Magnat MP-02 Super Tweeters

Very rare, amazing sound; no moving parts! Circa 1982 German Hi-Fi esoterica that needs to be seen and heard to be believed.

When I was first approached about selling these speakers I could hardly believe what I was hearing. A flame that emits a pure sonic signal, a 'Buck Rogers' tweeter with no moving parts! "They get hot so I need to sell them, can't use it with the kids around." Well I burnt my finger after photographing them (and I knew they got hot) so fair enough!

So far I have only run one of the Magnat speakers so I could hear the difference it made attached to my normal system. Yes this is the sort of weird device I am normally going to be quite cynical about. How long did my doubts last? About three seconds! I choose some pounding Baroque music courtesy of the The Harp Consort and Andrew Lawrence-King. The left channel had an immediate lift in vibrancy and clarity. I love my Peterson speakers but the right channel suddenly sounded quite flat by comparison. The ability of the Magnat to finesse the sound is... quite amazing.

That's the good news and yes I will be powering both speakers up for a proper stereophonic listen.
Now for the less good news. Although these speakers have no moving parts, they are a plasma tweeter, think arc welder. They have a consumable that is used to generate the arc that delivers the sound. What and why a consumable? Well as all welders know, its a consumable because it gets consumed. The electrode that delivers the arc/flame has a life of approximately 500 hours. The previous owner of these Magnat's estimates he has run them for about 250 hours.

Miraculously we have a new set of Magnat electrodes that 'almost' suits these units. They are for the previous model of Magnat and have a longer shaft that needs to be cut down. The original electrodes are no longer in production.

As close to rocket science as these speakers appear to be I don't think it should be too difficult to have some more electrodes made up. If you are reading this and are doing it already please drop me a line I want to hear from you.

A quick web search turns up some DIY plasma speaker information including a lack of concern about operating efficiency and fidelity surrounding the material used in the electrode. The main concern seems to be electrode life and ease of igniting the arc not the quality of sound produced.

These units are one owner, come with the original packaging and documentation and are in immaculate condition.

If you are in Sydney and are seriously interested in purchasing these speakers we can arrange a listening session for you.

Price $2 900.00 AUD    contact us by email