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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Besides "Maggies" having outdated speaker terminals that might be a struggle with banana plugs,, and they are generally power hungry, I am curious if anyone can honestly tell me of any other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
johnnyb53
3,490 posts
 
tgonzales writes:
...The maggies plus sub still have different sound than other speakers but don’t lack anything.
Absolutely right. The standard criticisms of Magnepans don’t apply if you add and integrate a good subwoofer or two. With bass augmentation you don’t have to bring them 5-6 feet into the room. 3-4 feet will do nicely because the sub(s) compensate for the dipole’s out-of-phase backwave that cancels bass from 50 Hz on down.

Nor do you need a mega power amp. An amp that’ll make 150-200 wpc into 4 ohms will be plenty because the powered subwoofers do the heavy lifting for the bass. It is bass extension and transient response that establishes the dynamic impact, and my dual 1200 watt powered subwoofers take care of that nicely. It’s time to set aside the myth that dynamic subwoofers can’t keep up with panel speakers. My subs have an 8" active driver and two matching passive radiators in a 9" sealed cube. The internal amp makes 1200 watts. The active driver’s frame occupies most of the interior to enable a long diaphragm excursion.

Then you get the best of both--the bass extension and dynamic impact characteristic of a full-range dynamic speaker, and the noiseless, boxless presentation of a line source using a large area membrane speaker.
rebbi
1,319 posts
 
 I know this is kind of an outlier comment and I don't mean to troll this thread, but let me suggest that if you're interested in hearing what the fuss over "boxless" speakers is about, you might look into an open baffle design like the Spatial M3 or M4.  Dynamic, open, and not hard to drive at all. Plus, you can have them less than 3 feet from the wall behind them and they will still perform. Just a thought. 
don_c55
823 posts
 
Poor Bass and thin sound!

Move up to the Magnepan 3 series!
sunnyjim OP
884 posts
 

As always, thanks to those members who have responded so far, The information is useful and informative.

To rebbi,... Your recommendation is NEITHER out there or off the the topic .I will have to check out the Spatial website.

To bdp24.  I was recommended the Eminent Technology LFT 8b before by other members. and checked out the reviews about 1 or 2 year ago. However, I will have to go back to the reviews because there was something said about the speaker that steered me away from  them . I believe the ET sells factory direct with ( I think) a 30 or 60 day return policy.

Without waxing philosophical over this thread based on the responses so far, I think every speaker puts you though hoops to find the right set-up for sound quality in a listening room. However, buying a speaker, especially a large or ungainly one is not like buying a suit where you can try on several until you find the one that looks feels right. Obviously, none of us, or a large majority, do not live next door to a high end store or even one within walking distance. That would make it easy to try different speakers in your home and with your equipment; and, dealer I would speculate don't want to get into the "loaner" business if they can avoid it. 

I used to be a  big believer in the "in-store" audition ( and I was a high-fi salesman in the late 1980's and half of the 90's) but don't support the concept anymore. I have seen a few times on this blog, comments about.... "speakers sounding different when I get them home.", and because I now feel less comfortable spending even an hour or two auditioning speakers in a showroom....there is always that mounting tension or expectation from the staff that.... "is he going to buy".  I realize it is their job to close the sale and sell the product. and not just eyeball the customer's wife or lady friend

My other point is this:...It is  hard  enough finding and assembling a quality high-end system including speaker cable and interconnects, to  then have to face the daunting obstacle of a speaker that is finicky or problematic in setting up, especially if the sweet spot set-up is never resolved despite good advice from friends and/or Audiogon members.

All speakers to a vary degree offer setup problems, but usually can be resolved with some patience in a short time.  However, set-up should not be an ordeal by fire, regardless of how great the sonic rewards, if resolved to a buyer's satisfaction. I think the more variables there are in getting to make a speaker sound "right", the less fun it is to own a high-end system or simply a high-end speaker. No speaker is going to sound gorgeous "right out of the carton" (or burned in)  even with a well-conceived set-up grid...

However, I appreciate the comments and will take them under serious consideration and advisement.    Cheers to all,   S.J.  .      

 

gregorybraun's avatar
gregorybraun
21 posts
 

I've owned a pair of 1.7i Magneplanars for about two years. They replaced a pair of 1.6s I'd used for over 10 years.

Like others here, I've found placement to be a bit tricky, but once you get them dialed in they're great. I've found mine work best placed 40 inches from the back wall and 55 inches from side walls.

They are heavy enough to leave indentation marks in the carpet, so I can temporarily move them out of the way, and then re-position them exactly where they belong.

Bass can be a bit lean. I've had problems getting a subwoofer to blend properly, so I finally just gave up. After reading the manufacturer's literature on the subject I think they may be right when they say the added bass drivers should be matching panels and not coned drivers. I may try a Magneplanar bass panel.

They need a powerful amplifier, but it sounds like yours is up to the task. They're a simple 4 ohm load that most good amplifiers won't have any trouble driving.

As for banana jacks, I'm not sure what the problem would be, unless you have spade connectors or bare wires. The connectors are for banana plugs only.

If you can arrange for an in-home audition keep in mind that they require about a 50-100 hour break-in period before they sound their best.

    -gb-

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