Magnepan owners : past / present

I'm not sure that I'd be comfortable stating, "This is because they very noticeably subtract low-level information; particularly dynamic shifts and harmonic decay."
I would call the 'low level (information) resolution on the Magnepans first rate--not unlike some of the electrostatics. Again, to my ear they lack the perceived 'impact' of a long throw driver, punching the air with the force of a few mm's of distance.
My observations of the Magnepans up to and including the 20.1's has been that low level res is greater and more nuanced than on many dynamics. The totality of difference in presentation of a dipole can confuse the listener, even a 'Critique'.

Larry

Soundlabs

Lrsky miss understood Plato. I think he meant that the VMPSs were easier to drive.

"VARIOUS MAGNEPAN MODELS- All the speakers from Magnepan, including the Reference Tympani bass panels above, require above average power, and louder-than-life sound pressure, to sound "alive". This is because they very noticeably subtract low-level information; particularly dynamic shifts and harmonic decay."

I'd have to agree with Arthur Salvatore (Audio Critique) in that the Magnepans lack dynamic contrast and require a lot of power. Purely resistive or not, you need to give them a lot to jump a little. IME you just cannot give them enough power, and I easily get listening fatigue with them due to increased spl required to extract some detail I am used to.

FWIW, at the moment I am modding my Soundlabs, and injected a pair of 1.6qr. They have some of the nice dipole qualities, but they are in no way as detailed as either my Quads or Soundlabs, my Tannoys either for that matter.

I can see how someone could switch from mag to Ohms, similar ambient information, but both are veiled IMO.

Go ahead and tag me!

I had some other dipole speakers before. Infinity RSIIa. had those for 20 plus years.. then I used a pair of Magnepan IIb. those were well used when I got them, and i went to a pair of B&W 805s.
Well I liked the Magnepan sound enough to go buy a pair of 3.6s new this last Spring.
So I cannot say what I would replace them with, as they are probably the last speakers I will be buying... even if I won the lottery. (I would buy bigger amps etc, but keep the Maggies..LOL!

There you have it, bigger amps for Magnepan! Not the first time I have heard or felt that...

Well - as always when talking about Maggies we get to how much power.

Has anyone driven them with Class D amplification like the Wyred4sound STI 500 amps?

By the way, I agree with part of what Soundlabs wrote "IME you just cannot give them enough power, and I easily get listening fatigue with them due to increased spl required to extract some detail I am used to."

I Listened to A Krell S300I Amp with 300 WPC/4Ohms and I heard a lot more than with a MacIntosh MA 6300 at 160 wpc/4ohms.

However, as a relative neophyte on these discussions, I did think that I upped the sound pressure levels in order to hear it. Is it possible that the extra power helps to carry the dynmanic peaks better which gets into more detail and better decay but not necessarily a lot louder?