Magnepan 1.7

Ronwills,
Thanks for the post and please keep us updated as the 1.7's break in. Your comments about the improved coherence are intriguing. To me, that would be the one most annoying "flaws" in the 1.6's, although they are good in this area compared to most other speakers I have heard. I'm also interested in your comments on how well the 1.7's do piano. There is no confusing the 1.6's doing piano, good though it may be, with my daughter playing our Walter upright. I listen to a lot of piano, so this would be big for me. Thanks again.

Darkkeys, I came upon this thread from your system page, and with any speaker you need to be sure it will fill your room, at 24 feet long and 16 feet wide you have a lot of space to pressurize, and you may need something bigger than the 1.7's to get you satisfactory volume and mid bass. I have a pair of Legacy Focus speakers and they are big speakers, they will fill a large room, and I know they don't sound like electrostats but they do sound good. Electrostats that will fill your room will need to be big, Maggy 3.6's maybe? That is just my personal experience, if a dealer will let you test drive the 1.7's then you can find out if they will fill the space, but I also know that is hard to find also. I'm just saying don't completely discount box speakers just yet, they can give you more satisfying bass and still throw a good soundfield. I know the allure of electrostats too, I have been wanting a pair of Martin Logans for years now, but the ones that will fill my room are very expensive.

Alpha, thanks for the insight. You are right about "the allure". I find the technology fascinating although I have no experience with Maggies.

Auditioning in my case is impossible without travel. I haven't given up on box speakers. I have travelled to four cities but what I heard so far was not impressive at all compared to what I already have, with one super expensive exception. All the driving gets old.

Without auditioning first, it comes down to chance especially in light of the fact that what I presently have works well in my room.

I notice from reading threads on this site that some use subs with the Maggies to fill out the bass with good results.

My search for a speaker upgrade has not been an easy process, especially living in a locale without any brands to audition or compare. I prefer to purchase new audio equipment. I'm sure this narrows my options.

Thanks again for the insight.

Darkeys,
If you haven't experienced Magnepans, you might consider the MMG's shipped direct from Magnepan. It'll give you a good idea of the Maggie sound. You have 60 day return priviledge or upgrade up the line with full value.

I just listened to the new 1.7s at the local dealer, who forewarned me that they sounded terrible due to not being broken in. Indeed, they sounded very thin, tizzy and totally lacking any dynamics in the mid-bass or bass frequencies. The dealer told me that this was to be expected and that he fully expects that they will sound great once properly broken in.

When the 1.7s arrived, the dealer compared them to his 1.6s that were fully broken in and which he said totally blew away the new 1.7s (I did not get to hear this comparison since he recently sold his 1.6 demo pair). Through the 1.7s I felt that various well-recorded acoustic music did sound very promising, with respect to the resolution in the upper frequencies already sounding detailed and resolved, but when more dynamic material was played (rock, electronic, large orchestral passages, bass & drum) they sounded unacceptably thin and lacking bass of any substance whatsoever.

I have no real experience with Magies. Is this long (and necessary) break in time to be expected, and if so, how much do “new Magies” improve with break in? I have to wonder about all the glowing reviews…for their reviews, do the reviewers receive “pre-conditioned” (fully broken in) speakers?

I plan to revisit the dealer in about four weeks to reevaluate the new 1.7s.

I would appreciate other opinions (regarding the 1.7s)

Thanks.

Ben