In Reply to: Tympani IVa vs 3.7i vs ML Odyssey posted by methylmarty on June 10, 2021 at 11:11:54:
As you might gather, I am a full range electrostat enthusiast and have been since hearing Dayton-Wrights in '76. Having said that, I was truly blown away by a pair of TIIIs in '74 and purchased MG-IIs shortly thereafter. I currently use MC-1 surrounds in the home theater.
I confess that a BIG priority for me is coherence. I want a piano to sound like a single instrument that doesn't vary its character across the keyboard. Which is why I'm not a fan of hybrid stats, i.e. Martin-Logans where the monopole woofer is contributing the fundamentals for most instruments. To these ears, earlier Magneplanars could not compete with full range stats either in that regard. While each provides exceptionally well rendered ranges, what I hear is a discontinuity when examined top to bottom. I seriously considered 20.1s before purchasing my Sound Labs and heard a very well driven pair at Sea Cliff. I chose the stats as the 20.1s were still "patched together" from my listening perspective.
Having said that, I later heard a pair of 3.7s in Harry's same room that struck me as a significant improvement in terms of overall coherence. I could easily live with a pair (ideally supplemented with two or more subs) and presumably, the "i" version is better still.
To summarize:
For optimum scale - keep the big Tympanis
For widest range coherence - 3.7i
For best low end bass punch - Martin-Logan
Ideally, you would audition the options.
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Follow Ups
- My two cents - E-Stat 13:34:46 06/10/21 (8)
- RE: My two cents - methylmarty 13:45:59 06/10/21 (5)
- go for 3.7i - DrChaos 19:42:13 06/10/21 (2)
- RE: go for 3.7i - methylmarty 10:42:28 06/11/21 (1)
- probably not as good - DrChaos 13:05:59 06/12/21 (0)
- RE: My two cents - E-Stat 13:58:06 06/10/21 (1)
- RE: My two cents - methylmarty 10:40:39 06/11/21 (0)
- RE: My two cents - pictureguy 13:40:28 06/10/21 (1)
- Observational vs subjective - E-Stat 10:15:17 06/13/21 (0)