Maggies! And it’s about damn time!
I blame me for the fact that this is the first pair of Maggies to enter the Barn but as they say, better today than never. And why not go big as the Barn greets big with open arms and room to spare. In brief, Jim Winey invented the Magneplanar loudspeaker in 1969, the same year he founded Magnepan in White Bear Lake, MN. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that Magnepan is one of our most loved hifi brands with a real history of making great planar speakers, or just great speakers, at great prices.
The Magnepan 20.7x are a 3-way planar dipole loudspeaker using a Magneplanar true ribbon tweeter, an ultra-thin aluminum foil about 1/10th the thickness of a human hair—that’s really thin even if you have really thick hair, mated to quasi-ribbon midrange and bass panels which operate in push/pull thanks to magnets on either side of each panel. The 20.7x stand about 6.5′ tall, which is tall even if you’re tall. Frequency response is rated at 25-40 kHz with a 4 Ohm impedance and 86dB sensitivity (500Hz /2.83v). The review pair are the upgraded “x” version.
What’ makes an x and x? In brief, better capacitors, better coils (inductors), better wiring, better connections, and better inputs.
From Magnepan:
The general idea of the X series is to take the existing design of a given speaker and improve it using three primary axis of refinement: simplification, component betterment, and balancing. When it comes to high fidelity audio reproduction, less is definitely more. Simplifying a circuit in terms of fewer components, less overall wire, fewer junctions, less mass, etc. reduces signal loss, degradation, and distortion. This allows for a more pure signal to pass through the circuit and be reproduced with precision and fidelity. Almost one-for-one replacing all of the components between the speaker cables and driver with superior ones has an obvious beneficial effect.
The review pair are sporting the Dark Cherry (real) wood with off-white Classic cloth trim package, a lovely combination to my eyes and one that will really shine once the big Maggies are in place to play on the A-Side. I recommend a visit to Magnepan’s website to see all of the trim options if this look doesn’t float your boat.
That’s from Capital Audiofest 2023 and the integrated amp in charge of the Magnepan MG2.7x speakers is the Audia Flight FLS 10 I reviewed (and fell for hard). Here’s what I had to say about this room which was among my favorites of the show:
In another fortuitous twist of fate, Fidelity Imports and the Audia Flight FLS 10 integrated amp I reviewed and loved teamed up with Magnepan and their new MG2.7x speakers. The FLS 10 was fed by an Aurender A15 and this system nearly blew the pocket doors off the place with crazy, beautiful music power. Do you remember how amazed I was with the FLS 10’s bass response? I was amazed, again, at this system’s deep, powerful growl. Nice!
And it’s no coincidence that I also happen to have Audia Flight’s flagship Strumento stack in for review including a pair of the N°8 monoblocks and their 1000W into 4 Ohms of oomph.
Are you ready to Maggie? I sure am.
Magnepan 20.7x Loudspeaker
Price: $30,000/pair
Company Website: Magnepan
20.7 Specifications
Description: 3-Way /True Ribbon Tweeter – Quasi-Ribbon Midrange and Bass
Frequency Response: 25-40 kHz
Sensitivity: 86dB/500Hz /2.83v
Impedance: 4 Ohm
Dimensions: 29 x 79 x 2.062″