Magnepan 30.7

This giant, four-panel (two panels per side), four-way, ribbon/quasi-ribbon line source loudspeaker from Magnepan is the best Maggie JV (Jonathan Valin - the absolute sound) has heard, which is tantamount to saying it is the best planar JV has ever heard (and right up there with the best six-figure dynamics JV has heard).

With its highly coherent wave-launch, free standing imaging, vast soundstage, phenomenal resolution of inner detail, lightning transient response, incomparable naturalness of timbre, and total lack of box coloration and diffraction, the 30.7 is markedly less “there” as a sound source (and markedly more lifelike on voice and acoustic instruments) than almost every dynamic-speaker-in-a-box, no matter its price.

The best buy in an ultra-high-end loudspeaker (and one of the best high-end buys of all time), the 30.7 earned JV’s highest, most ecstatic recommendation and TAS’ 2017 Overall Product of the Year award. If you have sufficient room, amplifier, and permission from your spouse—and don’t listen to a steady diet of heavy metal—you cannot do better.

Does the 30.7 Require a Big Sound Room?

The ideal line source would be like a narrow pole---very narrow and from floor-to-ceiling (with no mass). With real-world materials, Maggies aspire to this ideal.

Imagine if we repacked the 30.7 tweeter/midrange in a 10 inch-wide panel and sold it with small dynamic woofers (that could be hidden). Such a hybrid would have all the problems that have plagued all hybrids, but there is no acoustical reason it would not work in a small room (the only issue would be aesthetics.)

However, the bass panels of all Maggies are big. The 30.7 bass panel is huge. And, yes, there is a acoustical problem with putting a big woofer in a small room: excessive midbass (deep bass is seldom a problem).

We have solved the problem of excessive midbass. The 30.7 has adjustable midbass control (in addtion to mid and high frequency adjustments). If you can handle the aesthetic issues of big panels, there are no acoustical reasons you can not have a 30.7 in a smaller room. 

A word about setup: whether the tweeter is on the inside or outside, the tweeter should not be closer to the listener than the bass section. Measuring from your seated position, if the bass panel is 10 feet, 6 inches, the tweeter should be at least 10 feet, 7 inches (think in distance, not angles).