Why are Magnepan's so cheap?
I've always had an interest in Magnepan planar speakers, which I know are popular with some folks here, which get very good reviews. They seem to be a great made in the USA product, but I can't figure out why they are so cheap (relatively). The top of the line 20.7 is $14K which is quite pricey, but next down 3.7 drops to $5.5K; cheap for a full range, high end speaker! And used versions are even cheaper as sometimes half of MSRP.
Is Magnepan just that cool that they can offer a fantastic product at an un-audiophile price? I know those companies do exist, but they seem to be few and far between.
Is Magnepan just that cool that they can offer a fantastic product at an un-audiophile price? I know those companies do exist, but they seem to be few and far between.
Post edited by zingo on
Comments
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My absolute favorite loudspeaker. It's always been one of the best hi-fi bargains in audio and this is one of the many reasons they ALWAYS get chosen for editors choice, Golden Ear awards, etc etc etc.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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I had the pleasure of hearing a pair of highly modded 1.6s (with external crossovers) and two very nice subs. I was blown away!
System 1:Nakamichi PA-7Kenwood Basic C2Polk SDA 1C moddedSystem 2:Dynaco ST-70Polk Monitor 5B modded -
I am constantly amazed by the value they offer for the price. The new 1.7's are only 2k brand new, and you can get a lightly used pair of 1.6's for under a grand. I think the 1.6 at ~800 bucks used has got to be one of the best deals in audio out there... and they are consistently available.
As you mentioned, made in the USA, and I've had the pleasure of dealing with Magnepan customer service on multiple occasions, and they are top notch. They have sent me small parts or manuals for free or just the cost of shipping a few times. Their CS is as good as Polk's!:biggrin:2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
As a Magnepan Dealer , I have had the pleasure of listening to the entire line over the years , connecting them in different rooms and with different amps. I will say this , they are very good sounding speakers but are terrible looking. I hate the way they look right down the generic looking feet on the bottom.
They are also very power hungry. Without good clean strong power , they don't sound all that great. Actually they fall on their face. But when you do set them up correctly which is different then mot speakers I have Installed , they can be very magical. The bass they can produce is actually shocking with a panel with no external woofer. I do however enjoy using a subwoofer with them to give them the ultimate performance.
Great value for those who can get over their awful looks.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
The word is 'inexpensive', not 'cheap'.
Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes
Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables
Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
Three 20 amp circuits. -
...Great value for those who can get over their awful looks.
lol, I like how they look!:cheesygrin:2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
I have always thought they were an incredible value too, based on all the love the bigger maggies get. Agree, 5.5k for nearly their top-tier speaker is outstanding.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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"They are also very power hungry. Without good clean strong power , they don't sound all that great. " - Mantis
Dude, it's a 4 ohm loudspeaker with 86db efficiency....how is this any different from any other speaker with the exact same spec's? If the potential buyer doesn't understand what those numbers mean, then they shouldn't be buying them. The spec's are generic from the 3.7 but they've never been efficient....ever.
And what kind of fancy feet solution would you suggest for stabilizing a flat panel the size of a typical household door?
MarkCTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint. -
I think the reason for soft pricing in the used market is the placent and size, they sound best in the middle of tje room away from any walls and tjey take up tje entire room and the wives just love that. LOL.Main Rig:
Krell KAV 250a biamped to mid/highs
Parasound HCA1500A biamped to lows
Nakamichi EC100 Active xover
MIT exp 1 ic's
Perreaux SA33 class A preamp
AQ kingcobra ic's
OPPO 83 CDP
Lehmann audio black cube SE phono pre, Audioquest phono wire (ITA1/1)
Denon DP-1200 TT. AToc9ML MC cart.
Monster HTS 3600 power conditioner
ADS L1590/2 Biamped
MIT exps2 speaker cable -
I like the way they look too. One of the best speakers I have ever heard was the 3 properly set-up in a listening room with great amplification.
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I disagree on your placement suggestion as they should not be placed in the middle of the room or be entirely away from a rear vertical surface. Certainly you wouldn't want them flush against the wall or within inches but you wouldn't do this for any speaker.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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Well, look at the amount of raw materials needed..."He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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Maggies take alittle more attention to get right and some just prefer a speaker they can drop in where the last set was. Add that a ribbon speaker is more concerned with humidity, smoke. Size too, like a door as Mark said doesn't make them kid friendly either. They are more at home in a dedicated room with some sort of climate control year round and a hefty dose of clean power. They do sound wonderful as long as you augment that lower portion with a subwoofer. Plus, imho anyway, they are kinda fugly looking and not wife friendly. Add all that up and you can see why on the used market they are a steal.HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
Aprox 3 feet from the front walls in the livingroom i had mine in was the moddle of the room. LOLMain Rig:
Krell KAV 250a biamped to mid/highs
Parasound HCA1500A biamped to lows
Nakamichi EC100 Active xover
MIT exp 1 ic's
Perreaux SA33 class A preamp
AQ kingcobra ic's
OPPO 83 CDP
Lehmann audio black cube SE phono pre, Audioquest phono wire (ITA1/1)
Denon DP-1200 TT. AToc9ML MC cart.
Monster HTS 3600 power conditioner
ADS L1590/2 Biamped
MIT exps2 speaker cable -
falconcry72 wrote: »lol, I like how they look!:cheesygrin:
So do I - got a pair of 1.7's last month & just love them.
They are more power hungry than any other speaker I've owned, but damn do they sound good!HT
Onkyo TX-NR1008 | Magnepan 1.7 | Polk LSiC | Polk VM20 | Polk DSW microPro 2000 | Parasound HCA-2205A | Oppo BDP-93
2-Ch
Cary SLP 30 Tube Preamp | Polk LSi7 | Carver M1.5t | Audio-gd Digital Interface | W4S DAC-2 | MAC Mini | Denon DP300f & Pro-Ject Debut III TT's -
Speakers are like women, doesn't matter how they look if you close your eyes, its all about the enjoyment they bring you....
If that aint sig material I dont know what is
. "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
EndersShadow wrote: »Speakers are like women, doesn't matter how they look if you close your eyes, its all about the enjoyment they bring you....
Disagree on so many levels. You would never say that if you weren't married I bet. :razz: -
Great value for those who can get over their awful looks.
Mine were used as the monolith in "2001-A Space Odyssey".:cheesygrin:
I too love the look, and the shocked looks on people's faces when they see how thin they are.
Further, I don't think that they are cheap by any means. They are well built, priced right to begin with, and can hold their value like SDA's have done. My MG20's were built about the same time as the 1.2TL's were coming to an end, and sold for around 10k when new. For a set in mint condition, they still bring 4k. The older Tympani series can actually sell for the same money if they have been properly cared for. So to me, they are not cheap, but instead represent a great value for the money, just like our Polks do.
And also, just like our Polks, shown the right love, they can sound better than others costing much, much more. They are also family owned and have not been gobbled up by a chinese multi-national corporation.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
I will say this , they are very good sounding speakers but are terrible looking. I hate the way they look right down the generic looking feet on the bottom.
To each his own...but yours is the first complaint I can recall about Magnepan aesthetics. I bought my MG 12's specifically for their appearance and I have received many compliments (from women) on how they look.
The first high end speakers I heard (back in 1985) was a pair of six foot tall Magnepan MG III's. I was impressed with the sound and the appearance...but then, I have always liked the look of large monolithic speakers. Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
I had the privilege of owing a pair of 1.7's and when combined with a great amp, can blow away quite a lot of >$20K speakers.
Bottom line, for a relatively good price, you get world-class speakers.My man-cave:
Pre-Amp: Peachtree GrandPre
Power Amp: Parasound Halo A23
Transport: Marantz CD6004
Phono: Pro-Ject Debut 2
Phono Amp: Bellari VP130
Speakers: ZuAudio Omen Def
Power conditioning: Panamax M5400-PM
Cables: AudioQuest - Rocket 33 Speaker, AudioQuest - King Cobra XLR
Cans: HiFiMan HE-500
DAC: Schiit Bifrost w/USB
Headphone Amp: Schiit Lyr
Power conditioning: Monster Power HTS 3600 MKII
Cables: OCC Balanced, Monster M1000 RCA -
I didn't say it was any different from any other 4 ohm 86db speaker. Not everyone who likes good sound knows about ohm load. I get people all the time wanting to power them with a typical receiver and why I can't I. I wouldn't not let anyone buy them IF they didn't know aout ohm load. Thats just silly."They are also very power hungry. Without good clean strong power , they don't sound all that great. " - Mantis
Dude, it's a 4 ohm loudspeaker with 86db efficiency....how is this any different from any other speaker with the exact same spec's? If the potential buyer doesn't understand what those numbers mean, then they shouldn't be buying them. The spec's are generic from the 3.7 but they've never been efficient....ever.
And what kind of fancy feet solution would you suggest for stabilizing a flat panel the size of a typical household door?
Mark
As far as the feet , have you seen them? Everyone agrees about the feet , they could have designed something a little better looking.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
They don't need to be in the middle of your room but they sound their best when the "float" in the room meaning have plenty of room to breath. Keeping the tweeters in the right position and correct spacing apart is where they become magical. Screw this up and they sound like crap.I disagree on your placement suggestion as they should not be placed in the middle of the room or be entirely away from a rear vertical surface. Certainly you wouldn't want them flush against the wall or within inches but you wouldn't do this for any speaker.
I had a few rooms where they where to big and they didn't sound anywhere near as good as they can and I have some damn nice gear to drive them with. The room crushed them completely. Same room with box speakers sounded much better , they where a nice pair of Revels that I really enjoyed listening to.Dan
My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time. -
Disagree on so many levels. You would never say that if you weren't married I bet. :razz:
LOL... there was a bit of sarcasm there as I am sure you noticed:razz:. Regardless, touche my Canadian friend. "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
i have a good corporate job and they look expensive to me. I don't know what's the mean income of the posters in this thread but I am surprised of this perception.
anyway, the reason the price is not higher is, of course, they don't sell. I am sure if they ran out of inventory the price would rise.
I have been planning to go hear these because of all the praises but I doubt I will ever put anything like this in my living room or bedroom. It just doesn't fit. Perhaps if u have a designated audio room. The audio designers definitely did a better job than he exterior designers..I have found that tube based computers provide the best sound quality. ENIAC and MANIAC I offer a smooth, well defined and articulated sound unmatched by the current silicon based CPUs.jeremymarcinko wrote: »But as in all things your perception is your reality. -
i have a good corporate job and they look expensive to me. I don't know what's the mean income of the posters in this thread but I am surprised of this perception.
They make smaller, less inxpensive models, too. I believe the MMG's are 600 bucks brand new. Cheaper used, obviously.I doubt I will ever put anything like this in my living room or bedroom. It just doesn't fit.
Again, they make smaller models, too. The MMG's will fit anywhere.2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
Falcon I believe the MMG's are only 500 which makes them even more attractive..."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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EndersShadow wrote: »Falcon I believe the MMG's are only 500 which makes them even more attractive...
Nice. Yea, my first pair were the MG-12's (in between the MMG and 1.6QR in size and price), and they were fantastic. Not great bass, but they weren't severely lacking either. Then I moved up to the 1.6, and they just filled the room better, sounded more "live", and had better bass. Then to the 1.7's, which are very similar the the 1.6's but just slightly better at everything, and then to the 3.6's, with the true ribbon tweeter, which were phenomenal. I offed the 3.6's just to keep experimenting with different speaker designs, but it's likely that I'll find my way back there after the next couple pairs come and go.2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
I kind of dove in this pond head-first. I started with the MMG's and within week I was no the prowl for a set of the MG-20's or Tympani. As soon as I heard the little ones, I was transported back to the factory in White Bear Lake. The demo room at Magnepan was heaven on earth for me. I would spend lunch breaks there enjoying the music emanating from the Tympani set-up they had, powered by Audio Research gear.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
nooshinjohn wrote: »...powered by Audio Research gear.
That's interesting. I hoped that they had some sort of relationship with ARC, given that they're both Minnesotan companies, but at shows they almost always use Bryston. Nothing wrong with Bryston, but tubes play nicely with Maggies, and ARC makes fine product.2-Channel: PC > Schiit Eitr > Audio Research DAC-8 > Audio Research LS-26 > Pass Labs X-250.5 > Magnepan 3.7's
Living Room: PC > Marantz AV-7703 > Emotiva XPA-5 > Sonus Faber Liuto Towers, Sonus Faber Liuto Center, Sonus Faber Liuto Bookshelves > Dual SVS PC12-Pluses
Office: Phone/Tablet > AudioEngine B1 > McIntosh D100 > Bryston 4B-ST > Polk Audio LSiM-703's -
Where is the factory in WBL? And How the heck did I grow up in Hugo and not know this? Whens the last time you been to Cup & Cone?nooshinjohn wrote: »I was transported back to the factory in White Bear Lake. The demo room at Magnepan was heaven on earth for me. I would spend lunch breaks there enjoying the music emanating from the Tympani set-up they had, powered by Audio Research gear.
