Sierra with RAAL vs Magnepan
Hey all,
I was very interested in Magnepans before finding Ascend Acoustics when I upgraded my system earlier this year. I ended up with a pair of Sierra-2 speakers and am driving them with an NAD C 316BEE V2 amp. I don’t think I could have put together a better system for $2k and am still thrilled with the combination.
I’ve always been inruiged by different tweeter/driver designs. I didn’t have any luck finding comparisons between the Sierra RAAL speakers and Magnepan speakers when I was speaker shopping. Has anyone here compared the two? I’m curious to hear an opinions on how these designs compare to each other.
Thanks!
Ed
Re: Sierra with RAAL vs Magnepan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ed_bob
Hey all,
I was very interested in Magnepans before finding Ascend Acoustics when I upgraded my system earlier this year. I ended up with a pair of Sierra-2 speakers and am driving them with an NAD C 316BEE V2 amp. I don’t think I could have put together a better system for $2k and am still thrilled with the combination.
I’ve always been inruiged by different tweeter/driver designs. I didn’t have any luck finding comparisons between the Sierra RAAL speakers and Magnepan speakers when I was speaker shopping. Has anyone here compared the two? I’m curious to hear an opinions on how these designs compare to each other.
Thanks!
Ed
I have heard many different Magnepan speakers, were there any in particular that you had in mind?
Re: Sierra with RAAL vs Magnepan
Thanks for the reply, Dave.
The MMG and the .7 were the only Magnepans in my budget. I’m curious about how the planar magnetic sound compares to the sound of the RAAL Ascend line.
The upper range of Magnepans say they use a “true ribbon tweeter.” Have you heard this? How does it compare to a RAAL?
I absolutely love my Sierra-2s. I’m just curious to hear some comparisons to the other speaker I was considering purchasing.
The only complaints I generally hear from Magnepan owners are the lack of punch that you get from a cone woofer, and that some folks have had delamination problems with the film.
Re: Sierra with RAAL vs Magnepan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ed_bob
Thanks for the reply, Dave.
The MMG and the .7 were the only Magnepans in my budget. I’m curious about how the planar magnetic sound compares to the sound of the RAAL Ascend line.
The upper range of Magnepans say they use a “true ribbon tweeter.” Have you heard this? How does it compare to a RAAL?
I absolutely love my Sierra-2s. I’m just curious to hear some comparisons to the other speaker I was considering purchasing.
The only complaints I generally hear from Magnepan owners are the lack of punch that you get from a cone woofer, and that some folks have had delamination problems with the film.
That is one of the biggest issues as flat panel speakers can not move as much air as cone woofers. The other is because of the large height and width of the ribbon, it is extremely directional and very finicky regarding placement. One needs to be in the sweet spot as both horizontal and vertical dispersion is extremely limited.
The width of our RAAL tweeters is very narrow, thus horizontal dispersion is very wide, even more so than a typical dome tweeter.
Re: Sierra with RAAL vs Magnepan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
davef
That is one of the biggest issues as flat panel speakers can not move as much air as cone woofers. The other is because of the large height and width of the ribbon, it is extremely directional and very finicky regarding placement. One needs to be in the sweet spot as both horizontal and vertical dispersion is extremely limited.
The width of our RAAL tweeters is very narrow, thus horizontal dispersion is very wide, even more so than a typical dome tweeter.
That’s interesting. It’s so counterintuitive to me. Before I did so much research on speakers and different types of tweeters I would have guessed that the larger panel speaker would have the larger sweet spot.
As easygoing as my wife is, I don’t think I would have gotten away with putting Magnepans in our living room anyway! Besides that half joking point, there were other reasons that ultimately steered me toward the Sierra 2 (bass response, accuracy, the lack of a single negative review). I will live happily with these speakers for a very long time - at least until I have the space and the budget for the RAAL Towers!
Re: Sierra with RAAL vs Magnepan
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ed_bob
That’s interesting. It’s so counterintuitive to me. Before I did so much research on speakers and different types of tweeters I would have guessed that the larger panel speaker would have the larger sweet spot.
Yes, it can certainly seem that way but it is, in fact, the exact opposite. It helps to think about it in terms of wave interference and being off-axis from the radiating source.
