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Can you ever go back and be happy?

My audiophile friends and I often discuss if we know any highenders who have great planar speakers (Soundlabs,Apogees,Magnepans) that could go back to a box enclosure speaker and could truely be satisfied with the sound of their system. We believe there is a special quality the way a well designed planar loads a room which just sounds more natural and real to us compared with a baffled speaker design. On to the question. Not including having to down size or change speakers because of $issues or logistics, having to move your sytem to a smaller space etc., have any of you GON members gone from a world class planar to a box enclosed design and were able to really be happy and not long for the "good old planar days". We do not personally know anyone who has ever done it and was truly happy about afterwards. It would be great if any of you fellow GON members can relate to this question through your own personal experience and share your opinions with us.
teajay
kusina
78 posts
 
Assuming good quality speakers, whether planar or "box," and good electronics, much depends on the accoustical properties of your room. I had Quad 57's, then went to Quad ESL-63s in a very large room. The arrangement of furniture in our livingroom, as largely decided by my wife, forced me to sit about eighteen feet from the speakers. There was an extremely narrow "sweet spot," and if I moved my head relatively slightly, the sound was degraded. I wanted to switch to large Soundlabs, which have better dispersion (as well as other benefits), but my wife vetoed the idea, on the ground that the Soundlabs were too large for where they would be placed. We agreed on acceptable dimensions, and I spent about six months in search of speakers. I finally bought Sonus Faber Amatis, which produce great sound even in my accostically challenged environment. And my wife has received so many compliments on their appearance that she alsmost thinks of them as her choice.
keneallyfan
25 posts
 
I moved from Magnepan MG12s to Dynaudio Contour 3.0s, which I purchased when Dynaudio upgraded the line a year or two ago. Box speakers in general just don't create that larger than life soundstage that Maggies do. On the other hand, the Dynaudios destroy the Maggies on rock, and sound very good with pretty much any type of music. Overall, I found the Maggies a little more finicky.
teajay OP
1,333 posts
 
Pbb, I'm quite curious about your reliability problems with your MG-3.6s. The Maggie owners,including myself, that I know have never experienced breakdowns with the exception of having to replace a ribbon tweater now and then through normal wear and tear. The replacement fee is very reasonable and the repair easy to do. Would you share what problems you encountered? Hope what ever was wrong is a thing in the past for you now.
larryi
1,972 posts
 
I've gone from Maggies to Acoustats to Martin Logan, and finally to a big, partially horn-loaded system (S.A.P. J2001). The liveliness, weight and dynamic behavior of my current system swayed me. The other big advantage of my current system is that it is very efficient (99db/w) and easy to drive, so I can use low-powered tube amps. There is nothing quite like low-powered triode amps, provided one has suitable speakers.
bryceeboy
115 posts
 
I've owned Maggies Typani 4's and then Soundlabs, started with the A-4's and now the A-1's. Have been using Soundlabs for 15 years. About 5 years ago I bought a new house and didn't have a dedicated room so I went looking at all the cone speakers of the day, Avalon, Thiel, Proac's etc... I ended up building a dedicated room and reinsttalling the A-1's. So for me at least I couldn't go back, however I have been pretty impressed with some of the newer boxes I've heard, Dali's, Coincidents, Sonus Fabor's. I'd be willing to bet a steak dinner that Albert comes back home to Soundlabs within 2 years.
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