acoustics at many dealers, and the fact that he has to optimize the speaker for off-axis listening which detracts from imaging. Wendell was so upset by poor acoustics at the start of the tour that he almost called it off. As I recall, his wife commented at one of the early demos, in a particularly bad space, that even properly set up 3.7's sounded better!

This is a frustrating problem for Magnepan. Few dealers will be showing the 30.7. They'd love to have every potential customer hear it set up properly in a good room, as the critics hear it and as the speaker would sound at home. But they can't do that. Wendell won't even take the 30.7 to shows, because as he says he hears flagship products from other manufacturers sounding terrible at shows and doesn't want to do that. Those manufacturers are showing the flag and letting people ooh and ah, but people who go to shows know that speakers typically don't sound their best there, it's too hard to get a good room (there are only a few at any venue) and even if a manufacturer scores one few people will hear them from the sweet spot.

So basically, this tour is a branding exercise, getting the Magnepan name out there. As Wendell puts it, it would be a very economically inefficient way of selling 30.7's! If someone is really serious about considering a purchase and needs to hear them properly set up first, it seems to me that they should talk to their dealer or to Wendell and see if something can be arranged.

That said, knowing my old IVa's as I do and the improvements that they've made to the 30.7 -- every single driver and the crossover as well have been improved -- and having read reviews by JV and others, I have no doubt that they're spectacular. It must be frustrating to Wendell to see people responding to poor dealer acoustics when it's a given that no speaker will be at its best in such circumstances (we know how much work it takes to "dial in" dipoles even in a good room).

In any case, most reactions from showgoers have been positive -- we're just a fussier crowd, since we already know what Maggies can do when properly set up. This is a frustration to Wendell since we're also the ones who write online reviews. :-)


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