Two Pans
Magnepan of Minnesota makes some of the most innovative speakers on the planet. They do so many things, so well, that if you’re a fan of singers and acoustic instruments, you owe it to yourself to give them a listen. You may find they bring you closer to the music you cherish.
Magneplanar technology started in 1968. Skinny piano wires were glued to a Mylar diaphragm the size of your front door. The panel was put in close proximity to a perforated steel plate with bar magnets running almost the whole length of the panel. Again, this… was MAGNEPLANAR technology.
In 2010 Magnepan improved the design to QUASI technology. Quasi was a huge improvement because they changed from skinny piano wire to thick strips of foil. The coverage of the diaphragm went from about 10% to 90%. The speakers became more clear with stronger bass, higher efficiency and improved dynamics.
This Quasi tech was ground breaking and can be identified by the .7 suffix in the model numbers. The day the Quasi models came out- they were a substantial improvement over any Magneplanar models before them.
Magnepan MG 1.7i, $3000 Per Pair
Maggie’s MG 1.7i is a bargain! You get the high definition of headphones, with a legit life-sized image. If you close your eyes you’ll swear the entire wall ahead of you is filled with music- because it IS! The height, width and even depth, deliver a more enveloping experience than traditional speakers.
MG 1.7i is a full Quasi design. It’s a three way with woofer, tweeter and super tweeter (above 10k). The sheen of vocals and acoustic instruments provides a crystal clear musical presentation like no other speakers. There’s no box to color the sound.
MG 1.7i has quite respectable bass response as well. If you want to hear the lower register of the piano, a stand up bass and the flavor of a unique drum kit, the Maggies are right up your alley. If you want to pound rock and roll, you’ll add a subwoofer. We have those too.
Magnepan MG 2.7i, $6000 Per Pair
Model MG 2.7i takes performance a notch beyond its smaller brothers. The panel is larger which generates more bass. But the big improvement is in that 2.7i uses Maggie’s TRUE RIBBON
tweeter. The TR tweeter design is more advanced than the Quasi design.
The TR tweeter is a contiguous half inch strip of aluminum, suspended between a push pull magnetic array. This is superior to the Quasi design, which is foil glued to Mylar. The TR element is lighter, faster and even cleaner than the Quasi.
If you listen to MG 1.7i, you’ll think, wow, it can’t get better than this! Then you move over to MG 2.7i and you’ll appreciate the intimacy and resolution that only the TR tweeter can reveal.
Pans
You’ll love both speakers. But double your money buys you an improved level of realism. It’s truly an experience you won’t believe until you hear both models.
If you love singers and acoustic instruments you’ll love the Maggies. They can reveal the most minute nuances ahead of them, right down to mains conditioners, electronics and even cables. You can appreciate great Isotek line conditioners and advanced Kimber Kables more through Maggies than traditional speakers. Maggie transparency is revelatory.
Electronics
Speakers of impeccable delicacy perform their best with commensurate electronics. It’s a shame when customers buy Maggies and link them to garden variety Chinese electronics. Yet we realize, you have to start somewhere.
The question is, how do you upgrade from the Chinese mass market to something truly special, without breaking the bank with Bryston or McIntosh?
The easy answer is Atoll of France. Atoll makes class breaking integrated amps and CD players that are a perfect fit for customers with revealing speakers like Magnepans. Atoll delivers bass and richness to Maggies that the flimsy Chinese gear simply can’t. Please consider Atoll in your upgrade quest!
