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Manual Library / Magnepan. Magnepan Magneplanar SMG. Panel Loudspeaker System. Add a review. Type: 2 way, 2 driver loudspeaker system. Hi folks, Here is a brief progress report on rebuilding my SMGa speakers. 77 contact adhesive - as recommended by Magnepan's instructions.
I currently have the Emotiva UMC-200 with 2 XPA-100 (250 watt amps) hooked up. I am also using a pair of Magnaplanar SMGa's with a klipsch sub (cant recall which SKU number at the moment). I am contemplating upgrading to some of the Martin Logan ESL's (not sure of the exact model yet). Anyone's thoughts? Is it worth the upgrade? I've had some people say my maggie's should sound better then the new martin logans. I listen to all types of music but mostly diff forms of rock (sigur ros, kings of leon, john butler trio, ryan adams.the list goes on).
Any thoughts you could share would be much appreciated, thanks!! I owned Quad ESL-63s for 18 years, now own ML Spires, and have seriously auditioned Magnepan 20.1's in conjunction with a Velodyne DD-18 subwoofer and Rowen amplification. However, all serious listening was with classical music (up to contemporary), not rock, as accords to my taste.
![Magnepan Magnepan](http://elektrotanya.com/PREVIEWS/63463243/23432455/egyeb/magnepan_mg-3.3_twoo-way_cross_filter_sch.pdf_1.png)
TV was always run through the hi-fi though. The Magnepans came closest to the Quads in accuracy, for example credibly reproducing the solo violin in its acoustic in Ravel's Tzigane. Despite their massive size (2m x 73cm), we had to set the crossover very high on the DD-18 to 'eliminate the dip' at the crossover - they just can't get down low enough.
I would expect the smaller SMG series to be worse in this respect. In the end I concluded that electrostatic technology worked better than quasi-ribbon technology for the same membrane area. Of course, both are superior to dynamic loudspeakers within their reproduction range. The ML CLX (plus the Depth i sub I already owned) is very nice, but was over my budget. Its size was also an issue (WAF).
The Summit X hybrid also exceeded my (permitted) budget, so I ended up with the Spires (now replaced by the Montis). The Quad ESL 2812/2912 should not be forgotten, at least not if you live in UK where local after sales support is readily available, but they supposedly have a lower maximum volume than ML's, which may be an issue for you although it was never one for me. One consideration though is that your XPA-100's have (manual page 13).
Contents. Overview Magnepan's speaker design, sold under the brand name Magneplanar (often referred to as 'Maggies'), differs from that of conventional speakers in relying not on cones mounted in an enclosure but on a planar driver system mounted in a panel. A Magneplanar's reproducing mechanism comprises thin conductive wires and or foil strips attached to a thin sheet of residing in a magnetic field created by a vertical array of permanent strip. When an amplified signal is applied to the conductors, the resultant electrical forces react with the magnetic field to excite the Mylar film sheet, which projects sound as a.
In principle, this approach relies on the same concept as a -driven cone speaker, but in a Magneplanar speaker the 'voice coils' are attached (glued) directly to the radiating surface. A pair of (restored) 1986 SMGa Magneplanars. Sound is projected from both the front and back of the radiating surface.
The sound from the back of the speaker is reflected from the front wall of the listening area. This is said to effectively enhance the - the sense of space and realism - of the speaker. The Magneplanar design, using a magnet array, is not a unique loudspeaker implementation, although it was the first of its type., Analysis Audio, and others also employ passive magnet designs. Broadly, these are classed as planar-magnetic speakers.
There are other similar speaker designs to the Magneplanar. And, among others, make, which are another variation on the dipole model.
Electrostatic speakers operate on a somewhat different principle. While the voice coils in the Magneplanar are conductive wires or foil strips mounted on a sheet of Mylar film, electrostatic speakers suspend a charged conductive film between two grids (stators) which move the film. One disadvantage of both designs is that a very large panel is required to produce deep bass.
Magnepan has addressed this via the physical size of the speakers - a physically large radiating surface produces more bass. Martin-Logan has addressed the bass problem by mounting a conventional cone bass driver in a separate section of the speaker chassis, generally resulting in a physically smaller speaker than the Magneplanar. The most frequently cited disadvantages of the overall design are relatively low and, given the absence of an enclosure, extreme difficulty in reproducing very low bass frequencies. Models Model Type Technology Freq.