Magnepan 1.7 too bright, HELP

Have you tried flipp'in them around and listening to the pole piece side?

Take you 5 minutes and you'll be surprised. in a good way, I hope.

The panels are NOT the same front and rear. The pole piece to the listener is the way they were shipped until sometime in the '90s.
I prefer the old way, like my original MG-1s

Don't screw with anything until you try the flip.

(((I suppose if you find it acceptable to compromise you can use the resistor..)))
Suppose???
WTF Resistor is supposed to be installed to begin with....
Most all rooms need the supplied resistor
Its not a compromise.....
Its an important part of the set up.
Every room is different having this flexibility with different value resistors and experimenting is the right way toward a solution.
Best Johnnyr

sorry, audioconnection, thats not science. A resistor in series will cause a dB drop thats fairly flat between the crossover point and natural frequency roll off of the tweeter. That means you are using a resistor as an equalizer. If a room is reflective, you kill the reflection with wall hangings, not damage the tonal balance of your speaker.
Calling it bright is a misnomer... its a new level of detail and unfortunately exposed in that detail is distortion thats irritating and which can distract your attention from the additional good you hear until you clean the cause out of your system.

for what its worth, I auditioned the 1.7's with the Rogue Chronus last month. Blissful musical, no listening fatigue factor with musical detail popping out all over. Could be that's all the cure you need

Everyone and his uncle knows that Maggie speakers require lots of current. Anticables are too thin to carry the required current.

Also, regarding the alleged brightness, I have heard 1.7s and believe it is NOT a level issue, it is the effect of the tweeter being much faster than the midrange/bass panels. Not much that you can do to alleviate this problem. Attenuating a fast tweeter with a series resistor will not make it slower, it will still arrive early as compared to the midrange, though attenuated.

I agree with the posts about improving your source. After the music signal gets out of your source, nothing can improve it. Colorations, distortions, time smear and undue emphasys are added by each and every component in your system, including the room.
So, my sure-fire bets would be start with the right source and dampen the room reflections.
Good luck