TABLE OF CONTENTS
MY STORY
I experienced the Magnepan 3.7i a good few years ago at the Doug Brady HiFi store in Cheshire UK, when I was auditioning Harbeth M40.2. At the time, I listened to them out of curiosity, as I did not have any experience with panel speakers. I recall two impressions – lack of visceral experience and phantom images being unrealistically large. I quickly switched back to the Harbeths and never gave these large Maggies another thought.
Fast forward a couple of years to my rather positive experience with Magnepan LRS and then later with Magnepan 1.7i, and I began wondering whether there was more to Magnepan 3.7i than what my first impressions would suggest.
I normally buy and sell most speakers I review, and with speakers of this value (£8,249) it makes sense to buy them second hand, to not loose too much value during the sale. Otherwise I may be a few thousand pounds out of pocket by the time I finish the review.
I found a set of Magnepan 3.7i on eBay, based in Oxfordshire (4.5h drive from where I live). Gentleman selling them did not have the original boxes, but he was the first owner with no pets and with a dedicated listening room, and a lot of other high end gear. It appeared the speakers were well looked after and in excellent condition. After checking my wife’s car with a tape measure I decided to buy them. After a 10h round trip, we carried them up the steep steps into our house and this is how this review began.
SPEAKER INFO
Company and Model History
Magnepan is an American brand that has been making magnetostatic speakers since 1969. The brand inspires very strong loyalty amongst its customers, similar to McIntosh. They appear to have a very practical approach to designing loudspeakers, where any improvement they make to their designs has to make a difference in a blind listening test. This was the case with Magnepan 3.7i, which replaced Magnepan 3.7. The improvements were not large enough to justify the next reiteration (i.e. move to a new 3.8 model), however, they were detectable in the blind listening tests, and the letter “i” was added to indicate the improved model. Magnepan 3.7i sit close to the top of their range, with four models below it, and two models above it. Until the 2.7i model was added to the Magnepan loudspeaker range, the 3.7i was the first loudspeaker in that range that featured a true ribbon tweeter.
Design & Technology
Magnepan 3.7i is a 3-way, planar-magnetic and ribbon loudspeaker. In contrast to lower models in the Magnepan range, the tweeter of the 3.7i is a true ribbon driver. This is where the extremely light aluminium strip is suspended between two strong magnets. This tweeter unit stretches across nearly the whole height of the loudspeaker, making it as close to the theoretical line source as we can get. And speaking of theory, this type of design should have a number of advantages. Narrow width of the ribbon ‘diaphragm’ allows it to have broader horizontal dispersion in the higher frequencies than traditional dome tweeters. This, if integrated properly, should give a wider listening sweet spot. The extremely low moving mass in relation to the radiating area of the aluminium strip, makes it very responsive to transients, which should translate to great resolution and delicacy, if we want to use audiophile terms. However, there is no free lunch here, and there is a reason why these types of drivers are not seen in mainstream loudspeakers. First, they are pretty fragile and really finicky to assemble in contrast to traditional dome tweeters, which makes mass production rather difficult. Second, maximum SPL and power handling of this type of construction is limited, which further reduces their application. It’s definitely a unique design and one that is rarely seen in modern loudspeakers. Don’t get me wrong, they are loudspeakers out there that use ribbon tweeters, but they account for a fraction of all speakers, and very few of these use ribbon tweeters that are as tall as these on the Magnepan 3.7i.
Enough about the tweeter though, let’s look at the midrange and bass drivers. Here we have a sheet of thin Mylar film stretched within a rigid speaker frame. A continuous strip of very thin aluminium foil is glued to this Mylar film. The width of these strips and also how far they are from each other determines the frequency response capabilities of each part of the Mylar sheet. The largest area of the ‘driver’ is dedicated to bass, whereas a much smaller area is dedicated to the midrange. Behind this mylar sheet, we have vertical lines of permanent magnets, with small air gaps between them. When the current flows through these aluminium strips, it interacts with the magnetic field generated by the permanent magnets behind the Mylar and creates a sound pressure. Thus, the principle behind it is very similar to the traditional speaker drivers with voice coils. Except, in the case of planar magnetic drivers, the voice coil is an integral part of the diaphragm (i.e. the aluminium strip is attached directly to the Mylar sheet).
It is worth noting that Magnepan 3.7i are dipoles, meaning that they emit sound from the front and from the back – see the visualisations below. This is thanks to the ribbon tweeter being open on the back and also thanks to the air gaps between the permanent magnets located behind the Mylar film. If we look at dipole speakers from the top, they disperse the sound in a shape similar to a figure of 8 (see the images below). Sound coming from the back of the speaker is in inverted phase in relation to the sound emitted from the speaker front. When these two sounds meet at the sides of the speaker, they cancel each other. Thanks to this phenomena, dipole speakers can reduce interaction with the room, especially in the context of side wall reflections.
Also, due to their design, Magnepans are closer to a line source than to a point source type of a loudspeaker. Thanks to this, they have much narrower vertical dispersion than traditional loudspeakers. This should further minimise the speaker-room interaction by reducing floor and ceiling reflections.
So far, dipoles sound like a great idea, so what’s the catch? Well… dipoles, due to their nature, usually suffer from limited low end output in comparison to traditional boxed speakers of a similar frontal area. This is because low frequencies are omnidirectional which makes the front to back cancellation effect even more severe here. To make things even more challenging, magnetostatic speakers have much less diaphragm excursion than traditional speakers, which further limits their ability to reproduce low frequencies. After all, bass frequencies rely on displacement of large volumes of air. This can be achieved by a small cone moving more or by a large diaphragm moving very little. The latter option is what is needed for Maggies to achieve adequate low end extension. The larger the panels, the lower the bass extension is going to be. Magnepan 3.7i should go down to 35Hz in most rooms, which I think is good enough for most music genres.
It is worth noting that to take full advantage of the benefits provided by dipole speakers, the general consensus is that they have to be quite far away from the front wall. This is to ensure that the sound reflected from the front wall has enough time delay vs the sound coming from the front of the speaker, to allow our ear-brain mechanism to perceive it as reflected sound, rather than an interference. Magnepan recommends placing these approx. 90cm from the wall behind the speakers, which may not be suitable for everyone, especially considering their rather large size.
MAGNEPAN 3.7I SPECS
| Frequency Response: | 35 – 40,000Hz (+/- ?dB) |
| Sensitivity: | 86dB (500Hz, 2.83V, measured at 1m) |
| Impedance: | 4Ω |
| Recommended Amplifier: | > 60W |
| High Frequency Driver: | Ribbon |
| Mid Frequency Driver: | Planar-Magnetic |
| Low Frequency Driver: | Planar-Magnetic |
| Crossover Frequencies: | Unknown |
| Enclosure Type: | Open Baffle (Dipole) |
| Enclosure Dimensions (HxWxD): | 1800x610x41mm (71x24x1.625″) |
| Weight: | 30.5 kg (each speaker) |
| Production Years: | 2014 – Current |
| Price When Launched: | £8,249 for a pair |
LOOK & FEEL OF MAGNEPAN 3.7I SPEAKERS
There is no way to hide it – Magnepan 3.7i are huge! Whereas Magnepan LRS are quite petit and easy on the eye, Magnepan 3.7i are completely the opposite. With the height of 180cm combined with 61cm width, they will be the first thing you notice when entering any room, especially in the black colour version. I thought Magnepan 1.7i were quite large, but these 3.7i take it to another level. This by itself can be a limiting factor for a lot of audio enthusiasts (and their spouses!).
However, providing that your listening room is large enough to accommodate them, the design of the Magnepan speakers is beautiful in its simplicity. It is a ridged frame covered in an acoustically transparent fabric, available in cherry white, off-white, grey, and black. The side parts of the frame are available in two different finishes: aluminium (silver, black, and gold) as well as wood (black, natural oak, and dark cherry). There are also some special colours available to order for both. The panels are setup on oval MDF plinths painted black and supported by two powder coated, metal brackets.
The binding posts are a little different than binding posts used on most loudspeakers. Each socket features a hex driven bolt that can be used to tighten either a bare wire or a banana plug. Binding posts are placed quite low, so if you are using heavy gauge speaker cables, they won’t put too much strain on the banana plugs, which is nice. Underneath the binding posts, we can find the sockets for attenuation of the tweeter as well as midrange driver. These are supposed to be used with the 1Ω sand-cast resistors provided by Magnepan. I did not mind this solution in the budget LRS, or even in the 1.7i. However, with the 3.7i this seems a little cheap and not very elegant. At this price point, couldn’t Magnepan incorporate these resistors into the crossover circuit and put some nice switches next to the binding posts? Installing and removing these resistors is somewhat fiddly, and if you are experimenting with the speaker setup this gets annoying pretty quickly. Luckily, once they are in place and you are happy with the setup, you can just forget about them.
On the same back plate as the binding posts, there are also replaceable 3A fuses to protect the midrange and tweeter drivers from being overdriven. Not a very ‘audiophile’ solution but considering how fragile ribbon drivers are, I’m glad that Magnepan have incorporated these into their design.
Whenever I review speakers, I always tend to inspect the crossovers, however, in this case, Magnepan 3.7i crossovers are placed within the frame, next to the speaker terminal. Unfortunately the crossover cannot be accessed without removing the fabric speaker cover. Because these loudspeakers are relatively new, and because I bought them with an intention of reviewing and then selling them on, I was not prepared to do this.
Overall, Magnepan 3.7i are pretty well made. Magnepan seems to have a rather practical approach. There are no unnecessary exotic materials here, if something does not make an audible difference, they don’t spend money on it. This maybe fine for their bottom of the range speakers, but at over £8k for a set, I would have expected something a bit more premium.
SETUP OF MAGNEPAN 3.7I
In my experience with Magnepan speakers, the larger they are, the more difficult they are to setup properly. Or to articulate this differently – the larger the Magnepans the more their position impacts the overall tonal balance at the listening spot.
I’ve tried different placements of Magnepan 3.7i, but the best one to my ears was with the speakers approximately 1m away from the wall behind them, and slightly closer to each other than the distance from my listening position to each speaker. The best focus of phantom images was achieved with the speakers towed-in with the tweeters pointing a little bit outside of my shoulders.
I’ve experimented with tweeters on the inside and the outside. With tweeters on the inside, I felt that there was too much upper bass / lower midrange, which added some chestiness to the voices and removed some of the air from the higher frequencies. This made the speakers quite forgiving but I had the persistent sense that something was missing. With tweeters on the outside, the sound was more even handed and open, but at times too bright for my taste. Ideally, I would have wanted something in between the two. In the end, I kept the tweeters on the outside but used the provided 1Ω resistors on the tweeter section. This, to my ears, provided more accurate tonal balance than all other setup options.
I was quite puzzled by the impact of the tweeter position, as it seemed much greater than what I recalled from smaller Maggies. Thus, I ended up measuring frequency response for both placements with the microphone in the listening position. In my room, with the tweeters on the inside, Magnepan 3.7i have significantly (between 2dB to 8dB) reduced level between 400Hz and 5000Hz in comparison to the position with the tweeters on the outside. This is quite a big drop and it is most likely what I have been noticing during listening tests.
Please note that this is just my experience from my listening room. Due to how Magnepan 3.7i propagate the sound combined with their large size, the way they interact with the room may vary depending on the room, furniture, listening position, etc. All I’m saying here is that my setup may or may not provide good results in your room. I’d encourage experimentation.
SOUND OF MAGNEPAN 3.7I
First Impressions
Before commencing the review of Magnepan 3.7i I was using my reference speakers, Dutch & Dutch 8c. These are the most accurate speakers I’ve heard to date, with very even on and off axis frequency response down to 20Hz. I’m saying this to illustrate that I’m used to balanced sound and that the benchmark has been set fairly high. When I plugged in the Magnepan 3.7i for the first time, my attention was drawn to less precise imaging. I also thought that they were somewhat brighter but despite this, there was an easy to listen to quality about them. I then commenced the full listening test.
Bass
According to the manufacturer, the bass of Magnepan 3.7i is supposed to extend down to 35Hz in room, and I was able to achieve this extension. What surprised me though, there was hardly any boomines at the usual 53Hz room mode in my listening room. Normally, when I switch from my 8cs with EQ’ed bass, to passive speakers without EQ, I immediately notice standing waves at this particular frequency. With 3.7i, I did not notice anything too bothersome there, and it took me a while to realise that they have a pretty even bass response in my room. That surprised me becasue both the Magnepan LRS and the Magnepan 1.7i exaggerated this 53Hz room mode. I have verified this using frequency response measurements, and indeed, 3.7i were pretty flat at this frequency, whereas both LRS and 1.7i had a 6dB boost there. I’m not sure whether the 3.7i were designed to have a different low end roll off, or whether this is just a function of their size in relation to my room and their placement. In my experience, it’s next to impossible for passive speakers to achieve even bass response in untreated rooms, thus, I was really happy with the results.
In terms of quality of bass, I find it rather good. It’s coherent and resolving, and it has a surprising impact providing you have sufficient power to drive it. This can be experienced on songs such as Schüttel Deinen Speck by Peter Fox where the impact is very likely to surprise listeners who think that panel speakers don’t have any ‘kick’. And yes, if you have large cone based speakers you’ll of course get more oomph, but the difference is not as great as some people would want you to believe. I imagine that most listeners would be perfectly satisfied with how much impact Magnepan 3.7i can deliver. On the other hand, if you predominantly listen to HipHp, Reggae or Electronic music, perhaps magnetostatic speakers are not going to be the best fit for you. That is unless you’d be willing to integrate a subwoofer or two. And this may also be required if you’d like to have full range bass. Although the 35Hz extension is good for most music, there will be songs where having speakers capable of reaching 20Hz adds to the experience. For example, in the Wzięli Zamknęli Mi Klub by Kwiat Jabłoni from the Męskie Granie 2022 album, there is an electronic effect where the beat sequentially drops down in frequency until it gets to 0Hz. On my Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers, I can feel the pressure of that effect shaking my kidneys. On the Magnepan 3.7i the lowest tones are simply not there. And you may be forgiven for thinking that the lowest bass is only present in the genres of music that I mentioned before. However, I found this not to be the case, and often times we can find really low bass sounds in recordings where we expect it the least. For instance, on the Into My Arms track by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, there is a really low foot taping noise about 1:30 into the track. I can clearly hear it on the Dutch & Dutch 8c, but it is on the borderline of perception on the Magnepan 3.7i. And once you’ve heard deep bass and you know it’s there, you cannot really unhear it.
Moreover if you like music rich in bass and you like playing it very loud, you are likely to discover SPL limitations of Magnepan 3.7i; especially if you have a large listening room. Saying that, when playing Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer I was very surprised how loud I was able to get the 3.7i and how much punch they were able to generate without loosing composure. They are definitely a lot more capable in this area than their smaller siblings, 1.7i and LRS. However, at some point I reached the level where the bass started sounding less controlled and rattly, and it quickly became clear that the speakers were outside of their comfort zone. Just bear in mind that this level was significantly higher than most people would want to listen at. For 99% of my listening needs in my listening room, the SPL capabilities of the 3.7i are perfectly adequate. If you are fortunate to have a very large listening room or you enjoy your music very loud, then you may want to explore high-passing them with an active crossover, and adding a dedicated subwoofer or two.
Midrange And Treble
The midrange and treble is where Magnepan speakers generally excel, and this is no different with Magnepan 3.7i. Voices and instruments sound unbelievably real and have an easy to listen to quality about them. However, if your experience so far is only with traditional British speakers, such as Spendor or Harbeth (i.e Harbeth M40.1), then you’ll likely perceive Maggies as tonally leaner. This feeling goes away after a couple of hours, and you quickly adapt to their tonal balance. I was coming into 3.7i from my Dutch & Dutch 8c, and with the exception of 3.7i being on the brighter side, I had no complaints about their tonal balance. The brightness can be noticed on songs such as Hell Is For Children by Pat Benatar, where at higher volume levels it becomes borderline tolerable during busy passages. It’s not as ear piercing as on the ATC SCM40A but it is a bit less tolerable than on my Dutch & Dutch 8c. Bear in mind that in my room, a lot of this could have been mitigated by having 3.7i tweeters on the inside – see the setup paragraph above.
It is worth noting that Magnepan 3.7i have astonishing resolution and ability to reveal micro details that very few box speakers can match. This can be quite impressive on high quality studio productions such as Wordy Rappinghood by Tom Tom Club where one can appreciate how much stuff is going on in that recording and the clarity of decay of various sounds. This ability of 3.7i is even more impressive during playback of live albums where we get more sense of where the recording took place and all background sounds appear to be easier to hear into. Good example of that is Awake My Soul by Mumford & Sons from the Live From South Africa: Dust & Thunder album where one can almost feel the heat in the air, not to mention how easy it is to hear all the crowd noises that add so much to the atmosphere of the recording. Don’t get me wrong, it is not that you hear sounds that are not present during playback on other high quality loudspeakers, it is more about how easy it is to hear them.
They are also fantastic at separating the sound sources. And I don’t mean precision of imaging here – more on that in the next paragraph. I’m referring to how easy it is to hear individual sound sources during busy tracks. Instead of hearing one blended sound, we hear individual components that create that sound. This can be experienced on songs such as Abyssinean Dub by Blue Asia, where on most typical speakers we hear a lot of different sounds blended with each other, whereas on Maggies, we are able to almost separate each sound, and shift our attention from one to another. This is a fantastic ability and it allows the listeners to stay more engaged during busy passages. I’ve experienced these traits with other Magnepan models, but 3.7i take it to an even higher level. Very impressive!
Soundstage & Imaging
The soundstage precision is probably where the Magnepan 3.7i are somewhat behind traditional box speakers. Phantom images oftentimes appear larger than what we are accustomed to. It’s a really weird phenomena and sounds a little crazy, as how can one judge the size of something from its sound? Nonetheless, it’s there. An example of that could be On the Radio by Chip Taylor, where on the 3.7i his head appears to be 0.5m in diameter, whereas on my KEF LS50 Meta his head appears to have a more normal size. Just bear in mind that you only notice this initially. After a couple of hours, your ear-brain mechanism adapts to the different presentation of Maggies, and you no longer pay attention to this.
This trait is also related to how 3.7i image. Similar to other Magnepan speakers, they give you an idea about the general vicinity of the phantom source but never its precise location – i.e. you don’t get pin point imaging. Not sure what causes this. Perhaps it’s because of the large radiating area or maybe it’s because of the amount of reflected sound due to them being dipoles. Regardless of the reason, if you are coming from well designed box speakers, you notice it straight away. On the other hand, have you ever attended an un-amplified performance and tried to listen with your eyes closed? I have, and I’m sorry to report that there is no such thing as pin point imaging there. The only time I’ve heard pin-point imaging was with well produced albums. If your benchmark for imaging is live performance, then Magnepan 3.7i are going to meet or exceed it. If you compare them to well executed box speakers such as KEF LS50 Meta, they are not going to perform as well in this area. This is not something that bothered me though. Magnepan 3.7i do so many things so well, that I’d be happy to live with a little less precision in the imaging department.
And while we are talking about less precision, I did not find the depth of soundstage particularly real on the Magnepan 3.7i. You do get it but it does not seem to be as easy to hear as on the Dutch & Dutch 8c or KEF LS50 Meta. From memory, I’ve had greater impressions of depth with Magnepan 1.7i, but I’ve not compared both speakers side by side, so take this with a pinch of salt. It may be something to do with the sheer size of the 3.7i in relation to my room, so please don’t take this as a universal ‘truth’ – this was just my subjective experience in my room. It may well be that in a larger room with different placement, 3.7i would be able to generate a greater illusion of depth.
One thing worth noting is that 3.7i, similar to other large Magnepan speakers, present the sound sources above our ears. Occasionally this can lead to some strange effects. Good example of that is Martha by Tom Waits, where I perceive the piano sound coming from the top of the right speaker, way above where it should be. However, on most recordings this is a great quality as it makes them sound more real. After all, during the large majority of live performances musicians are located on the stage, which usually brings them above ours ears. Most traditional speakers I experienced so far don’t seem to be able to achieve this, and present the sound sources from their reference axis (usually tweeter height). Two notable exceptions from that are KEF LS60 Wireless and Dutch & Dutch 8c which present the sound sources above the speakers, thus, more life like and similar to Maggies.
Comparison With Magnepan LRS and 1.7i
I’ve referenced the other Magnepan speakers in a number of paragraphs in this review already. However, to summarise it all here… in my experience, the larger the Magnepans, the more finicky they are to setup, and have them sounding just right. Whereas the Magnepan LRS are easy on the ears, the 1.7i and 3.7i can end up being quite bright if not setup properly. The size of the phantom images appears to be much larger on the 3.7i than on the LRS or the 1.7i but it is something that you adapt to relatively quickly. The resolution and ability to reveal micro details of all three models is breathtaking, with each higher model improving on the previous one. Bass extension and ability to play loud with the 3.7i is significantly better than the LRS, and a little bit better than the 1.7i. In my room, the bass of the 3.7i is also a lot more even handed than with the two other models.
In a side-by-side comparison with the LRS, the 3.7i sound brighter, which gives an impression of greater clarity and more details in the top octaves. This can easily be heard on snare drums, which sound more closed in on the LRS and more open on the 3.7i. It’s hard to tell how much of it is due to greater resolution as opposed to a greater amount of higher frequencies. The soundstage illusion does not seem to be as good on the LRS as it is on the 3.7i. Moreover, the 3.7i can be enjoyed while standing up, whereas if you try standing in front of the LRS, you end up loosing most of the high frequencies.
In most aspects, Magnepan 3.7i are better speakers than the Magnepan LRS, and Magnepan 1.7i, but you’d expect it at over 8x the price of the LRS and more than 2x the price of the 1.7i. They are definitely not eight times better than the LRS, and definitely not twice as good as the 1.7i, but diminishing returns is something that audiophiles are very familiar with. Out of these 3 models, if the size and price weren’t a consideration, I’d be most happy with the Magnepan 3.7i. On the other hand, if size and budget need to be considered, Magnepan LRS offer tremendous value for money.
What Others Think
During my time with Magnepan 3.7i, we’ve had a friend from Spain staying with us for a weekend, and I’ve taken this opportunity to get his thoughts on these speakers. He does not have much experience with Hi-Fi, but he plays guitar and has a good amount of experience with performing and recording music. We’ve started with my reference Dutch & Dutch 8c, and then after a day, we switched to Magnepan 3.7i. His perception was that Magnepan 3.7i are less precise than 8c in a way where he wasn’t able to easily position where the instruments are in 3D space, and everything was coming in as a wall of sound. He commented that he could still hear each instrument separately and that resolution of the Maggies was great, but he did not feel that front to back depth and precision was there. My friend also mentioned that voices sound big, he wasn’t quite sure how to describe it. He mentioned the singer’s head being bigger than in real life.
Final Thoughts
Magnepan 3.7i are fantastic speakers but to get the most out of them, you need to put some effort in. Once you do, you’re in for a real treat. I’ve not experienced any other speakers that make my foot tap on acoustic and live music as much as Magnepans do. If I did not live in a relatively small house and I was able to keep more than a couple of sets of loudspeakers, I’d be definitely keeping the 3.7i.
CONCLUSION
Magnepan 3.7i are very musical and natural sounding speakers. They offer astonishing resolution and transparency without fatigue. Unless you predominantly listen to music that relies on low bass, the bass extension and the tactile feeling produced by Magnepan 3.7i will be more than sufficient for most music genres. They are very engaging and quite easy to listen to, providing that you set them up properly in your room. Phantom images are often unnaturaly large, but once you’ve listened to them for a while you no longer notice it. If you have room and the patience to set them up properly, plus a decent amp to drive them, I would wholeheartedly recommend them.
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| Neutrality of Tone: |  |
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SONGS MENTIONED IN THIS REVIEW
Blue Asia – Abyssinean Dub
Chip Taylor – On the Radio
Harold Faltermeyer – Axel F
Kwiat Jabłoni – Wzięli Zamknęli Mi Klub (Live – Męskie Granie 2022)
Mumford & Sons – Awake My Soul (Live From South Africa: Dust & Thunder)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms
Pat Benatar – Hell Is For Children
Peter Fox – Schüttel Deinen Speck
Tom Tom Club – Wordy Rappinghood
Tom Waits – Martha
Reviewed: November 2024 | Published: January 2025