Jim Winey, Magnepan Founder
(1934-2024)
Jim created the Magnepan loudspeaker design, and company. He’s one of the last of the old school guys our business was fortunate to have. He was an inventor, and then an owner/operator.
Magnepan is among the most unique and successful of all speakers. It has the advantage of low mass without the problems of stats. And let me tell ya, stats STILL have their foibles!
I opened in 1977 and sold Maggies right away. At that point the Tympanis were distributed through ARC- heaven help us! Then MG2 came out, which Magnepan sold on its own.
Dealing with Magnepan was a TREAT compared to dealing with ARC. Jim ran a tight ship. There were no yes men at Magnepan.
Jim also created a fabulous tonearm, when finding good ones to accommodate a plethora of cartridge designs was “impossible.” The Unitrac-1 literally solved the tonearm problem for us.
Jim was a straightforward, like it or lump it kinda guy. He ran his product line with very low margins and the dealer had to eat freight costs- never unsubstantial with Pans.
I was at Magnepan several times over the years. Invariably other dealers would beg for more margin. Jim simply said no, “You’ll just give it away.” I agreed with Jim. Set a fair price and stick to it. Everyone else was used to having a retail price of X, and then giving the customer a discount so he’d “feel good” about his purchase. Jim didn’t care about THAT. Jim had his opinion and there would be no further discussion on the topic.
On my visits to Magnepan I always took a couple of staff members. One time Jim offered seats to a Mozart piano recital by Peter Serkin. My guys were classic rockers and I knew they wouldn’t like it. I asked Jim if we might take a pass. He said NOPE, your staff NEEDS to actually hear an acoustic piano! So we went and…of course, they were bored to tears. Jim was like father knows best. HIS speakers were built to play acoustic instruments accurately and he didn’t worry for a nanosecond that the boys preferred Dire Straits or Steely Dan.