Magneplanar Listening Comparison 1.7 vs. 3.7 Speakers

I think your room’s width is the most limiting factor. My room is a little less than 15’, and I think it’s the limiting factor. The length is 35’ but there’s a kitchen counter than runs across half the width of the room at 24’. The height is 10’.

It should still sound good though, and I agree that the 3 series sounds significantly better but not hugely.

I should also say the comparison at the dealer's was less than ideal:
- time required to swap speakers was too long to get good comparisons    (where you really have just a few seconds)
- non-blind -- I could see the speakers, so the bigger, nicer looking ones     would be preferred 
- SPL levels not matched exactly (tho I tried with a free phone app) &        also tried to make the 1.7's a bit louder to help them out

If you get the 1.7's if your like me you will want to upgrade two hours after setup . Get the 3.7 if money is not an issue . 1.7 v.s. 3.6 would be a good shootout too .

Everything sounded better to me here in Maggie land MN . Bass , mids highs . Volume speakers can be played at before distortion . A subwoofer (rel) was a nice addition in the demo too . 

the big space you can see on the RH side extends into a kitchen - so the room is about 30 ft wide at the speakers; but is about 12 ft wide at the listening position (not counting the cavity in the chimney created by the firebox - the smney stack itself must act like a port (!))

Wendell at Magnepan says the 3.7 is acoustically SMALLER than the 1.7, even tho it is physically larger (different design internally)