I have a soft spot for Magnepan speakers; have ever since I bought my first pair (yes, I said first pair) of MMG loudspeakers from them some six or seven years ago. Since then I've owned every current product Magnepan has made, including the mighty 20.1's. But of all the Magnepan loudspeakers that have graced my listening room I have to say the $4,450 (base price) MG 3.6s are my favorite and quite possibly the best speaker Magnepan has ever made.

The MG 3.6 is a full range, three-way, true ribbon tweeter planar-magnetic loudspeaker. Say that three times fast. Unlike the now discontinued MG 1.6, MG12 and MMG series speakers, the MG 3.6, like the larger MG 20.1, uses a true ribbon tweeter which gives the MG 3.6 that extra "magic" in the top end that lesser Magnepan designs and more traditional box speakers lack. It also gives the MG 3.6 a reported frequency response of 34-40kHz; however you'll need a lot of power to reach either of those extremes for the MG 3.6 is about as inefficient as they come with its 85dB sensitivity rating into a four Ohm load. Okay, you're going to need gobs of power and good power at that; think in the neighborhood of 250 watts per channel to start. Better yet, think 250-watt mono blocks or better per speaker for best results.

Getting back to the MG 3.6 itself for a moment. I said the true ribbon tweeter helps give the MG 3.6 a bit of its magic touch over traditional box speakers, well that is true, but it's also the fact that the MG 3.6 doesn't have a 'box' that sets it apart as well. Unlike traditional speakers, the MG 3.6's driver material is stretched inside a thin MDF frame, then covered in an acoustically transparent sock or speaker grill, allowing sound to radiate both forwards and behind the speaker itself in a true dipole design. Because the MG 3.6 doesn't use dynamic drivers of any kind it is very thin, but before you go jumping for joy I should tell you, that while thin, the MG 3.6 is still a large speaker; one of the largest actually. Imagine your front door. Now imagine your front door playing the best music you've ever heard. Now imagine your front door times two in your living room playing the most glorious music you've ever heard. That's what living with the MG 3.6's is like. Of course the MG 3.6's don't look exactly like a door; they come in a variety of wood trims such as black, natural and dark cherry (extra charge) as well as two cloth choices; black or gray.

From a sound perspective the MG 3.6s are phenomenal speakers and sound more like live music than probably any speaker out there today. They are incredibly natural and smooth from the midrange on up to the highest frequencies and while they're not exactly barnburners in the bass department, what is there is incredibly composed, textural and musical. Those of you with a taste for heavy metal or action movie soundtracks should consider a high quality subwoofer to augment the MG 3.6's low end. System matching is very important with the MG 3.6s, probably more so than with traditional box speakers, for they can be ruthlessly revealing and are not what I would call ideal for all types and genres of music.