What's Up with Magnapan at Shows?

Maggies, no not for me. Find them: 
A to big, and, well ugly
B to power hungry
C no bass

To each their own

Lots of manufacturers go for the wow! Factor when demoing their products.  The big sound (or big bass) from a small speaker probably accounts for the curtain trick.  Bose used to do something similar at CES.  The fact that Magnepan does this at audio shows may say something about who Magnepan thinks they are demoing to.

BTW, MBL and its ear-splitting SPLs at shows are another example of the phenomenon, IMO.

This thread started over three years ago. Back then Maggie was stirring up interest for their Mini-Maggies and DWM bass panel. The demo I saw had three pairs of Mini-Maggies with a lot of power (150w per speaker) plus the DWM. 

They were using the basic demo method of Bose's introduction of the Acoustimass system years before, but where the Bose demo was "meh" the Maggie demo *was* astounding. I remember hearing the demo before the curtain was dropped, and it was some of the most realistic-sounding reproduced percussion I'd heard (I've been playing drums for over 50 years). The rest of the demo with curtain down was equally impressive.

In spite of the negative talk on this thread about Mark Winey, Magnepan has become a more interesting company since he took over. The 1.7 was introduced in 2010, replacing the 1.6 after 10 years. Soon the 3.7 replaced the 3.6 which . Not too long after that Mag introduced the 3.7i and a few months after that came the 1.7i.

Since then we've seen the new .7 and more imaginative implementations and package deals for panels plus the DWM. 

I've had my Maggie 1.7s for 2-1/2 yrs and I *love* them. I think overall the changes have been positive.

Magnepan is one of those companies that make a product that people either Iuv or hate.
I have the MMGs and about half the people who have listened to them in my home have been astonished at the clarity of the sound. For some who don't think they have enough bass I would ask how many have heard a pair with the mid bass panel(s)? Also with a fast servo sub, like the Rythmik subs Maggies can really sound even better. Yes some subs can integrate with them!
But there are so many speakers out there, one is bound to find a model that suits them. I also have a pair of Vandersteen which give me many hours of enjoyment.
I'm one of those guys who pay more attention to the sound of the speaker than the measurements. I like to listen to music, I don't really like to do math problems.

Many people, esp. non-audiophiles, are so used to the artificial 5-10dB "hump" around 100-200 Hz built into many speakers, radio broadcasts and also TV broadcasts that the honest humpless bass of the Maggies sounds thin by comparison. I totally grant that Maggie bass below 40 Hz is MIA, but I'm talking about excessive bass in the upper bass region that creates the illusion that the bass response is better than it really is. 

Even after extensive auditioning and eventually coming home with a pair of 1.7s, I was unprepared at how "quiet" Maggies are--that a lot of what I was previously hearing on playback was enclosure resonances, which the Maggies don't have. 

I do have a pair of small high-powered subs to fill in the 35-45Hz range. It adds oomph and dynamics to the presentation, while not adding a hump to that upper bass range.