The CC5 is the "trickle-down" of the technology from our flag ship CCR center
channel speaker. The CC5 employs a horizontal, curved quasi-ribbon
midrange/tweeter and quasi-ribbon super-tweeter. No dynamic woofers are
employed. When used with a flexible bass management system or Magneplanar
Woofer, the illusion of a large Magneplanar in the center is possible for the
most important speaker in a home theater system.
An experienced Maggie reviewer, Michael Trei, Sound + Vision, November 2010
said it best---
"No matter what type of movie I played, dialogue clarity was always
exemplary. I would rate the CC5 as the most focused and transparent center
channel speaker I've yet encountered, with none of the off-axis frequency
response anomalies you hear with some dynamic models. The CC5 was able to lock
the dialogue to the center of the screen with razor-sharp precision over a wide
arc of listening positions, and it made even voices buried way down in the mix
easy to comprehend."
This was no easy task. All speaker companies must deal with the same issues
for home theater. The space and height available for the center channel speaker
is dictated by the video. For a speaker designer, it is the equivalent of "tying
one arm behind their back." The center channel speaker does approximately 60-70%
of the "heavy lifting". It is ironic that the most important speaker for home
theater has major design constraints. Magnepan's solution to this dilemma was to
employ all three speakers (front left, center and right) to work together to
create the illusion of a large Maggie in the center. Most ribbon and
electrostatic speaker companies employ a dynamic midbass coupler to cover the
range between the subwoofer and the ribbon or electrostatic driver. In our
opinion, that is an unacceptable compromise for the most important speaker in
the home theater system.
The CC 5 is not a "plug and play" center channel speaker. For a more detailed
explanation of how to achieve full-range Maggie Sound for the center channel,
please review the CC 5 setup instructions in the manual section.
Trouble finding a place for a center channel speaker?
Wall mounting-- The CC 5 has provisions for wall-mounting below a video
monitor, using a small omni-mount cantilever. See manual for installation
instructions.
The photo below is of a demonstration in a hotel during a Consumer Electronic
Show. A pair of Magneplanar on-wall models immediately flanking a video monitor
provide a dual center channel array which has advantages over a single center
channel speaker.
A pair of our on-wall speakers achieves a center channel image in the same
manner as a stereo system achieves a center image. By angling the speakers
approximately 30 degrees to the wall, the center channel speaker on the left of
the video monitor is on-axis with the viewer off to the right--- and
consequently is louder than the center channel speaker on the right of the
monitor (which is closer to the viewer). This "pulls" the audio image to the
left and keeps the dialog centered on the screen better than point source
speakers.
Finally, when the Magneplanar on-wall speaker is used with a flexible bass
management system, a large, full-range Magneplanar sound in the middle can be
achieved with our on-wall design. Once you have heard this concept, you won't be
tempted to buy one of those sleek center channel speakers designed for flat
panel video monitors.
And there is a bonus for those willing to install this unorthodox concept. In
blind-fold testing, listeners found that center channel dialog and information
was easier to understand with a "Maggie" dual center than with a conventional
single center channel speaker.
