[SteveFord]

No Maggie in our history has had more options available to get near-perfect phase and amplitude. If you can't get your demo 3.7s to perform as described by Harry Pearson and Jon Valin, give me a call. There are no excuses--only solutions that haven't been utilized.

Note: the "me" is Wendell Diller.

The 3.7 manual is on our website. Pay special attention to the diagrams to obtain near-perfect phase. Below are important excerpts from the 3.7 manual----

You must install a resistor or jumper for the operation of the tweeters. Most listening rooms will have the smoothest response when using the enclosed 1.2 ohm resistor for the tweeter. Rooms that are large and/or overly-damped may require the enclosed jumper for smooth response.

Especially, during the break-in period, try the 1.2 ohm resistors on the midrange. The addition of the midrange resistor will provide a "warmer" balance.
For those lucky enough to be getting a pair:

Fine-tuning the bass and midbass with the Maggie Woofer

Due to standing waves, dips and peaks in the bass and midbass are a fact of life. Each room has its sonic signature depending upon the size, shape and construction. One solution is electronic equalization to deal with room aberrations. Many of the newer receivers and processors incorporate a microphone and automatic EQ that will correct frequency imbalances. However, this approach has drawbacks and is not well accepted by most audiophiles. There is another and better solution.

Multiple subwoofers are commonly used to smooth room bass response. Although an expensive solution, this technique has been proven to be superior to EQ of a single subwoofer. Using the same fundamentals of acoustics, Magnepan has a solution which can fine-tune the bass and midbass of our floor-standing models--- the Maggie Woofer (DWM and DW 1).

More information is available on the Magnepan website to describe how the Maggie Woofers can be used to give you smooth bass and midbass in the most difficult of rooms.  WD-- This page will be on our website in the near future.

[AVnerdguy]

Dang! Now I HAVE to go listen to these - maybe tomorrow if my dealer has them set up. He usually gets them 1st as we're in the home territory (Minneapolis/St. Paul) and he sells quite a few. What to tell the wife..........

[josh358]

OK, I see the woofer page is up on their site, but it refers you to the manual:

When both time domain and frequency response has been optimized in a given room, smaller, floor-standing Maggies can begin to replicate the "Gold Standard" of bass reproduction--the Tympani series Magneplanars. Technical details describing this application of the Maggie Woofers can be found in the DW 1 and DWM manuals.

Only the manuals don't say anything about multiple woofers . . .

Speaking of which, here's another question cum nag for Wendell: when are we going to see a new Tympani?

[SteveFord]

Regarding the Tympanis, I wouldn't be looking for a Tympani V if I were you.

[josh358]

Any idea why?

I've heard rumors that they're working on a $40,000 Tympani . . .

[SteveFord]

I asked Wendell about a Tympani yesterday for you and it sounds like I wouldn't hold your breath.

[josh358]

Oh well, thanks. (It wouldn't be for me, anyway -- room much too small .)

I wonder why they don't bring it back. You'd think there'd be a market for a Maggie with bass slam . . .

[SteveFord]

Sales probably wouldn't justify the development and production costs, I would think. 
I'll keep you posted on the set up ideas for two of the Maggie woofers - I think that's how Magnepan is going to tackle it instead of the monster panels.  Better WAF plus you don't need a gigundo room as well.
For those really set on the Tympanis, I wonder how a refurbished set of the IVs with an outboard ribbon would do? 

[josh358]

Satie over at the Planar Asylum has done great things with his Tympani IV's. He replaced the midrange, their weak point, with an array of BG Neo-8's. The Tympani IV/IVA ribbon, while not quite as good as the later quarter inch versions, is so good that I suspect it wouldn't make sense to replace it with the newer ones. It's still one of the best tweeters ever made.

Some people have also combined Tympani woofer panels with other versions, e.g., the 3.6. I suppose the best possible combination would be 20.1's and IVA's, which have better woofers than the IV (more efficient -- not sure if they go lower).

While their midbass was wonderful, the 1-X's don't go as deep as the later models. Still, the bass on my 1-D's was extraordinary. What none of the later models can do is offer that combination of dynamic woofer slam and planar realism. The only time my 1-D's ever bottomed was on the Telarc 1812, and I was playing pretty loud -- in my young and nutty days I used to blow tweeter fuses. Whereas even 20.1's will bottom on "normal" program material, if you push them.

My whacky "kill two birds with one stone" idea for Tympani development: design an 18" wide (width of a IVA panel) satellite Maggie, with true ribbon tweeter, quasi ribbon midrange and midbass (for economy's sake, they could be on a single diaphragm, either divided or in a .5 way configuration). This would function from 80 Hz -20 Khz. People with small rooms like mine who nevertheless want a high end Maggie could use it with dynamic subs or the Maggie woofers. People with large rooms could buy, separately, Tympani bass panels that would cover the range from 20-80 kHz, and that could be joined to the satellite panels or run separately, as they could in the IVA. The Tympani panels could also be used as subs by people who own 3.x's or 20.x's. That way, the R&D costs and dealer shelf space etc. would be spread between two markets, neither of which might be sufficient in and of itself.

[gtb75]

You know, when you think about it, the "Mini Maggie" combined with the DWM/DW 1 is sort of a modern multi-panel Magnepan - albeit on a much smaller scale!  Magnepan is already talking about using the new woofers with larger Magnepans on their website, so I guess you could see that as a step in the right direction if you're looking like something along the lines of a modern Tympani...  Obviously it's a far cry from the Tympani but, who knows, it might just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg if the combination is a big sales hit for them 

That being said, I'm really curious to see what the Mini Maggies are all about - once Magnepan gets caught up on all of the 1.7/3.7 backorders (including mine) and can get around to building them.  The inital press on them from CES last year was really positive, so I have high hopes for them.  I've got a secondary system in a smaller room where they would probably be a great fit!

[SteveFord]

The Tiny Tym-pani?

Josh,
The most I could get for you is that they actually have been experimenting somewhat along the lines you've suggested but what, if anything, will be brought to market is not on the horizon due to more immediate concerns.
They're a secretive bunch, kind of like Swiss bankers. 
I can just tell that they're up to something really wild but I don't know what it is. 

[josh358]

You know, when you think about it, the "Mini Maggie" combined with the DWM/DW 1 is sort of a modern multi-panel Magnepan - albeit on a much smaller scale!  Magnepan is already talking about using the new woofers with larger Magnepans on their website, so I guess you could see that as a step in the right direction if you're looking like something along the lines of a modern Tympani...  Obviously it's a far cry from the Tympani but, who knows, it might just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg if the combination is a big sales hit for them 

That being said, I'm really curious to see what the Mini Maggies are all about - once Magnepan gets caught up on all of the 1.7/3.7 backorders (including mine) and can get around to building them.  The inital press on them from CES last year was really positive, so I have high hopes for them.  I've got a secondary system in a smaller room where they would probably be a great fit!

Me too, since I'm stuck right now with a 13' x 14' room which has to do double duty as a home theater. I don't think I can fit anything larger than the 1.7, so it's either the Mini Maggies, the 1.7, or something semi custom.

[josh358]

Josh,
The most I could get for you is that they actually have been experimenting somewhat along the lines you've suggested but what, if anything, will be brought to market is not on the horizon due to more immediate concerns.
They're a secretive bunch, kind of like Swiss bankers. 
I can just tell that they're up to something really wild but I don't know what it is.

Whoa, thanks, that's actually a lot more than I expected! You've certainly aroused my curiosity.

Can't say I blame them for being secretive -- not that there are a bunch of people clamoring to be planar manufacturers, these days, but better to be safe than sorry. Maybe by the time they come out with their new whatever it is I will have moved to a place with a decent sized listening room.