Magnepan durability


After all these years, I'm finally going to be allowed by my better half to replace my Vandersteen 1C speakers this spring (or whenever I sell my current speakers and one of my bikes). My shortlist includes Vandersteen 2CE Sig II's and the Magnepan 1.7. My question is: how durable are the Magnepans? I have a playful toddler. Is a little hand bumping into the grill cloth going to damage it since the drivers are directly behind them? The Vandersteens are about as toddler proof as one could hope for since the drivers are several inches behind the cloth. Are Magnepans an expensive accident waiting to happen?
vanderstephen
Maggie's are very revealing and may be more position dependent . As far as durability, never a problem with our own kids.....they learned from a young age. However when the neighbor child visited one day, over one went and it became a trampoline on the backside.

My dear wife thought I would not notice the slight buzzing. But to make a long story short, Magnepan replanarized it, changed out the Mylar, tuned up and it came back as good as new at a very reasonable repair cost (for our neighbor). I would say they're bulletproof as have owned 3 pairs over the years and would still have them except for WAF.
Maggie's are very revealing and may be more position dependent . As far as durability, never a problem with our own kids.....they learned from a young age. However when the neighbor child visited one day, over one went and it became a trampoline on the backside.

My dear wife thought I would not notice the slight buzzing. But to make a long story short, Magnepan replanarized it, changed out the Mylar, tuned up and it came back as good as new at a very reasonable repair cost (for our neighbor). I would say they're bulletproof as have owned 3 pairs over the years and would still have them except for WAF.
Also, with Maggies, definitely be sure they cannot be knocked over in that they have some weight and there might be potential to injure a playful toddler if that occurs, which is even worse than any potential equipment damage that might also occur.

FWIW I had Maggies with a toddler in the house, however, they were never in the same room together unattended.
If you like the Vandy's, I'd stay put with newer, bigger better ones.

Magnepans can be toppled easily as mentioned plus are likley to be damaged if that occurs. Plus I would expect a different sound with Maggies, so be sure that is what you want if you switch.
"I'm finally going to be allowed by my better half to replace my Vandersteen 1C speakers"

You have bigger issues than what speakers to buy.....

Shakey
Thank you both for the responses.
Mt10425, the thought of that has only caused me minor stress. My solution is to add a Vandersteen 2wq sub and that would allow me to keep my current moniker.
Well, if you choose the 2CE, you won't have to change your moniker to Magnastephen. ;)
The surface is strong. The issue would be the speakers toppling over. If you want Magnepan, you should also consider some sort of extra bracing. The excellent stands available for Magnepan would be perfect, though expensive.
An alternative would be to add weight to the feet extensions, or some method of keeping the the top 'up' such as a safety wire up from the top of the speaker.
(screwing a eyelet into the top would not be any problem for the speaker workings. or to the wings..)

The panels themselves are not easily damaged. (the higher models with the foil tweeter, the foil tweeter can be easily snapped with a strong gust of air. But the 1.7 does not use that tweeter.)
So the panels can take a lot of abuse and not be harmed.