Bought Magnepan LRS Speakers - Now What?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Rattlin' Bones, Jul 4, 2021.

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  1. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Looks exactly like our cat Andy. Hilarious !!!
     
    sunspot42 likes this.
  3. Try1256

    Try1256 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Winter Springs, Fl
    I have had my LRS for a couple of months now. I have the Magna Riser Airbourne stands and am using a BAT VK-200 amp. My room is 13'6 x 10' and the speakers are on the long wall. It took a little bit of work to get them dialed in but they are pretty amazing. I am using no sub. Probably 75% of the time there is no need for one at all. It seems highly dependent on the program material and volume which I am listening, typically between 65-70db. I have the tweeters out, 3' from the wall about 7' between the speakers. My listening position is a equal. I don't have a lot of room treatment. Corner bass traps at the ceiling and a Stillpoints Aperture on the wall between the speakers. Soundstage width and depth is the best I have ever had. Tonally, they are very natural sounding. They replaced a nice pair of Infinity Kappa 7's and honestly, they blow the Infinitys away. And I really liked the Infinitys. I was pretty well set up equipment wise when I got them so I didn't have the expense of buying a new amp to match. All in all, great sound at a super economical price.
     
  4. SteveFord

    SteveFord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Shnecksville PA
    I'm still futzing around with mine.
    Put my order in for some Magnarisers this morning, got some different tubes showing up for a preamp to see if I can get it to work in a small-ish room and tomorrow I'll order a subwoofer.
    A bit of a project setting up another system from scratch but it'll be worth it.
     
  5. DancingSea

    DancingSea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maui, Hawaii
    Here’s my 2 cents on the LRS, which I’ve owned for 18 months. In my rig, they are lush and full sounding, to the point that I sometimes consider lowering the bass and increasing the treble on certain recordings. And this is in a room with hardwood floors and no room treatment than leans bright.

    Have MagnaRiser multi-riser stands and a entry level REL sub.

    Having read how finicky they are about amplification, I relied upon professional reviews that touted good matches. Audio Excellence in Canada (YouTube, dealer, not pro reviewers) had several videos lauding the Hegel H90 match. It’s only 90 wpc into 4 ohms (high current). Bought one new on sale. The H90 did drive the LRS very well, but got extremely, disturbingly hot doing so. Hegel advised that the H190 would be more appropriate. But at $4000, more than I was prepared to spend.

    Herb Reichert spoke highly of the Marantz Model 30 match with his .7’s, so I got the Marantz for $2000 new from Underwood. It drives the LRS even better than the Hegel, and doesn’t get as hot doing so. 200 wpc into 4 ohms (high current).

    Steve Guttenberg once recommended the Schiit Vidar, but other reviews spoke poorly of that combo.

    The $650 LRS are a bit of a Trojan horse. A budget priced speaker with higher end amplification needs, making the $650 price tag misleading. The LRS don’t look that great compared to nicely finished furniture grade traditional box speakers making them iffy for living room life, and the placement demands are a real thing. I currently have mine 3’ from the back wall, and a few inches from the side walls of a 12’ wide room. It fills the room (back, forward, up and down) with a nicely weighted, rich sound. But I attribute that to my front end being nicely weighted and rich rather than the LRS having that inherent quality. Imaging is excellent, though exaggerated in the large direction, which I prefer.

    I have a cat, but thankfully, she has shown no interest in the LRS.

    No question, the LRS can sound extremely good and are simultaneously difficult to deal with. My Meadowlark Kestrel Hotrods are so easy going in comparison in terms of placement and amplification. It’s one of those things that if I had grasped how finicky the LRS were, I would not have bought them. Now that they are dialed in, I have no interest in selling them. That is said with the caveat of the LRS being one of 2 pairs of quality speakers I own. When I tire of the LRS, in come the Meadowlarks for a nice change. And vice versus. I always seem to prefer whatever speaker replaces the other.

    I would be cautious in recommending the LRS as one’s only pair of speakers unless you fully understand the challenging amplification and placement path they will require - it’s no joke, and not worth the hassle unless you’re the sort of audiophile that relishes in that game. If you already have a quality high current amp and understand the placement issues, don’t hesitate to give them a try. At $650 they are a steal.
     
  6. SteveFord

    SteveFord Forum Resident

    Location:
    Shnecksville PA
    Good review, that's pretty much spot on.
    I've got a buddy who ordered a set and wants to do the rest of it on the cheap.
    I keep telling him you're going to hear exactly what you put into it but he doesn't understand what I mean.
    He will soon enough.
     
  7. DancingSea

    DancingSea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maui, Hawaii
    The $650 LRS ended up requiring nearly $7000 (msrp) of gear to achieve the fantastic results I now enjoy. And it does sound great. But it was a slippery slope of upgrades to get there!

    Something like the $1700 Wharfdale Linton or the $2000 KLH Model 5 will achieve great results with a much smaller total investment.
     
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  8. Rattlin' Bones

    Rattlin' Bones Grumpy Old Deaf Drummer Thread Starter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY
    Interesting take on the LRS: $650 speakers that take $$$$ thousands in good amplification plus after all that still may not sound good because of the room. There are more traditional speakers that most likely work better in 90% of homes, and are also not cat magnets lol.
     
    ChrisR2060, Dale A B and DancingSea like this.
  9. hesson11

    hesson11 Forum Resident

    Update: The LRSs are now $750/pair. Still quite a bargain, I'm sure.

    Magnepan
     
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  10. Fender Relic

    Fender Relic Forum Resident

    Location:
    PennsylBama
    From reviews and posts I see here at SHF I get the feeling I'd like the KLH 5 and Wharfdale Lintons. I often think about trying new speakers and I'd love to compare those two with my old 80's Klipsch KG4's and NLA Advents. I'm pretty well entrenched in 70's refurbed gear and I got it all relatively cheap so dollars and cents wise I don't know if it makes sense to chase after new. The KG4's cost me $200 and the large Advents $30-40. They might be very similar but it'd be fun to have a shoot out.
     
    DancingSea likes this.
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