What are some of the downsides of owning a Magneplanar .7 or 1.7i ?


Thinking of moving up speaker wise, and so am considering  the fabled Magneplanar speakers, that is, either the  the .7, or supposedly new 1.7i.   (BTW, I am not sure the Maggie .7 is necessarily an upgrade, and has less bass than my current box speakers...see below)

Besides "Maggies" having outdated speaker terminals that might be a struggle with banana plugs,, and they are generally power hungry, I am curious if anyone can honestly tell me of any other downsides of this design.  For the last 30 years, I have owned several traditional box design speakers. 

I currently have a pair of Golden Ear Technology model 7's....which I like and generally sound good However, I  would like to confirm what a planar design brings to the table in sound quality. I have read many times about the box-less sound  provided by this design, and its wide sound staging and low distortion. 

I think I have enough power with BAT VK-200 amp (100RMS) to drive the .7, but not sure that is enough to drive the MG1.7i. to higher volumes The pre-amp is a Conrad Johnson PV-14SE. 

The listening room area 12 X15ft, but opens into kitchen/dining area divided by a medium size couch. The rest of the space is approximately 12X18ft behind the sofa with a stupid counter island ( so I cannot move the sofa back any further.. The ceiling is 8 to 9 ft feet high ( not a cathedral ceiling, praise the Lord) . It is a bit of haul to the dealer I bought the Golden Ear T's from who also carries Magneplanar line.  All advice welcomed.    Thanks, SJ   

sunnyjim

Showing 3 responses by czarivey

To add to Schubert:

also lack of durability and lack of music, very hard to find sweet spot and right placement. once fabric gets old, it will sound terrible

In fact they lack more than they give. They’re different from conventional speakers as toys vs. instruments. Nowhere in the studios these pieces of fabric on the frames being used. They’ve been designed to prove an alternate technology rather than bring music, but desire for toys always exists in homo-sapiens so ones who’s on to it deserve enjoyment of such. I also enjoy toys(certain kind of course:), but for listening music do prefer instruments and tools.

Maggies are like Porsche 911s or Lotus Super 7sEnter your text ...

i.e. toys for very limited usage on clear and flat roads.

I prefer tools or instruments such as Toyota Tundra or Dodge Ram 3500...


If speaker is suited great for certain kind of music and not good for other kind of music, than this speaker by the general rule of thumb junk.