Superb Sound + Incomparable Value

Breaking News About The MG1.7: While availability has been extremely limited, we now have a few sets in stock for immediate delivery. If you still haven’t heard this astounding new loudspeaker, make it a top priority and be among the first to have a pair in your music system.

Magneplanar model introductions are rare and invariably newsworthy. The newest Magneplanar, the MG1.7, was unveiled at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show and quickly became the Las Vegas event’s hottest high end story. The 1.7 is a significant breakthrough that delivers distinct sonic improvements over the MG1.6, known for a dozen years as one of high end audio’s top bargains. For more about this new unit, which sets a precedent by combining three of Magnepan’s unique quasi ribbon drivers yet still costs less than $2,000 per pair, click the link below. And be sure to visit Lyric soon to hear the 1.7 for yourself.

Click Here To Learn About The MG1.7

Critics who evaluate audio components professionally and serious non-professional music listeners have agreed on at least one subject for some four decades. Large numbers of listeners in both groups will tell you that Magneplanar loudspeakers provide better sound for less money than any other speaker bar none.

In fact, the many devotees of these legendary made-in-Minnesota speakers are quick to point out that models with sound even approaching that of Magneplanars tend to cost two or three times as much.

But there’s another key reason Magneplanars have been a staple of the high end hi-fi hit parade for so many years. When you play your most treasured recordings on them, the performers will sound as if they’re right in your listening room.

Magneplanars reproduce the precise timbres of instruments and voices in a remarkably realistic manner. The speakers themselves seem to be gone, and what you notice is sound so natural the CDs and LPs you thought you knew intimately have somehow acquired new dimensions.

Maybe The Micro Grand Reference Should Be Named The Nola Outperformer

To loosely paraphrase Samuel Johnson’s enduring quip about 18th century London, When a music lover is tired of Nolas he’s tired of life!

We’re huge fans of Nola speakers, especially the flagship Grand Reference, which we included in Lyric’s Super-Fi System, the ultimate two-channel home audio component combination. The Nola Baby Grand Reference is also a favorite of everyone at Lyric.

So we were delighted when we received a prototype of Nola’s far less expensive Micro Grand Reference. It’s small enough to rest on a stand, but similarities between its sound and that of the Grand Reference and Baby Grand are striking enough to make ears perk up and eyes widen.

We’re not just talking about our ears and eyes. Soon after the Micro Grand Reference arrived at Lyric, two very serious home music listeners conducting comparison tests heard it and found that it has more magic than a certain other speaker that audiophile magazine reviewers have been effusively touting (and which happens to cost more than twice the price of this giant killer).

In the early 1970s, we provided savvy music lovers with the Tympani, the very first Magnepan model that company founder Jim Winey produced. Today, we’re proud to offer you the spectacular new MG1.7, the first speaker to employ a full complement of Magnepan’s quasi ribbon drivers. Its incredibly lifelike performance and under-$2,000 price tag resets the high fidelity loudspeaker industry's sound per dollar standard. As one of high end's most respected critics has written, it's "just plain great."

Now More Than Ever MG Stands For Magnificent

Jonathan Valin was curious — “deadly curious” is how he put it — about a speaker scheduled to be unveiled at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show, a $54,000 per pair model from a high end company whose products many critics admire but few ordinary mortals can afford.

In spite of that upcoming debut, the respected writer for The Absolute Sound made an intriguing admission on the magazine’s website, saying “were I restricted to attending just one premier at the upcoming CES, I would have to skip [the aforementioned introduction] in favor of the unveiling of the MG1.7 from Magnepan.”

After hearing it, Jon deemed the MG1.7 "an unqualified success” and later honored this “instant classic” with a TAS 2010 Golden Ear award.

Other high end audio cognoscenti who listened were equally impressed. Consider the reaction of TAS writer Chris Martens: “Within its price class, the MG1.7 doesn’t just raise the performance bar, but rather straps that bar onto a rocket and then launches it clean out of sight...[It] has literally redefined what is possible at its price point.”

The 1.7 replaces one of audio’s longest-reigning monarchs — Magnepan’s 12-year-old MG1.6. Jon Valin called that model “the speaker I have long considered to be the best buy in all of high end audio,” and it crowned Steve Guttenberg's list of the Top 10 Greatest Audiophile Speakers, which appeared last June in The Audiophiliac, his cnet news blog.

The King Is Dead — Long Live the King

How, you might be wondering, could Magnepan follow such a wildly successful act and still come out on top? A few facts about the MG1.6’s stunning replacement provide part of the answer.

• The MG1.7 represents much more than a small step ahead for Magnepan. The new model takes a long leap forward, yet the basic model costs just $100 more than its predecessor.

• The MG1.7 departs from Magnepan’s traditional use of planar magnetic drivers in the lower midrange and bass segments, relying exclusively on quasi ribbon technology. It uses three quasi ribbons to achieve a new level of coherence across the sonic spectrum.

• The advantages of Magnepan’s quasi ribbon technology, which marries very thin film backing with the delicate ribbons, include extremely wide frequency bandwidth and high power handling capability. As a result, the MG1.7 combines low distortion with an unusual degree of definition. The sound is as clear as it is effortless.

• One of the quasi ribbons employed by the MG1.7 is a super-tweeter with a wide high frequency projection pattern. That expands the optimum listening area and allows audience members more seating flexibility than the 1.6 did.

• Those who prefer modern home decor can opt for the basic MG1.7, which is trimmed with aluminum, while others can order the traditional wood surround trim options that were offered on its predecessor model.

• Given these advancements and the MG1.7's level of sonic purity, the fact that it starts at only $1,995 per pair (trim options will add to the price, but only modestly) is nothing short of astounding.

You Can Audition This One-Of-A-Kind Speaker At Lyric Right Now

Impressive as they may be, bare, bulleted facts can't adequately describe a speaker as wondrous as the MG1.7. The real story of its greatness unfolds as you listen.

So grab a few of your favorite CDs, come to Lyric, and audition the MG1.7. Whether or not you're familiar with Magnepan’s unique brand of magic, you'll find this new model a genuine revelation.

How Does The Audio Research
REFERENCE CD8 Compact Disc Player
Compare To Its Exalted Predecessor?

Bob Herman Tells It Like He Hears It

When it appeared in the fall of 2005, I found the Audio Research REFERENCE CD7 Compact Disc player unique in its ability to extract a musical performance from a Compact Disc, so I made a point of reviewing it for the LyricUSA.com website.

Unlike CD players that often sound lifeless and don’t evoke the emotional response live music at its best invariably elicits, the CD7 was a genuine revelation. Moreover, compared to so many far more expensive but flat-sounding players on the high end audio scene, it was a *%^$@@!! bargain.

As I then pointed out, it wasn’t surprising that the groundbreaking CD7 carried the Audio Research logo. After all, the Minnesota-based firm is very special. Its founder, William Z. Johnson, began designing custom audio electronics way back in the early 1950s and operated his own retail store well into the sixties. Almost single-handedly, he revived vacuum tube designs at a time when the industry had abandoned them for musically inferior solid state products.

Hear The New B&W 800 Series Diamond Now At Lyric

NOTE: The arrival of a new 800 Series, designated the 800 Series Diamond and described below, has led us to reduce prices substantially on the few speakers from B&W’s previous 800 Series still in our inventory. If you’ve always wanted to own these wonderful loudspeakers but were unable to afford them, click on the blue On Sale Now box at the right hand side of this page and see which models are still available.

Three decades ago, B&W introduced its original model 801 loudspeaker, a long leap forward for the firm and its customers but a mere first step in the creation of what has since become a heralded model range that continues to improve.

B&W unveiled the newest generation of 800 models, the 800 Series Diamond, at the January 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show. The speakers are manufactured entirely in the UK and mirror a long tradition of painstakingly produced British luxury goods — Rolls Royce and Bentley automobiles, outerwear by Burberry and Barbour.

For the first time, the company’s diamond dome tweeters are built into every 800 Series model. Now, even the stand-mounted 805 provides the clear, uncolored, distortion-free sound the dome has become known for.

Naturally, B&W’s 800 Series Diamond speakers incorporate an entire array of advancements over predecessor models, including new motor assemblies for bass drivers and tweeters. These reduce distortion to new lows and result in even smoother sound.

Improved driver design has allowed B&W to employ a superior crossover network, one that has been upgraded for cleaner signal passthrough. Signal quality is also enhanced by new, B&W-designed input terminals, which are fabricated of oxygen-free copper, a better conductor than brass.

These improvements will endow your favorite recordings with added layers of sonic excellence across the frequency spectrum while subtle aesthetic changes will make B&W 800 Diamond Series speakers look better than ever in your home.

800 Series Diamond speakers are now at Lyric for you to audition, so come in soon. Their clarity is comparable to that of a flawless gemstone, nothing short of dazzling.

Here Are Just Some Of The Many Benefits Investing In McIntosh Provides

Rigorous Power Rating: To arrive at the power output rating for its amplifiers, McIntosh uses a full range test signal, one that includes all the frequencies present in recorded music rather than the easily-reproduced 1 kHz tone that many manufacturers prefer and which invariably results in a higher figure. The company tests amps with all channels driven while some other firms drive just one channel to raise the resultant power measurement, and McIntosh drives tested amps only to their rated 0.005% distortion level rather than into regions where power and distortion are both higher. Moreover, after measuring several production units rather than just one pampered engineering sample, the firm calculates the average of all its measurements then reduces the figure somewhat. That way, the power specification ultimately published is one that every amp coming off the assembly line is certain to meet under real world music reproducing conditions. Most units exceed it.