MG 3.6: Magnepan's Newest Exotic Blend of Music and Magic - BM.rs

Stereophile: Magnepan Magneplanar MG3.6/R loudspeaker
The Magnepan’s overall response, measured on the ribbon axis 36" from the floor (ie, halfway up
the ribbon) and averaged across a 30 degrees lateral window is shown in fig.3. The microphone
was at a 50" distance, which results in a significant proximity effect with such a physically
large speaker. This accounts for much of the downward response tilt evidenced between
200Hz and 2kHz in this graph. The level mismatch between the midrange diaphragm and the
ribbon tweeter is still evident, but I wonder how this will manifest itself at a normal listening
distance. (Circumstances dictate that I use a 50" microphone distance for my acoustic measurements.) The
logistics of the magazine’s relocation to New York meant that I could not perform in-room
measurements in BD’s listening environment, but I suspect that the MG3.6/R’s behavior will
be better behaved in a room.
Fig.3 Magnepan MG3.6/R, anechoic response on-axis at 50", averaged across 30 degrees
horizontal window and corrected for microphone response, with the complex sum of the nearfield
woofer and midrange responses plotted below 300Hz.
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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.
http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/reviews/stereophile_mg36r.htm
10/19/2009