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Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6/R loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

The Magnepan's estimated voltage sensitivity was on the low side, at 83.5dB(B)/2.83V/m. However, in a typical room the speaker's quasi-line-source vertical dispersion should make it sound a little louder than might otherwise be expected. (The in-room loudness of a true line source falls off in a linear manner with distance, rather than as the square of the distance, as is the case with a point source.) But it should be noted that BD did need a good beefy amplifier to drive the Maggies to useful levels.

The speaker's impedance (fig.1) approximates a…

Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6/R loudspeaker Measurements part 2

Magnepan recommend that the speakers be used with the tweeters on the outside edges. There is more treble energy apparent laterally off-axis on the woofer side of the panel (fig.4). Vertically (fig.5), as expected from a speaker that behaves to some extent as a line source, the balance doesn't change over a significant listening-height range.

Fig.4 Magnepan MG3.6/R, lateral response family at 50", from back to front: response 90 degrees-5 degrees off-axis on woofer side, reference response, response 5 degrees-90 degrees off-axis on tweeter side.

Fig.5 Magnepan MG3.6…

Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6/R loudspeaker Letter

A letter in response appeared in November 2000:

Stiffen those Maggies

Editor: I read the August 2000 review of the Magnepan MG3.6/R with great interest. It was a very well-written, informative article. Brian Damkroger is among my favorite writers at Stereophile and has similar tastes in speakers to boot. However, I do have a couple of questions.

It was stated that Magnepan recommends setting the speakers up with the tweeters to their outside edges (or at least so that the tweeters are farther from the listener than the woofers). It was never stated if Brian ended up using…

Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6/R loudspeaker More Comments

Comments on Nearfield Measurements of Panel Speakers: (The following letters were received but were not published.)

Siegfied Linkwitz comments

Editor: The review of the Magneplanar MG3.6/R in the August Stereophile caught my attention. I am a proponent of open-baffle speakers because of their room acoustic advantages and the absence of sound coloring boxes. So I looked with great interest at figs.2 & 3 on page 89 showing individual driver frequency responses and their summation.

The nearfield measurements of woofer and midrange in fig.2, presumably taken only an inch…

The Soul of a New Medium

Successful new prerecorded audio media emerge, on average, every two decades—one human generation. The LP made its debut in 1948, 21 years after the introduction of electrical recording ended the adolescence of the record industry and the acoustic 78rpm disc. This was almost coincidental with Jack Mullin's retrieval of analog tape technology from the wreckage of post-WWII Germany and its subsequent commercialization by Bing Crosby's Ampex company (footnote 1). The compact cassette made its appearance in 1963, followed almost 20 years later by the CD, in 1982. And now, as I mentioned in the…

Recording of August 2005: <I>Fair & Square</I>

JOHN PRINE: Fair & Square
Oh Boy OBR-034 (CD). 2005. John Prine, prod.; Gary Paczosa, prod., eng.; Thomas
Johnson, Brandon Bell, asst. engs. AAD? TT: 62:16
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½

In 1998, it looked for a time as if one of America's finest singing and songwriting voices might be silenced. Fortunately, John Prine, a solo-guitar-and-voice dynamo and the composer of such wry folk-rock hymns as "Dear Abby," "Illegal Smile," and "The Oldest Baby in the World," beat the illness that nearly laid him low and now has released Fair & Square, his first studio album of…

Naim CDX CD player

To compartmentalize or not to compartmentalize, that is the question. Does one review an expensive CD player at the dawn of the 24-bit/96kHz digital age by pulling a "Clinton," standing defiantly before a jury of audio peers to deliver a speech on the state of the CD art, boxing in, roping off, and all but ignoring the new, supposedly unimpeachable medium?

I got to thinking about this while watching the Prez speak before half a Houseful of enemies the other night (not that you are my enemy). Is my job to review Naim's CDX player "as is," ignoring the high-resolution rumblings all around…

Naim CDX CD player Page 2

Operation
Via its remote keypad or the four chassis-mounted controls, the CDX is fast and easy to use. Pop in the disc, add the puck, close the drawer; it loads almost instantly. Fast Forward and Fast Rewind are available only on the keypad remote. You can turn the display off, which Naim claims improves the sound. I couldn't hear it. While the track order can be programmed, I've never used the function in over a decade of CD playback. Want to change discs in a hurry? Pop open the door.

The operating system is an ergonomic pleasure. When you play an HDCD-encoded disc, the letters "…

Naim CDX CD player Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Single-box CD player with HDCD decoding. Frequency response: 10Hz-20kHz, +0.1dB/-0.5dB. Output level: 2.1V RMS at 1kHz. Maximum output impedance: 10 ohms. Phase response: linear phase, absolute phase correct. De-emphasis: —0.1dB referred to main response. Distortion and noise: <0.1%, 10Hz-18kHz at full level.
Dimensions: 16.75" (430mm) W by 3" (76mm) H by 11.75" (300mm) D. Weight: 25 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 141615.
Price: $4250.

Optional XPS outboard power supply
Dimensions: same as CDX. Weight: 29 lbs.
Serial…

Naim CDX CD player Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog source: Graham 2.0, Immedia RPM, and Simon Yorke tonearms. Crown Jewel SE and EMT TU phono cartridges. Simon Yorke turntable.
Preamplifier: Ayre K-1 (with remote control).
Power amplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premier Twelve, VTL MB 450 (both tubed).
Loudspeakers: Audio Physic Virgo, Audio Physic Rhea subwoofer.
Cables: Interconnects: Chord SEX52PML, Nordost Blue Angel, Yamamura Millennium 6000, Cardas Neutral Reference, Cardas Golden Cross, Electra-Glide. Yamamura Millennium 6000 speaker cables. Yamamura Quantum and Electra-Glide AC cords.…