CRANAGE HALL AUDIO SHOW JUNE 2014 - Magnepan and Exposure

Compulsory vigorous dealer foot-tapping in evidence  :-)

 

Great to get a chance to listen to magnaplanar speakers - a new experience for me.  These were being fed by a Primare disc spinner and some very large and substantial looking Exposure amps - stereo pre and 2 mono power amps.  Exposure is something I've heard many times before, but these boxes are much more substantial than the slimmer boxes I'm more used to from them.  They're a bit more professional looking and Exposure of old, but the red illuminated logo was patchy - like they hadn't put enough bulbs in there or something.

We heard 2 pieces of classical music in here - one rather baroque in nature, the other more traditional orchestral stuff.  Harpsichord sound crisp and lilted along nicely.  Large scale orchestra was rather lacking in the scale department - not much heft to it.  Imaging OK horizontally, but not very clear in the vertical.

I suppose what we heard here kind of fits into the planar / electrostatic expectations - from previous experience of Exposure, I don't think the gentle character would be down to the amps.  Would like to have heard somthing more rhythmic and dynamic - got the impression the music was carefully chosen.  Kids bored very quickly in this room, like me.  They were playing the music reasonably quietly, which is fine, but the door really needs to be closed at this kind of show, and particularly with this type of music.