Magnepan announces the 20.7


Jacob Heilbrunn has a first look on The Absolute Sound's site.

"But here’s the skinny: no other speaker at this price will offer even remotely similar lifelike performance, and it should—no, will—scare the bejeezus out of most of its competitors. It’s no accident that Audio Research, which I also got to visit, has 3.7 loudspeakers as part of its reference system. So go ahead. Search for another loudspeaker. But I can only wish you good luck. I defy you to find one at up to five times the cost with the scale and realism of the 20.7."

http://www.avguide.com/blog/first-listen-magnepan-s-new-flagship-207-loudspeaker
josh358
I hope Gifted Listener in Centreville gets them early on so I can hear both the 3.7 and 20.7. If the 20.7 can be bi-amped that would give them a huge advantage in my situation.

I still have my MGIIIAs which have been refurbished a couple time over the years ( My original Maggies were the 2Bs).

I now bi-amp then with 2 ARC D400s and a Marchand external XO along with a pair of velodyne subs. The D400 could run in bridged mode to take advantage of all the power and the guys at ARC said they could handle the current requirements, but I would still rather bi-amp if possible. Guess I have become a convert :-)

Bottom line is I think I have done all I can do to get the most from the old girls and the new "7 series" has got me drooling.
The best speakers in the world?
Apparently, the same guy, Steve Guttenberg, CNET, praised so much about the Tannoy Kensington on May 1, 2010 while he also praised the Magnepan 3.7 on Dec 29, 2010 as the best sounding speakers.
Which one is which one; and it all depends on the advertising dollars, right?
Is there anyone out there can comment on the two: Magnepan and Tannoy.
Disclosure: I own the Magnepan 3.6 and currently listening to the Tannoy, if for a change.
I have Magnepan speakers for the last 20 years and never have any intention to change until now.
Please advice
There's an awful lot of gushing in speaker reviews! Part of that I think is just that there are lot of good speakers out there these days. Part of it is that some reviewers have tin ears. :-) But that of course is just my personal explanation of why some people have the temerity to disagree with me.

Anyway, since no speaker is perfect and they all have different strengths and weaknesses, it seems to me that the only way you can make this decision is by listening yourself. Clearly, the .7 Maggie are highly regarded by the critics, as well as the people who have bought them. And it seems that the Tannoy is highly regarded as well. For the kind of money we're talking about, I'd go out of my way to hear them both (the Tannoy and the 20.7, I mean, since you have the budget).

I've seen so many debates with people who insist that the speakers they own are great and everything else sucks -- while some speakers are obviously better than others, there really is a lot of personal taste involved in the choice as well.
Despite the hyperventilating expect an incremental improvement, as I predicted with the 1.7 and 3.7.