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Magnepan Tympani IIIa Restoration - The Fortress of Sound

mccuskerkt

mccuskerkt

Active Member
Restoring big speakers is A LOT of fun. You know the feeling, you see the project on your favorite marketplace, and it was just posted so you are pretty sure you are getting to it before the local competition snatches it up. You send the message, you agree to the price, you meet the person, and you drive home with a big grin and a trunk full of potential.

With this particular restoration, I did all of that, twice.Here's the story.

Enter the Magnepan Tympani IIIa. Eight panels--two tweeters, two mids, and four bass panels, each coming in at around 6 feet tall and over 1 foot wide. This, friends, is not a speaker system for the faint of heart--or amplifier.

This is the deal, I don't actually have a complete set of Tympani IIIa. A while back, I picked up a set of Tympani ID projects from a friend and fellow audio technician. I brought them home with the intent of replacing a missing tweeter and bringing these back to life--a project that promptly got put in the corner of forgotten projects to be resurrected when a tweeter magically appeared. Fast forward until a couple of weeks ago--roughly 4 weeks into the global pandemic--and a set of familiar looking tan panels appear in the ole Facebook feed--from the same guy who sold me the IDs, . Could this be my tweeter? Well, no. It's better

For sale is a set of Tympani IIIa mids and tweets (needing some work, of course). Well, with a little internet research it occured to me that I can use my 1D bass panels with the IIIA mids and tweets to make a full, complete (if slightly unorthodox) Tympani IIIa. Eight panels of planar magic. So, we arranged a little social-distance-friendly curbside pickup, and I drove them home--thinking the whole time about my 8 panels of pure potential.

But--there's work to do first: These are 50ish year old Magnepans that have seen as many humid Iowa summers followed by extremely dry winters. The standard Magnepan delamination and corrosion issues apply. Also, I love design, and while I appreciate the efficacy and utility of the Magnepan design (Their simplicity reminds me of an AR XA turntable, brilliantly simple, and incredibly effective) I think there is room for improvement in the aesthetics department.

So, our goals are
Combine 2 incomplete sets of speakers in to 1 magnificent bulwark of sound reproduction
Make the system more appealing to my aesthetic sensibilities.
Come up with a bi-amping crossover solution
Avoid speaker-induced divorce.

Here is what we are working with:

Tympani IIIa Mids and Tweets


Stay tuned. Plenty more to come.
Also, I'm a photographer so there will be lots of photos.
Lots.
 
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a very worthwhile project. Properly set up and driven, the best speakers I have ever heard in terms of completely believing you are there realism. They throw a huge sound stage which for orchestral work in particular is quite impressive, 'good luck with the project!
 
I owned 1 C’s in my youth. Paid on them like a car for 3 years. A glorious wall of sound. I wish you well with this. A real challenge. Can’t wait to see this as it moves along.
 
Hearing Peter Gabriel’s 'So' on some Tympanis at Paul Heath Audio in Chicago in the late 80s was one of those ‘I didn’t even know this kind of sound was possible’ moments for me.

Those things are huge. Hope you have a large room; not gonna work right in a small one.
 
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mccuskerkt said:
you drive home with a big grin and a trunk full of potential.
Click to expand...
Those are not trunk hauled speakers. A friend found a pair of Tympani IV-a on Long Island and we arranged picking these up as I have a friend whose idea of a proper vehicle is one that will hold an 4x8 sheet of plywood without it getting wet...yes he drives a minivan, one trip and the panels are set up across the front of my soundroom.

mccuskerkt said:
Come up with a bi-amping crossover solution
Click to expand...
A worthy goal Shouldn't be too hard to dial in a good crossover for them. But Jim has a set of MG-IIIas and he is quad-amped with subs which might not be necessary with Tympanies but I have one hooked up to the set I'm using until Steve can pick them up.

kirk57 said:
Hope you have a large room; not gonna work right in a small one.
Click to expand...
There is some truth right there.

My room is too small for them and I had to loan out a pair of speakers to make room for the 3-panel, 2-woofer, 1-mid/tweet speakers. I had to move the woofers back so I could move the mid-tweet further apart. They fit, they work in a 20x13 foot room but they do sound good about 5 feet further back...in the entrance foyer where some do listen to them.

Gonna be a great project and I'll follow along. I can't do much to the ones here as they aren't mine but since they work I sure can enjoy listening to them.

Oh these will play normal listening levels with 25watts but I didn't crank it to see what they could do with that power. They are hooked up the big amp now they are the main rig speakers and gear gets tested there.
 
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I believe they were and the buyer, an aker made them available and Steve found them. Steve got a nice price, but did you happen to see what the estate sale needed for them?
 
kirk57 said:
Hearing Peter Gabriel’s 'So' on some Tympanis at Paul Heath Audio in Chicago in the late 80s was one of those ‘I didn’t even know this kind of sound was possible’ moments...
Click to expand...

I had the same reaction the first time I heard Acoustats. Their preamp and amp into 1+1's. The shop was also playing Peter Gabriel, I believe it was "In Your Eyes". Sublime...!
 
Hearing T-IIIs tri-amped with Audio Research electronics (SP-3a/EC-3/pair of D76/Crown DC-300a on woofers) in '74 when I was 17 was one of those moments in time where my reference as to how good audio could sound was immediately re-calibrated.

Purchased MG-IIs a year later.

Good luck!
 
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mccuskerkt said:
Restoring big speakers is A LOT of fun. You know the feeling, you see the project on your favorite marketplace, and it was just posted so you are pretty sure you are getting to it before the local competition snatches it up. You send the message, you agree to the price, you meet the person, and you drive home with a big grin and a trunk full of potential.

With this particular restoration, I did all of that, twice.Here's the story.

Enter the Magnepan Tympani IIIa. Eight panels--two tweeters, two mids, and four bass panels, each coming in at around 6 feet tall and over 1 foot wide. This, friends, is not a speaker system for the faint of heart--or amplifier.

This is the deal, I don't actually have a complete set of Tympani IIIa. A while back, I picked up a set of Tympani ID projects from a friend and fellow audio technician. I brought them home with the intent of replacing a missing tweeter and bringing these back to life--a project that promptly got put in the corner of forgotten projects to be resurrected when a tweeter magically appeared. Fast forward until a couple of weeks ago--roughly 4 weeks into the global pandemic--and a set of familiar looking tan panels appear in the ole Facebook feed--from the same guy who sold me the IDs, . Could this be my tweeter? Well, no. It's better

For sale is a set of Tympani IIIa mids and tweets (needing some work, of course). Well, with a little internet research it occured to me that I can use my 1D bass panels with the IIIA mids and tweets to make a full, complete (if slightly unorthodox) Tympani IIIa. Eight panels of planar magic. So, we arranged a little social-distance-friendly curbside pickup, and I drove them home--thinking the whole time about my 8 panels of pure potential.

But--there's work to do first: These are 50ish year old Magnepans that have seen as many humid Iowa summers followed by extremely dry winters. The standard Magnepan delamination and corrosion issues apply. Also, I love design, and while I appreciate the efficacy and utility of the Magnepan design (Their simplicity reminds me of an AR XA turntable, brilliantly simple, and incredibly effective) I think there is room for improvement in the aesthetics department.

So, our goals are
Combine 2 incomplete sets of speakers in to 1 magnificent bulwark of sound reproduction
Make the system more appealing to my aesthetic sensibilities.
Come up with a bi-amping crossover solution
Avoid speaker-induced divorce.

Here is what we are working with:

Tympani IIIa Mids and Tweets


Stay tuned. Plenty more to come.
Also, I'm a photographer so there will be lots of photos.
Lots.
Click to expand...
What a hugely fun project! Are you repairing the delaminated wires, or doing an outright rewire?
This will be epic!
Glenn
 
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Follow up comment. You may be aware that Warren Gehl of Audio Research uses a pair of 8 ohm T-1Us at home (at least as of 2010). He's the guy who auditions every single ARC component before it leaves the factory. And provides substantial input into fine tuning damping strategies and the choice of various passive board level components. Uses 20.7s at work. :)

warren_1.jpg
 
E-Stat said:
Follow up comment. You may be aware that Warren Gehl of Audio Research uses a pair of 8 ohm T-1Us at home (at least as of 2010). He's the guy who auditions every single ARC component before it leaves the factory. And provides substantial input into fine tuning damping strategies and the choice of various passive board level components. Uses 20.7s at work. :)

View attachment 1840738
Click to expand...

Wow, that room looks so very wrong for maggies, waay to bright.

Of course, He's 'the' guy at AR, so what do I know?

very cool.
 
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