Why We Listen

Hey! I know you’re busy, but I’ve got a fun story to share. Settle in for this one and you’ll learn a little about the behind-the-scenes excitement that happens daily at The Music Room.

This story played out over two days, and it’s one that I think showcases everything we’re trying to do and everything you can expect as part of the buying process here at the Music Room. This is a story about quality control, and the care and high standards you can expect from us.

We recently received a set of Magnepan 3.6Rs from a favorite consignment customer of ours. If you’re not familiar, this model of planar floorstanding speakers from Magnepan stand about 6 feet tall, and have separate sections of the speaker designated for separate frequencies. These are managed by an external crossover box connected to each.

If you read my blog post about the Magnepan 3.7s, you know I just love how these speakers sound as you go larger in the line. The big ones like 3.7 and 3.6R really deliver the meat and flesh of tone that brings them to the same level as dynamic speakers in those qualities.

There are, of course, other aspects to music playback where the science behind planar technology leapfrogs the dynamic brethren. Speed comes to mind (impulse response / frequency) and so does timing. Bottom line, Maggies have the magic, especially when amplified appropriately.

After I had carefully unpacked each speaker, attached each foot and secured the external crossover boxes, I fired up a well known track of mine: a recording I made of a bluegrass group at a concert I hosted in a venue I helped create. To say I know this music well is an understatement.

Unfortunately, something was not right. Most of the time in this job, I see well-loved and well-cared-for beautiful equipment flow through the system. The things I hear and touch for the most part work flawlessly. Much of the repairs we ever perform are minute fixes and small cleanups. If something needs extensive work, we will sell it as-is or loop the original manufacturer into the discussion and perhaps have it professionally serviced.

This time, a cosmetically blameless set of Maggie 3.6R (oak wood / black fabric finish), exhibited a channel imbalance. Bummer! I guess it was subtle to others, but to me it was not at all. I know how the music should sound, and one speaker was definitely louder than the other.

The seller of these Maggies was not prepared to hear this, because before shipping them to us the speakers were perfectly balanced in his home, and he even went to the trouble of sending his crossovers to Magnepan to have them checked out before he shipped the speakers to us.

From his perspective, there was no way these could have an imbalance. From my perspective, there was no way these were working perfectly, if they played back my track incorrectly — again, subtly incorrect at best, but still incorrect.

So our next steps were to remove all doubt. I brought all the TMR testers over and a few other music lovers in the building, and we each listened and pointed to the louder speaker. All chose the same one, but at least a couple of guys weren’t sure at first.

We moved the speakers to my coworker Ben’s testing setup to confirm our results on a completely different system. We found the same outcome in the new location.

This hubbub aroused the attention of our true technical wizard at The Music Room, our customer service tech Peter. With multimeter in hand, Peter started measuring differences in the speakers at the crossover boxes. One or two readings were all that was needed to confirm that these speakers were operating differently from one another.

Now that we had consensus that these were slightly imbalanced, we moved them over to “Peter’s World” — a land of soldering irons, oscilloscopes and test leads. With both crossover boxes open and music playing, he showed us that by moving one set of high frequency circuit capacitors with his fingers he could get the signal to cut in and out.

A cold solder joint! Now, I want to be clear that this story is not a condemnation of Magnepan or their service department. A number of things could have led to this result, and this could happen at the most prestigious of repair departments.

The meaning of the story is two-fold: First, while we absorb and appreciate things like service history and customer accounts of a product’s condition, we do not take as infallible truth anything except that which we can hear and measure.

Second, we care deeply about the same things our customers do. We are audiophiles here. And you, our dear customers and my readers, must certainly be bitten by the same bug if you are here still reading a long-winded story about a set of planar magnetic speakers. Any customer who would buy a set of Magnepans would do so with the famous Maggie soundstage and imaging and sweet spot in mind. So balance in this case is of utmost importance to us as it is of utmost importance to our customer.

Peter quickly resoldered the connections and I re-tested the speakers. Flawless. Gorgeous. Massive sound, even powered by a little 150-watt Class D amp. The eventual customer who will welcome these beauties into his home won’t know what could have been — he’ll just be relaxing in the wash of high end music playback and basking in the sweet spot.

Thanks to a set of ears and Peter’s know-how, that sweet spot will now be dead center. We guarantee it!

Buy with confidence from The Music Room. Our quality control is really like no other, and we’re proud of our track record.

UPDATE: This specific pair of Maggies already sold fairly quickly, but we've always got one or two sets on hand, and the story is worth hearing. Happy browsing!