Magnepan magneplanar SMG user reviews ( 10/10) - 2 user reviews

• 10/20/08

  Audiofanzine FR's review

  Overall Opinion

  (Originally written by Bernard Ancèze/translated from Audiofanzine FR)
  
  
  
  Electrostatic loudspeaker. The speaker is mounted on a wooden frame. The voice coil is not a coil but a streamer placed behind the speaker. This streamer, which is thin for the highs and thick for the lows, is protected by a fuse. It's a magnetic loudspeaker so it doesn't need a power supply. These SMG have 4 ohms of impedance like all Magnepan models. The amp must support a 4-ohm load and deliver 2 x 100 watts at 4 ohms. The low-frequency quality doesn't depend on the amp's power but on its ability to shape square waves (in the low frequency range). And this depends on the quality of the components and the amp's design. So it's better to use a well-designed 2 x 50-watt / 8-ohm amp than a big but inefficient amp that delivers 2 x 200 watts at 4 ohms. The cable quality also influences the sound, so use a good 4mm2 (AWG12) copper cable. When you listen to these speakers, you actually think the sound comes from the room where they are placed not from the speakers themselves. The sound isn't muffled and you don't have the sensation of being punched in the belly with kick drums or funky bass guitars. The sound is soft, wide, precise and free of any coloration, transients are accurate. Some people say they don't have enough low-end. But that depends on the amp and the quality of the speaker cables. I've moved 3 times with these speakers. I always use the following rules to place them: about 3 ft. away from the back wall (depending on the absorption grade of the wall) with 5 to 8 ft. between the speakers and far away from room corners. Floor resonance or absorption rate also influence the sound. I didn't even sell these speakers when I moved into a small apartment where I couldn't place them like I wanted, They sound great with acoustic music, chamber music, small jazz bands and vocals in general. They are very pleasant because they let you feel the space and they reproduce sound colors faithfully. I've been using them for 10 years and I previously had an Jean-Marie Reynaud OPUS pair. They sounded completely different but were also good. The SMGs have a narrower stereo field and less punch but they sound more faithful and pleasant and they are also less fatiguing than the Reynaud. The sweet spot is wide but the stereo imaging is narrow. If you move away from the sweet spot you'll lose the stereo effect but a sort of phantom image remains somewhere between and around the SMGs. I keep them in my music room which I use as listening place and a home studio so they are also my reference monitors.
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• 10/20/08

  Bernard Ancèze's review ( translated ) Improve this translation

  Overall Opinion

  In fact it is not pregnant, but a baffle. A wooden frame supports a speaker plan. The coil is a coil but a coil that runs behind the HP. This coil is the end for acute severe for large, protected by a fuse. It is magnetic and does not require power such as MG. SMG's are 4 ohms like all Magnepan. The receiver must accept and deliver 4 ohms 2X100 watts / 4 ohms. Serious quality does not depend on the power of the amp, but its ability to make square waves (those in the low register). And that depends on the quality components and construction of the amp. And, frankly, it's better a 2x50W / 8ohms well built a big cow 2X200w / 4 ohms. The quality of the speaker cable is not without consequences, the copper 4mm2 good, good. Listening to it did not feel that the sound comes from the panel but the location of the room where they are. No effect of box, not shot in the stomach feeling when the thundering bass drums or bass funk. The sound is soft, full, defined, colorless ill-come, transients are accurate. They say they lack serious. It depends on the amp, I think he, and the quality of speaker cable. I moved 3 times with. It's always about 1m from the rear wall (+ or - if the wall absorbs or reflects) and 1.5 m to 2.5 m between the panels, all quite clear corners. The resonance absorption of the floor or the carpet have their influence. In a small apartment where I had no choice, I have not changed to something else, however. Great for acoustic music, chamber music and small jazz groups and voices in general. They make a nice impression of space and appropriateness of stamps striking. 10 years, previously I had OPUS Jean-Marie Reynaud. This is not the same kind of listening is also good, but different. Less than stereo, less punch, more accurately, more comfort, less fatigue than with Reynaud. The listening area is broad, the narrow zone stereo. If you move away from the area of ​​stereo, you lose the stereo, for sure, but still a kind of hologram noise somewhere between and around the SMG. They are in my music room that acts as an auditorium and home studio or they serve me, then monitoring.

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