*** Here's a post I posted elsewhere, but I think it would be good to share here too***
Well, I’m back from Magnepan!
I got to have a factory tour and had a chance to listen to the 20.7’s in stereo and as part of a tri-center with a CCR and MMC2’s. Sorry, I didn’t take pictures. Also, please forgive my lack of detailed explanations and terminology. I'm quite new to this game.
Wendell gave my wife and I the tour, and I have to agree with Josh, he was a genuinely nice guy and appeared to get pretty excited showing me around and demo’ing the tri-center for me. It was a great experience. We drove form Fargo to White Bear Lake and still had to make it to Chicago that day. I would have loved to stay longer, but we had to go after 2 hours.
The majority of the tour was while everyone was on lunch break, as that’s just the time I arrived. It was pretty neat to see all the models. They were building 20.7’s on the day I was there. I did finally get to see Mylar for the first time and see how they assembled the ribbons and adhered everything together. Wendell did drop a ribbon in my hand that was 2-3 inches long and, like he says, I couldn’t feel it land on my hand at all.
I wanted to hear the 3.7’s in a tri-center because I just ordered the 3.7’s, but apparently a prospective 20.7 buyer was flying in the next day so Wendell told me we’d have to listen to the 20.7’s. With how busy he is with The SHOW, I completely understand trying to save time by not setting up the room twice.
Now, a disclaimer. When we entered the “listening room”, I kind of zoned out a little bit, drooling over the 20.7’s. So when Wendell said a few things, I didn’t hear anything anyone said. Luckily my wife was there and was able to pay attention to what I didn’t. So Wendell sat us down in front of the 20.7’s and told us his friend recorded the music we were about to listen to with a special mic he made. The first selection of music were drums and drums alone. I didn’t hear him saying all this, as I was in la-la land, but my wife says Wendell says that the tri-center works best with single or just a few instruments and the tri-center didn’t work quite as well with lots of instruments, vocals, and with contemporary music.
Wendell handed me the Bryston remote and told me to just A-B switch the tri-center on/off. Wendell had us listen in the dark of course. The room was pretty small and I was closer to the R speaker and my wife closer to the L speaker. 20.7 tweeters were in. When in stereo, unfortunately, 90% of the sound I heard only came from the R speaker. I actually thought the L was disconnected for a while. My wife only really heard the L speaker, as she was closer to that one. In that room, with tweeters in, apparently the sweet spot was very, very small. So I did not get a good stereo effect in there and it was tough to judge the 20.7’s by themselves. I could have moved by wife further out =) but I wanted to her enjoy it too.
When the music first started playing, the Bryston was in tri-center mode. When in tri-center, with the lights off, both my wife and I thought the set-up sounded perfectly real. It really, truly sounded like we were in the middle of the front rows for the show we were listening to. The sound stage was extended to the room’s walls and up to the ceiling like we were in a concert hall. You could easily hear where each drum was located and the drums just had that “pop” you hear in real life. All I can say, is it felt like it was 100% pure. Best musical experience I’ve ever heard. It doesn’t get any more real in real life.
Going back to 2ch, the sound stage shrunk. I could then mainly just hear the R speaker in my seat due to being off axis. The sound stage also lowered and came down from the ceiling and no longer felt like we were in a concert hall. It basically turned into a mono-performance partly due to being too close to the R speaker. This was similar to the letdown I experienced when I listened to the 3.7’s and then listened to the 1.7’s… the 1.7’s just didn’t cut it anymore. When I heard the tri-center, 2ch just wasn’t real enough and it was tough to go back to.
Again, to be fair, the 2ch didn’t image well because I was too far off axis so it is difficult to have a fair comparison IMO. We were short on time, the music was loud and we were in the dark, so I didn’t try to get more central. The tri-center was heaven. I’m just not sure if the 20.7’s in a good room and being between the L and R speaker, if it would be as good or not. For all I know, the 20.7’s in an ideal situation could be just as good. Don’t know how they could be better, because the tri-center appeared perfect.
Also, the recordings were done with a special mic. We didn’t have time to try and listen to other music. So I’m not sure if overall it would work for me. I listen to the likes of Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Head and the Heart, etc. My wife recalls Wendell saying it didn’t work as well with vocals and more contemporary music, so I’m not sure my listening preferences fit it’s strengths. And I’m not sure how well the special mic helped too. The CCR and MC2’s are out of my price range. Wendell said I could get almost as good of an experience using the CC5 and MC1’s. Also, Wendell was quick to point out he didn’t expect to sell any more speakers because of the tri-center, but he genuinely just wanted to share the experience with people.
Before we left Wendell put on Castaway with Tom Hanks for various scenes. It was only a 3 channel setup and it sounded fantastic. Probably be best audio I’ve heard from a movie ever and this is without a subwoofer or any surround channels. And it was impressive enough that my wife, who grudgingly OK’s my purchase of the 3.7’s but said “no more”, is now open to the idea of adding more Maggies to the mix. So Wendell’s demonstration actually won her over, which is a very tough sell!
So to recap, the tri-center with 20.7’s, CCR, and MC2’s playing simple music with a special mic sounded like heaven. I just have no idea how it would sound with other types of music or a “normal” mic. It’s worth flying up there just to listen IMO.
Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions!
-Bardo
