I'm a little stumped

that is the worst thing about auditioning at a local hi fi shop, it is not hooked up to your gear and the accoustics are all different.

the most you can hope to do is see if you like the basic sound of the product and make a guess as to weather or not it would fit in your system

Magnepan's sound thin and bright to me, too. I heard them several times, with several different amplifiers, and in several different room, and with different types of music. They've always sounded that way to me. I have always thought that the Theil's sounded pretty good, but I would have to agree with you on B&W speakers. I have to agree with Beemer, save your money and listen to what you have.

Bad room, lack of component synergy, lack of caring/hearing by set-up person, all of the above. It's quite easy to make any very good speaker sound bad and you probably shouldn't take that demo too seriously.

That said, the Klipsch Chorus II are very good speakers and may not be outdone (overall) by the speakers you auditioned. Certainly their dynamic capability and ability to play LOUD without distress and on few watts is unequalled by any of the above.

It wasn't until I tried the larger VMPS ribbon-hybrid speakers at about $4k, that I felt my Klipsch Chorus were surpassed by a wide enough margin to warrant their retirement. In my book that makes the Chorus a very cost-effective choice if you have the room for them. Once you get used to the dynamic capabilities of horns it's hard to go back (at least for me as I tend to value lifelike dynamics very highly).

I'd agree with Plato, Chorus would be hard to beat for the $. If your
expectations are set by a horn+tube sound I think you'd have to expect
that an Electorstatic powered by SS will sound quite different. I have a
good friend who is also a horn/tube/Klipsch audiophile. He purchased a
pair of 1.6's on a whim, as he is often prone to doing (buying gear, not
just Maggies!). He has several
nice tube amps as well as a Parasound 200 watt amp as I recall. He
came away with a similar reaction as you describe ("...what's all the
fuss about? I don't get it."). He ended up selling his 1.6's after
about a month with them.

I don't think it's a rule with electrostatics or necessarily with
Magneplanars as both can sound quite splendid indeed, but as my pal
Slappy implies, they'll sound different depending on what you pair them
off with. Also, they just may not be your taste.

On a similar note, I went over to Speakerlab, here in Seattle (nice folks
by the way), with my buddy Peter_S to take a listen to the Gallo
Reference III's (those weird-ass speakers getting great reviews that
graced Stereophiles cover not long ago). Peter's also a tube guy and the
speakers were hooked up in a room with Parasound Halo dual monos (ss
amps). So we listened for about a half an hour to different music we'd
brought and were familiar with. Though we both liked them for their
tight bass and wonderful soundstage (I should let Peter write his own
opinions...at least I think he liked those aspects of them), we both
thought the presentation with the Halo amps was sterile and analytical. I
can't imagine anyone needing the subwoofer element they offer as the
bass was plenty low and tight for my tastes, at least with the Halos. It
was perfect in an almost bland kind of way that when you look at all the
things it does well leaves me very surprised that it does not engage me
more than it did. It certainly sounded very neutral. Peter had gone there
ready to buy a pair for himself, but kept his wallet in his pocket. He's
over at CES now and I'm betting he'll come back with something.

I digress. I've owned two pairs of Forte II's which are the Chorus II's
smaller cousin (though not by much). I thought they were excellent
speakers, especially for what they go for. Very versatile with all kinds of
music and many different amps I paired them off with. I could certainly
enjoy them for a long time with no complaints. I moved onto LaScala's
which does them one better and really shine with tubes. If you like your
Chorus II's why not listen to a pair of LaScalas or Khorns (if you have the
space and opposing corners), or even Cornwalls? Just a thought. Better
yet, try a good tube amp with your Chorus II's...they really don't need
that much power to shine...25-35watts of tube power will keep you
grinning I'd suspect and be a nice change from the McIntosh SS amps
you have. Try it out first of course...perhaps you may know a local
audiophile who may do some listening with you and bring their amp
over. I've done that where I live and had a great time and made friends
at the same time.

Marco

You have a great system now. So finding something that will make you pull out the wallet may be a challenge. That Mac/Klipsch sounds pretty good, I'm sure. Good luck.

Cheers