Garage Sale Find - How Good of a Deal Was This?

Just curious what others thought...I stopped at a garage sale today and picked up a Luxman T-110 tuner for $10 and a pair of Magneplanar Tympani 1D speakers for $200.

Both are in excellent working condition. The seller and I listened to everything together.

How well did I make out?

 

I think you did well. The speakers were recently mentioned in the review for the Magnpan 1.7i speaker in TAS.
Magnepan MG1.7i Loudspeaker - The Absolute Sound

 

I like the tuner, nice!

 

Just wondering if they’re worth keeping.

 

The tuner is pretty good - and can command a relatively high price (for what it is) from the right Luxman fan.

Good online resource for tuners found here.

Keep it if you need a tuner; sell it if you don't.

Congrats, by the way!

Jeff

 

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

 

Sounds great to me! Here's a review of the original Tympani
Magnepan Tympani I loudspeaker

 

you did great! 91% off list price on the speakers...that's a hard one...

 

Make sure you carefully check the value of that tuner before selling it. Like others have said, vintage Luxman has a big following. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tuner alone isn’t worth twice what you paid for the whole lot.

 

I owned the 1Ds until the salt air near the beach in Hawaii corroded the wiring. To get the best out of them, you need serious wattage. I'm talking 2kw. If you can arrange that, they are among the best full range speakers ever made.

 

Hi there

That's for free, let that be said the Tympani 1 is a speaker that's not meant for everybody. Mine have undergone a complete rebuild and crossover upgrade. Which made then a good bit more open on the highs (mine are original I that are basically converted to a 1d) with better tweeter response.

I don't agree with my fellow audio enthusiast claiming that 2kw is a necessity. Planars are in actuality, not hard on amplifiers at all. The load is purely resistive and it's not a traditional voice coil (that creates impedance dips) such as a traditional cone does.

However they are low sensitivity speakers, so I agree a good current couple 100 watts and you're already well on your way to drive them.

In my case l, I have 2x10 inch monolith subs as close as I could to the speakers and on the same axis baffle wise. These take the mid range dynamics up a good bit. These subs are rated at a Xmax of 3.5inches , which I never ever come close too (overkill does make for less strain)

In the back we have 2x18 jbl2420 build subwoofers. Go really , give you that sub low experience that fits the stature of the Tympani.

The planars (in my space) are restricted to 60hz, they play extremely comfortable on virtually any volume. Via experimentation, I came to the conclusion that putting them in the shallow "V" array. Constricted the soundfield a good bit, I am fortune that they can stand completely free from side walls and back walls (about 3 feet away seems ample)

I highly suggest subwoofer support, it really makes up for the lack of dynamics (inherently by design as mylar cannot do excursions as a woofer does) what you gain. In accuracy, speed, you will lack in dynamic range vs a cone.

I can tell you this , and this is purely based on the fact I have pitted it against systems such as the infinity kappa 9, the rs1b ,rsII, renaissance 80 (and more I take these as example due to the emim and emit drivers being planar)

Which I still all proudly posses ..

Nothing comes close to what that Tympani can do in terms of soundfield, depth , instrumental seperation , and placing vocals. It's virtually line array, voices sound broad yet placed and human sized (literally)

There hasn't been one speaker I had (given I have lots going on low end wise) that can do what these do.

I hope you give them a fair chance , I gladly show some pic of i knew how to post them. These are speakers that need, understanding , the right gear (ergo no need for kilowatts of power , but good clean power)

They are incredible..

 

Yes, they are incredible! I agree with your assessment of their aural presentation. I owned the 1Ds from '79 to '94, a time where there were very few subwoofers available that could match the 1Ds speed and coherence. It wasn't until using the passive line level x-over, a pair of strapped mono Crown DC300As, and a McIntosh 2300 that the bass came alive due to their low sensitivity and the insertion loss of the passive x-over. With all that clean power turned up to levels where the Fletcher-Munson flattens out, the bass presentation was truly full range. Still the most realistic bass reproduction I've ever heard. They didn't call them Tympanis for nothing.

 

The Tympani 1D speakers need a powerful amplifier and they are then simply magnificent. Tweeter panels on the inside is best.

 

I have ran them both ways, tweeters outside gives you about twice the soundfield vs inside.

If space allows? Outside works best for me in any configuration I had them in. Via experimentation, I came quickly to the conclusion these speakers get a good bit smaller when set up in the typical V array.

I have set them up tweeters outside angled them in so they cross infront of the listening spot.

The inner panel, let them cross a bit before where the tweeters cross. You get a incredible depth in the mid range that way. Again this works when your space allows them to stand completely free. I have mine about 3 feet away from back walls..

It's a incredible speaker to listen too, especially with subwoofer support. I cut mine off at 60hz, they never see low end. As konut also points out matching a subwoofer pair to them became lot easier today.

However if cost isn't a big issue?! Servo controlled subs are king at control. Cost a good bit more, but I'll put a Wilson audio next to it all day long, by now I got 4 sets of maggies imho the Tympani I is in a league of its own.

I will not lay claim they are the best speakers out there. But I do know, that the Tympani will always be a speaker that will be cherished by this enthusiast.

I will not part from them, my wife even loves the sound of them. My room allows some reflections as that is what these speakers need. A to acoustic dead room, puts them on their knees sonic wise.

There is no day passing by, that I thoroughly enjoy these speakers. I also have a huge Arnie nudell (infinity) collection. So I am not biased towards just planar,but one cannot deny. Going back to my point source speakers from maggies (got 4 sets of maggies by now)

How do I put this, I listen to one from the collection. The second I hook up my T1 ...breath of fresh air, there is absolutely no fatique on any volume (given I am not a spl guy)

I have found my holy grail, which makes my wife happy too

 

That Luxman tuner is currently auction listed for a high of $750.00. apparently an art deco classic.

 

Seems like a good powerful amplifier like a PS audio S300 would be good with these? Or my parasound a 21?

 

The other thing I noticed about the Tympani 1D is that you could converse with someone next to you quite easily despite loud volume replay compared with most speakers at a similar volume. ?? Lack of midrange distortion?? - I don't know. I ran mine with Audio Research amplification (SP-10 and D79) no subwoofers. They were always better sounding than anything I heard anywhere else.

 

Yeah, that's the kind of prices I was seeing back in late March when I looked it up. The OP done good!

 

The tuner is a good deal, the speakers are a ridiculous deal!

Those are groundbreaking speakers, with historical audio significance.

And set up well, with a bit of work, they would still keep up with some very high $$ contemporary speakers. Of course, they need a pretty big room.

 

That's indeed the case, you can really hit well past 100db (measured ) and still have a conversation with the guy next to you. They do not (when properly set up) fatique on any given frequency (caveat I run subs and cut the Speakers of at around 50hz)

It's a incredible speaker that only can be explained, but giving someone the sweet spot and press play .

The magic of the Tympani is that they will never sound boxy or constrained. It baths you in sound depth, without losing any control. You can point out everything as clear as day .

As far as to why you can have a convo, dipoles do not radiate sound like cones do. They don't suffer from ceiling or floor or side wall bounce.

Imagine a figure "8" going through the speakers...vs waves coming at you like cones do .

 

Good

 

Not to burst bubbles, but that T-110 at $750 is a pipe dream I think.. but one did actually sell in April for $190-ish, which is still a slamming deal for the $10 paid!

 

Went to a sale just around the corner this morning. There was a box of classical LP's, all in great shape, mostly Shaded Dogs. $1/each. Yeah, I bought several.