Loudspeakers

Magnepan

Magnepan builds planar-magnetic loudspeakers in Minnesota, replacing the cone and box of a conventional speaker with a thin diaphragm suspended in a magnetic field. Absolute Sound is the distributor for Magnepan in Singapore and Malaysia.

Sound from both sides of the panel

The company began with a magnetic answer to a different technology. Jim Winey, an engineer at 3M, owned electrostatic speakers and set out to build a better version of one: a magnetic equivalent, using a diaphragm driven by an array of magnets across its whole surface rather than a static charge or a single-point cone. He founded Magnepan in 1969 and brought the design to market as the Timpani 1U in 1971. The design radiates sound from the front and the back of the panel at once, which is why a Magnepan speaker tends to disappear as a physical object in a room. There is no cabinet to add its own colour and no single point for the ear to fix on. The company remains family-run, now under Winey’s son, Mark Winey, with every panel still assembled by hand.

The Magnepan range

Tall black Magnepan panel speaker beside an orange sofa and a bookcase in a living room.
Two black Magnepan panel speakers on stands in a carpeted room with a fireplace.
Pair of black Magnepan panel speakers in a bright living room beside a yellow armchair.

LRS+the entry point into planar-magnetic sound, compact enough for a bedroom or a second room.

.7a compact floorstanding model built to the same principle.

1.7ithe mid-size model most often recommended as a first full-range Magnepan.

2.7ia three-way panel with Magnepan’s True Ribbon tweeter, one step below the top of the range.

3.7ithe reference model below the flagship, where the True Ribbon tweeter first entered the range.

30.7the flagship, a four-panel design and Magnepan’s most ambitious loudspeaker yet.

Model-by-model specifications live on the manufacturer’s site: magnepan.com

Common questions about Magnepan

What is a planar-magnetic speaker?

It replaces the cone driver of a conventional speaker with a large, thin diaphragm suspended in a magnetic field and driven across its entire surface rather than from one point. Because the diaphragm is light and moves as a sheet, very little of its own character is added to the signal, and because there is no cabinet, there is nothing to resonate. It also radiates sound from the front and the back of the panel at once, which is the main reason a Magnepan speaker sounds different from a boxed speaker in the same room.

Do Magnepan speakers need a particular kind of amplifier?

They ask more of an amplifier than most box speakers do. A planar panel is a lower-impedance load that wants current rather than raw wattage, so Magnepan speakers are typically paired with an amplifier built to drive a demanding load comfortably, rather than whichever integrated happens to be nearby. The right match depends on the model and the room.

Do Magnepan speakers need to sit away from the wall?

More than a conventional speaker does. Because the panel radiates sound from its back as well as its front, the reflection off the wall behind it becomes part of what you hear, and placing a Magnepan speaker too close to a wall closes that sound in rather than opening it up. Most setups start with the panels pulled at least a metre into the room, with the final position tuned by ear.

Why are Magnepan speakers nicknamed “Maggies”?

It is short for Magneplanar, the name Magnepan uses for its planar-magnetic drivers. The nickname is old enough that Magnepan has used it in its own model names: the Mini Maggie system and the Maggie Stands both carry it officially. Among owners and dealers, it is simply the everyday name for the speakers.

Hear Magnepan for yourself

Come and hear Magnepan at our showrooms. Tell us what you would like to listen to and we will have it playing when you arrive.

START A PROJECT

Let's talk

Tell us a little about your space and how you’d like to listen.