I have a thing for speakers that radiate from the front and the back. Most box speakers have drivers only in the front, and while the best of them do a good job of creating a three-dimensional image, there's just something seductive about the sense of space imparted by front- AND rear-radiating speakers.

Over the years, my favorite di-polar or bi-polar speakers have included those by Mirage, Cambridge Soundworks, and Magnepan. Mirage and Cambridge simply put drivers in the front and back of typical box enclosures. These drivers radiate in phase, and produce a nice, three-dimensional soundstage. Magnepan's speakers are panel speakers, and as such, the front and back radiation occurs out of phase. Whether this makes any difference is beyond my comprehension (and my ability to hear). But there it again: that seductive sense of space.

I've heard the Magnepan 1.6s in several systems, driven by solid state and tube amplification. Among their strong suits are good transient attack and what the audiophile reviewers call "microdynamics." Microdynamics are subtle differences in volume within a piece that let you know, for example, that a guitarist hit his g-string a bit harder than his b-string in a fast guitar run. Musical subtleties are what I'm talking about.

With the Magnepan 1.6s, acoustic instruments sound like they are in the room with you. The front- and rear-radiation really help you hear the space in which the recording was made, though some reviewers say that di-polar or bi-polar radiation actually EXAGGERATE the sense of space. I don't care. I enjoy it.

These speakers are also wonderful at teasing instruments and voices apart. Orchestras don't blur into one murky mass. You can focus in on one violin if you want, or just take in the whole orchestra. Massed choruses also sound great through the Magnepan 1.6s.

So where do they fall short?

Bass response, while it has nice "slam," doesn't go deep. And I've never heard these speakers played at high volume. I'd recommend using a sub-woofer with these speakers if you listen to loud rock (actually, I don't think of these as "rock speakers"), organ music, or large scale Romantic orchestral works at high volume.

Another thing that bothered me about the 1.6s is that I thought I heard an upper midrange peak when they were reproducing solo female vocals. My record and CD collection includes a lot of Emmylou Harris, Cowboy Junkies, Kate Wolf, Lucinda Williams, Enya (yes, Enya!), and Altan, to mention a few. Speakers have to reproduce female vocals in a natural and not too "in-your-face" manner to satisfy me. With the 1.6s, female vocals sometimes were thrust a bit forward, and sibilants were slightly exaggerated. This problem may have been solved with the most recent models, but I do recommend you bring your favorite CDs of female vocals with you when you audition these speakers.

In conclusion, the Magnepan 1.6s are true audiophile speakers. They accurately reproduce the subtleties of music that make it sound real. And oh, that sense of space! They are also the kind of speakers that warrant the use of high quality associated equipment. In fact, I like them best when they're driven by tube amplifiers (which are ungodly expensive on a per watt basis).

If they sound good on female vocals to you, and you don't mind not being able to hear the lowest organ pedal tones (an acoustic or electric bass only goes down to 41 hz; some church organs go down to 16 hz), give these a listen, especially if, like me, you're a sucker for musical subtleties and a wide and deep soundstage.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1500