Magnepan 1.7

This past weekend, I just tried some 96 kHz / 24 bit downloads from HD Tracks.com and I was blown away. The detail, depth and lack of harshness is unbelievable. You can easily hear the limitations of CDs when you switch back from the high res files. You also get a sense of unlimited dynamic range with an almost analog sound. WOW!

This is what I have always enjoyed about owning Magnepan loudspeakers. Everytime you improve the front end, whether it be the amp, preamp, DAC or, in this case, digital quality, you can easily hear the improvements through the Magnepans. The 1.7s just keep sounding better and better.

I use a Netgear 9150 linked to the Wyred 4 Sound DAC1 via Xindak cable. The clarity of the high res files will spoil you for anything else. I am going broke downloading new albums!

Just listened to the Magnepan 1.7 with $20,000 of Macintosh tubes in a high end sound room and I was very disappointed. I listen mostly to folk and piano and they did not grab me. I definitely would not buy them if I listened to hard rock. I previously owned Apoggee Stages and ET 111 and can say those speakers brought me into the music. I did ask if they had been broken in and the salesman said they were.People saying you would need to spend many more thousand for a box speaker to compete, seem to be lying. My epos m12 with ASL 300b's were a lot more involving(better midrange and soundstage). It also seemed to me that they were eating up the Mcintosh mc275 amps.

>It also seemed to me that they were eating up the Mcintosh mc275 amps.

The speakers were woefully underpowered. Maggies will play loud, but they're only 83 dB efficient. They also rarely sound their best in a dealer showroom, since as I'm sure you know having owned the Apogees and Eminents, they require careful placement and have different acoustical requirements than dynamic speakers. That's not to say that they're the speaker for you -- I haven't heard them yet myself -- but to point out that the people who have praised their bang for the buck probably aren't lying! Though I have heard some complaints from people who say they don't like them as much as the 1.6's.

Energizer:
One big reason you may like older Maggies is that sometime in the '90s they began shipping with the Mylar toward the listener.

A couple years ago I sold my factory rebuilt MG-1s and bought some 1.6s which long term were irritating...until I simply rotated them in place.
I now listen to the Pole Piece side, just like the old ones.

I'm starting down a path of further adjustments, too. I just make new jumpers out of #6 copper wire to replace the Chrome Plated Steel the panels ship with. Eventually more mods are on tap and even the jumpers and fuse will go away when I go into the crossover mods.

I've had my 1.7s for nearly 3 months and have several hundred hours on them. I've hooked them up to various amplifiers, including a Parasound JC-1/JC-2 setup and an Audio Research VSi60 and find them extremely musical, particularly with the VSi60, which drives them perfectly to very loud levels without difficulty. I've experimented with tweeter in/tweeter out, reversing the speakers (so the back of the speaker faces the listening area) and with 1 and 2 ohm resistors and find that in my room they sound best with 1 ohm resistors and tweeters in. I much prefer them to the B&W 802Ds, Usher 718s, KEF 201/2s and Apogee Duetta IIs I've used in the same listening area over the past several years and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking at speakers selling for less than $10k. I was concerned the Audio Research integrated amp would not have enough power, but it matches up beautifully and has more than enough power. I'm listening to the SACD of Bigg's performance of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor at a very loud setting as I write this and cannot imagine how it could sound much better.The bass is stunning and I've tried, and turned off, several high-end sub-woofers because they add very little bass and some dissonance. The speakers and the integrated amp are both highly recommended and make great combination.