Whatchoo think of these ES speakers?

[Brandon B]

My dad is picking speakers to go with a plasma he's buying. He's planning on the Magnepan HT setup right now.

However, I came across these.

http://www.final.nl/

They admit they are dipoles, but claim they work fine flat against a wall (which would help in my dad's setup). Anyone heard of these guys and/or have an opinion of their stuff/website info?

BB

[Andrew Pratt]

I've seen those before but unfortunatly haven't heard them. If you need to place the new speakers close to a wall then maggies aren't for you (unfortunatly)

[Brandon B]

Yah, I know. I have a pair of MMGs. My dad will place the maggies as needed, but if these others WOULD work against a wall, then he'd prefer them.

I just don't see how they can be any different than the maggies since they are just as much of a true dipole and should suffer similarly when placed like that.

BB

[George Bellefontaine]

Don't know what they sound like, but they sure look cool.




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[Andrew Pratt]

I would tend to agree Brandon...maybe thomas or Jon have some insights we mere mortals can't see...

[jaakan]

Those drivers are ESL based like QUAD and Soundlabs but not as good.

I have 4x Magnepan MG12s in my HT setup, I wish I had the money and the space for a Soundlab U1 HT setup.

[JonMarsh]

Yeah, the Soundlabs are pretty cool... If I ever win the lottery, (better start playing it, Jon!), I'd go with them, too.

Now, I've heard of putting maggies almost up against the wall, with the outside edge of each speaker (left side of left speaker, right side of right speaker) angled out by about 6-8", as long as you use a sub of some kind below 100Hz- reportedly, it works better than you'd expect, particularly if you use some sound deadinging on the wall.

I've seen the Final ESL's promoted on AudioRevolution. Note that their own specs for all the wall mount versions I've checked only rate them for 150 Hz in the bottom end when wall mounted. This includes versions up to $1500.

So, these aren't full range speakers when used this way- you'd need to couple them with a dynamic woofer. They do sell subs with a response range to 300 Hz; this would be necessary in order to have a smooth transistion with a 150 Hz crossover (think close to 1 octave of overlap). However, positioning would be pretty critical with a crossover frequency this high- I'd only go with a stereo setup, as their might be too much blend with a crossover somewhere around 150-200 Hz to go mono.

Regards,

Jon




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[Andrew Pratt]

Now, I've heard of putting maggies almost up against the wall, with the outside edge of each speaker (left side of left speaker, right side of right speaker) angled out by about 6-8", as long as you use a sub of some kind below 100Hz- reportedly, it works better than you'd expect, particularly if you use some sound deadinging on the wall.

That's what I did when I had maggies as my rears...it did work quite well. I had mine attatched to the wall with piano hinges.

[Brandon B]

Thanks.

I was going to do an IB sub for my dad as he has a storage room right behind where the display is going.

Sounds like maybe this will work, as he is not going to be that critical. Form factor is as much of an issue as sound for him.

BB

[Burke Strickland]

Actually the Magnepan MGMC1 surrounds are DESIGNED to be hung on the wall or the sides of a large cabinet. A local dealer has a demo room set up with four of those (IOW, using them not just as surrounds but for the front L/R as well) along with the new MGCC2 center, and the overall effect is sensational. Of course, since I already have Maggie MG 3.6s (which I bought primarily for two channel music, not to watch movies, although they do a wonderful job in that role too), I'm not about to swap them out for MGMC1s in front, but for a new HT setup, that configuration is worth considering.




For more info: http://www.magnepan.com/ Click on "Speaker Gallery", then "MGMC1".

Burke

[Brandon B]

Yes, but are they intended to operate while snug and flat AGAINST the wall? I was under the impression (from the arrows in the pictures and experience with my MMGs) that they needed to be swung out from the wall to operate.

His application will make this difficult. There are no cabinet sides to mount the fronts to, and the surrounds will be somewhat incaccessible for swinging, and he does not want them out all he time.

BB