NO WAY !!! ..... Those wings need to be there :yes::yes::yes:
Monster Speaker !!!
- Thread starter speakerlust
- Start date
NO WAY !!! ..... Those wings need to be there :yes::yes::yes:
Charivari
Fighting Naïve Realism
Don't ya know? It's dangerous to ask my thoughts on any speaker around here. I have the temerity to speak my mind and when it goes against general consensus, others are quick with the argumentum ad hominem. As I'm too terrible a character to submit to peccatum tacituritatis, I'll dare to post ... and enjoy my Latin, dang it.
Ok, catharsis done on to real audio.:thmbsp:
I like them quite well. For the price these old Tympanis can be found at, they're incredible. The only way I can figure that people would dismiss these out of hand is due to the size (the need a big room or major sacrifice of space) and they require a high-current amplifier to really show what they can do. The bass is very, very good and these are planars with bass. I've measured the pair shown above as being only 3dB down at 30Hz, which is impressive for a dipole. However, I had mine close enough to the side walls to drastically minimize dipole cancellation to the one side, which has a significant effect on bass extension and quality. As a bit of a step away from typical behavior for the older Magnepans, they don't suffer from beaming anywhere near as bad and the ability to aim the treble panels separately from the bass panels is a plus.
Trouble is with my pair and older Tympanis (excepting the IIIs and IVs) in general is that the bass panels are crossed in way too high. For the original, the two panels per channel cross in at 3.2kHz, which can create that sin we oft hear about, but rarely hear of unrealistically large scale. The original single-ended treble panels need to cross in too high and roll off too quickly. By the time of the T-ID, the treble panel was much improved, made push-pull and crossed in at 1.1kHz. This seems to help a bit, but the listener is still dealing with a nearly 4' wide driver operating up to 1kHz. Unfortunately, they also suffer from the Maggie veiling of the older models. This can be a beneficial feature for doing what I've called before as the vasoline on the camera lens effect and smooths over the defects in a recording, but it can be obnoxious if that's not what you want in a speaker. For these older models, they can still sound really good, but if you want imaging, it's best to use the bass panels crossed in low as dipole subwoofers in conjunction with some other planar dipole driver/speaker that has as its only weakness being the typical dipole failing in the bass frequencies.
I do know that I liked what I heard with these (before putting them into a hybrid ribbon project of mine) and would love a chance to play with the T-IIIs or T-IV(A)s or at least snag another set of bass panels.
That's the short version. Is your curiosity sate? Have a line on a pair?
- JP
That was almost enough info.
I had a set of original MG Is, which I rebuilt, I found them to be very pleasant, if rather quaint speakers. I liked the immersive presentation, but the smallish, (though not as small as some claim) sweet spot, very beamy vertical dispersion, and lack of bass response prevented them from becoming permanent in my living room. The high frequency response was very good, IMO, and they were quite detailed and defined.
I jumped on the chance to swap them for the AR9s that now occupy my living room.
I have been wanting to try out a set of Tympanis, eventually I'll pick some up.
Very Nice Indeed !!! :yes:
mikebake
Well-Known Member
That old photo was in a warehouse office when I first unpacked them. I've used all of my other large JBL stuff in my home, but never the quad boxes. I have used them outdoors ALOT, and in really large spaces i.e. auditoriums.It is incredible to me that you have this setup in your house !!! It has got to be rock concert loud !!! ....
Are you a musician ???
Charivari
Fighting Naïve Realism
That sounds about right and is a good description of my MG-Is as well. After running the Tympanis for a couple of days before converting them to my frankenribbons, I drug out my MG-Is and gave them a listen. The Tympanis are much less directional, have better highs (my IUs were rebuilt in the late '80s and so had much improved treble panels over the originals), and the bass will knock pictures off the walls if you've amp enough behind them. My pair, unfortunately, had a bit of a hole in the response that made them sound less cohesive than the MG-Is. I believe this is due to using the newer treble panel (still single-ended in this case) with the old crossover and others will not have that trouble.
Ah, I think I know the gent you took the AR-9s from. He recently switched back to more conventional speakers than the MG-Is as they just weren't working well with his setup and room.tarior said:
Unfortunately, they're somewhat uncommon in the Pac Nor'West. I'm still kicking myself for being three minutes too late to snag that $69 pair of Tympani IDs near Pendleton just a couple of weeks ago and was wondering if you had picked those up.tarior said:
- JP
John in MA
Respect the gamba tuba
My McIntosh assortment. ML-1Cs stacked on ML-2Cs in the photo, but in real life the 1Cs are parts speakers to restore the 2Cs.
dividebytube
Well-Known Member
15" Altec 604 on top and a 15" Eminence woofer on the bottom
these seemed HUGE when I first got them, but they are 'psychologically' shrinking as I get used to them. Of course my Altec 15s seemed big but I was going from a pair of mini-monitors!
I don't think he had the wherewithal to get those set up properly in his room.
You have to be willing to give up some real estate to get those things placed properly---sometimes not easy for a married guy to do.
The guy (in Portland) I got the MG-Is from has a set of Tympanis, and he is kind of on the fence about what he wants to do with them.
I 've got to tell you !!! ---- Both of you guy's speakers are AWESOME !!!
-------- Oh they have got to knock you when turned up --- !!!:yes:
I LIKE IT !!!
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-------- Oh they have got to knock you when turned up --- !!!:yes:
I LIKE IT !!!
ARE YOU KIDDING ME ??? :sigh::sigh::sigh: GOSH !!!
Tapehead47
Addicted Member
Jeez!
We are all impotent in the presence of powerman. :ntwrthy::ntwrthy::ntwrthy:
We are all impotent in the presence of powerman. :ntwrthy::ntwrthy::ntwrthy:
Well, not entirely, Rick.
He still could benefit from some decent low frequency augmentation....
:
Tapehead47
Addicted Member
Well, not entirely, Rick.
He still could benefit from some decent low frequency augmentation....
I'm not sure what I'm looking at here, excuse my ignorance. Precisely what would those cabinets add to powerman's sound? And I'm sure you can tell us 'precisely' what.
(Note to Zilch: I'm still kicking myself for not being able to visit Zilch Labs when I was in San Francisco......alas)
You have blue balls?
You have blue balls? what the ....?Gotta love a 18" driver, it just plain looks intimidating for its size.
The white rectangles are 6' tall, the big speakers just inside were just over 4' tall and pretty hefty, the blue balls are 2' diameter, while the beige things towards the center hide 15" dual-concentric drivers which look impressive on their own, but they're no 18" driver:
The Planars, roughly 5' tall each and 2' and over in width:
Lousy pic of the recent speaker addition (before modifications), the little speakers are 5' tall by 22" wide while the big room dividers are 6' tall and 4' wide:
Not much that can be 'monster' in weight, but they qualify in size.
- JP
