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Magnepan
Founded almost 35 years ago, Magnepan is a well-respected, high-end American company with a level of customer loyalty that is the envy of the industry. Similar in many ways to electrostatic speakers, Magnepan’s Magneplanar designs are also of the thin-panel variety, but like the MartinLogan ATF, they use permanent magnets instead of an electrostatic charge to drive the panel. As with electrostats, Magneplanar speakers have traditionally been floor-standing models that sound best when pulled well out into the room, but Magnepan’s designers have also taken advantage of the trend towards multichannel systems with subwoofers to create new models that break some of the old rules.

The Magneplanar MGMC1 is a 10-by-46-inch panel with a hinged bracket that you attach directly to the wall. What’s particularly neat about this design is that the hinge allows you to fold the speaker completely flat against the wall and out of the way when it’s not in use; and you simply swing the speakers out into the proper position when you want to play the system. Magnepan has hinted that there are plans for a motorized version that swings out from the wall automatically when you power up the rest of your components—a trick that may impress even James Bond.

At only one inch thick, these panels practically disappear when folded against the wall, and the fabric covering and little-strip-of-wood trim give them a somewhat more-traditional look, rather than a strictly high-tech one.

To complement the MGMC1 panel, the company makes a dedicated center-channel speaker called CC3. One of the first Magneplanars to use a curved panel, CC3 offers exceptionally wide horizontal dispersion and keeps sound consistent, even when the listener is seated well off axis.

Below 80 Hz, both MGMC1 and CC3 are designed to be supplemented by a subwoofer. Magnepan does not supply a sub, but there is no shortage of suitable candidates on the market.