[Pryso]

Much discussion continues on the size of the room for matching with various Maggie models. Clearly there is no consensus.

However for those who read Paul McGowan's "Paul's Posts" you know he had great difficulty in setting up a pair of MG 20.7s for the PS Audio Munich Show demo. With some set up help and a subwoofer they finally achieved satisfactory results. So just look at the lead photo in the Stereophile article - placement must be at least 15 feet into the room!  The result was voted one of the best sounds at the show.

[Roger Gustavsson]

Magnepan 20.1 as demonstrated by Audionord a few years earlier at Munich High-End. Audionord is the european distributor of Magnepan since about 40 years.

[jaylevine]

.....lead photo in the Stereophile article - placement must be at least 15 feet into the room....

My 'man cave', really a 'man closet' at this point, is only 10' x 12' Thank god my Sennheiser HD800s sound good at any distance away from the wall

[SteveFord]

That does look like a difficult room for those big monsters.
It looks like he injured himself kicking the walls in frustration.

[Roger Gustavsson]

The setup that Audionord had resulted in very positive reports on the sound.

[*Scotty*]

That room and a gymnasium have a lot in common, like bad acoustics. It's no small wonder that the speakers had to be out in the room like that.
 Unless an audiophile is particularly dense, their room won't be a big empty box with no acoustic treatments or furniture. I would consider this a highly anomalous situation that is hopefully not repeated in an owner's listening room.
Scotty

[SteveFord]

Remember Stereopile putting Bob Carver through the wringer with his old Amazing speakers?
If I remember correctly they set them up in an all cement room with only a couch in place and then they told him that his speakers sounded horrible and he kept jumping through hoops making modifications to them until they finally got a passing grade.
No wonder his hair fell out.

[*Scotty*]

Of course if you optimize the response curve and radiation pattern for a bare concrete box it's questionable how well it will perform in a conventional listening room.
Scotty

[SteveFord]

I've recently been bouncing one of my long standing brain storms off of Wendell regarding big speakers in smallish rooms.
Mine was to get some used 20.1s (which would be more affordable than a pair of used 20.7s), make some shorter frames so they're not so tall and tackle the crossover components to see if I can't manage to tame the upper bass/lower midrange output.
It looks like that is one to forget.  The fatal sentence was "they are voiced for larger rooms and the 20.1s might give you even more bass than the 20.7s". 
I'm told that the 20.7s have a smoother bass response than the previous versions.
It may not have been what I wanted to hear but I'm glad that I asked.  It sure saved me a lot of money and aggravation.
Perhaps what I really need is to get two really good subwoofers for the 3.7s instead of just one "eh, it's okay" one.

[Roger Gustavsson]

I think there is a lot to gain while going for an active low pass crossover on the basses on the 20.1. The high pass on the mid could be low level passive or active.

[berni]

  The fatal sentence was "they are voiced for larger rooms and the 20.1s might give you even more bass than the 20.7s". 
I'm told that the 20.7s have a smoother bass response than the previous versions.

Hmmm, can you explain this? Dont really get it?

Here mine 20.1  at work, changed my speaker cables with some Analysis plus solo crystal oval8, and there was a upgrade alltough I am not a cable guy.

[SteveFord]

Fixed your picture for you.



I'm willing to take Wendell's word that I don't have a prayer of getting the larger ones to work right in my living room.
I'd imagine they achieved a smoother frequency response with the 20.7s; I'm pretty sure that's what the goal was with the 3.7i's, too.
If I had a bigger house, well, I'd have the 20.7s but I don't so no 20.whatevers are in my future.
I will try two subs a bit further on down the road.

[Pryso]

"larger rooms", "smallish rooms", what is really intended here?  If there was ever a suggested definition for the sizes of large, medium, and small rooms I've never seen it.

Based on his comment that his 20.1s apparently contradict Wendell's statement suggests berni does not consider his room to be large.  Of course we don't see all of the room in his photo but it does not look like what "I'd" call a small room!

Steve, based on your interest in modding 20.1s have you ever auditioned a pair of DWMs with your speakers?  You mention two subs down the road but don't say what type.  I thought the DWM was based on the woofer panel of the 20.1.  Also haven't several folks reported wonderful results when mating DWMs even with larger Maggies such as the 3 Series?

[berni]

Thank you Steve. But now it is mirror left right.
What I cant understand is why should the 20.1 be better in bas when
they are already lacking punch?
In my room which is 6m wide 8m long and even opened to larger rooms, slowly every step brings me more
pleasure and weight,, but there are limits. The last thing I did are the speaker cables now Analysis plus solo crystal oval 8. A improvement which can be heard.

[SteveFord]

I'm hoping that they'll come out with a larger DMW model - maybe twice the height of the current one so there will be more surface area.  I might be waiting a long time, though...

[Pryso]

Steve, the DWM appears to be only slightly less than half of a 20 series bass panel.  Wendell might offer specific dimensions.  So doubling the size of the DWM and adding that to any model smaller than a 20 series would result in total bass panel area larger than a 20.x.  Do you believe you need that?

Maybe I'm influenced by the Hi Fi Plus review of the 3.7i with a pair of DWMs. 

[SteveFord]

I had a DMW here for a bit, perhaps you're right in trying a pair of them out to see how they work.
The goal is to replicate "that sound" which only the 20.x series possess but without overloading the room with way too much bass.
One thing that holds me back is the living room will end up with two 3.7s, two subwoofers, and two DMWs which will make my living room look just a little peculiar.  Maybe hide the DMWs inside of furniture like they show on Magnepan's site and then throw a doily or some such on top of them.

[TitaniumTroy]

Steve, any thoughts on going with a pair of dipole subs, like Davey has in his system?

[berni]

Steve, any thoughts on going with a pair of dipole subs, like Davey has in his system?

I have a project with two 18" dipole woffers in a U shape dipole configuration going on, but no
free time yet. I choose FI IB318 for testing but the best choice would be the AE drivers , which I already
heard what they are capable of.