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Besides "Maggies" having outdated speaker terminals that might be a struggle with banana plugs,, and they are generally power hungry, I am curious if anyone can honestly tell me of any other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
Your amp should drive the 1.7's with no problem. The main thing you have to take into consideration is they need to be 3 to 4 feet into the room. Also a couple of feet from the side walls. Also they do not like a heavily damped room. The wall behind the speakers should be on the hard side. By the way my 3.6 crossover box takes bananas with no problem. Take a cable with bananas to your dealer and see how they work with the 7 series. The 7 series crossover has changed from the 6 series
Alan
Alan

they need current delivery at 4 ohms but are easy to drive as they are not a complex load

they are hard to ship if you ever sell them

they are best 5 ft from a front wall; you can do side wall tmts and stick them inches from a side wall (ARC has tested their amps that way)

the bananas are fine

worst thing is you may tend to brag to friends about how great they are for the price
I agree that the correct speaker placement and having the space for the correct speaker placement in my mind is the greatest challenge. If you can get close the the correct speaker placement I think you would be very happy.