Magnepan MG-3.7i, $9000pr

(71h, 24w, 2d)

Magnepan recently updated this speaker to MG-3.7i. The improvement is dramatic. Lets follow the path and then discuss the sound.
For many moons Magnepan has worked with three different technologies:

Magneplanar:
Round wires adhered to a light mylar diaphragm.

Quasi Ribbon:
Foil strips adhered to a light mylar diaphragm.

True Ribbon Tweeter:
Contiguous aluminum diaphragm, not wires or foil adhered to a substrate

Back Then
Magnepan speakers were introduced in the late 1960s. The technology was all Magneplanar. It was arguably state of the art. The speakers cast a large image and provided as good clarity as you could buy at any price. Electrostatics were low in mass but had troublesome transformers and were flat out unreliable.

In the Mid 80s
Magnepan implemented its True Ribbon tweeter for much superior high frequency response. It took the state of the art up a notch. Blending the True Ribbon with the Magneplanar mid/woof became an evolving art.

Later
Magnepan introduced its QUASI RIBBON design as a tweeter element on the lower portion of the line- to improve high end past the Magneplanar technology, almost up to True Ribbon technology.

The .7 Series
In 2010 the MG-1.7 came out. It was the first speaker in the line that was full Quasi- meaning woofer, mid and tweeter- all Quasi. The coverage area of the diaphragm increased dramatically over the prior Magneplanar technology. The sound was more responsive, efficient, starts and stops were faster- everything about Magnepan speakers got better!

MG-3.7i
Enough blithering already, let’s get down to brass tacks. The 3.7i does everything the 1.7i does – yet bigger and better. The 3.7i has the True Ribbon tweeter. The 1.7i has the Quasi tweeter. The 3.7i accomplishes a seamless blend from the Quasi technology of the woof/mid- to the high end. Magazines the world over are ranking 3.7i as among the finest speakers you can buy at any price.
Where the 3.7i really shows its luster is in detail. The fine nuance of acoustic music & voices in particular, are purveyed with 3.7i better than any speaker below it. The size of the image is REALISTIC. A singer or guitar/piano sounds real in scale- as in being in the room with you. The sound is not the least bit congested, which almost all boxes suffer from right out of the batter’s box. MG-3.7i also sounds great at low volume. You don’t have to crank them up to get a beautiful sound. There is so much radiating area that they fill your room easily. You don’t even need a lot of power if you’re not a high level rock and roller. All of our wonderful $1500-2K integrated amps will drive them well. MG-3.7i is a 4 ohm, purely resistive load- your amp will like what it sees and almost double its 8 ohm power production.

In short, if you want to hear what’s IN your acoustic music, there’s no better choice than Magnepan. The 3.7i is virtually mid priced these days. Look at all the $50-100k per pair speakers out there now! Not one of them beats the Maggies for definition or putting SCALE performance in your living room!