Why don't you like Mageplanar speakers?

Dracule, please note what I said about the Valin comment -- "I think most people would second that, while agreeing with some of your other objections." I wasn't commiting a fallacy of authority; I quoted JV merely because he had said, elegantly and concisely, what I and many others I've spoken to have said over the years (and I'd just seen the quote in the latest TAS).

Since this is almost the main strength of Maggies, one that impresses everyone I've ever played them for, I was puzzled by Charles1dad's statement that dynamics offer more realism and transparency, when I think most would agree that very few do. In my experience, people who make these comments often haven't heard Maggies set up properly. That's why I asked.

Whereas other criticisms I've seen here -- limited slam, bass, low WAF, disontinuity between the ribbon and other drivers -- all make sense to me. Or if he'd said that stats are more transparent.

In any case, it wasn't about Valin's authority as a reviewer, although I've read enough of his loudspeaker reviews to know that he hears the same things I do -- which, to me, is the hallmark of a reviewer whose ears I can trust (since I think it highly unlikely that we would notice the same things purely by chance). This isn't the same thing as a value judgment, just the ability to hear and describe fairly subtle sonic characteristics, such as the "snare drum" self noise someone mentioned.

for me, the maggies are kinda like a a porsche--great performance, but not necessarily practical or a good choice for your everyday commuter. personally, it think the 3.6/3.7/20.1 sound fantastic, even transcendent. however, many people can't deal with the low waf and the limited sweet spot. plus, when you're done adding the megawatt amp and the necessary sub or two, they don't seem like quite the bargain they appear.

It seems to me that all of your ducks need to be in a row if you are to like Maggies. Meaning, issues that come into play are: amplification, location, aesthetics, etc. I only heard one pair of Maggies in my life and it was an awful experience, but more on that later. Amplification: Maybe many people don't pair them with the appropriate amps? I don't know why, with the plethora of information here and other sites, how can you go wrong? Location: Being dipoles, I understand they need to be out far from the front wall with some acoustic treatments behind them. Aesthetics: Let's face it, if the monoliths are not in a dedicated listening room, they look ridiculous. Sorry to all of the Maggie owners who are trying to convince themselves otherwise but let's be real, the marriage to a pleasing aesthetic simply doesn't work here.

So maybe all of these things are factors to someone's overall negative opinion of these "supposedly" great speakers. Oh yeah, the one time I did hear Maggies was a disaster. In an Audio store in NYC. New Maggie 20.7's driven by Mcintosh monoblocks, Mcintosh preamp, and source was top of the line DCS stack. I wanted to beg the salesman to scratch his fingernails on a chalkboard to save what was left of my hearing.

In their defense, the speakers were close to the back wall but, that said, given the reputation of the speakers and the cost of the overall system, that simply was no excuse for one of the worst systems I've ever heard.

Have owned few maggies, including 20.1's. Love, love the sound. What I didn't like is:
-huge, heavy power amp(s) needed to wake them up and get full performance out of them
-poor low level sound
-small sweet spot
-room domination, they're big and need to be way out in the room to sound right
This is why I don't own them anymore.

Joc3021,
I also question speaker designs that mandate the use of high power amplifiers.It seems a flaw to make speakers this inefficient and miss the opprotunity to use really good low-moderate power amps that are simpler and sound fantastic.Many threads on this site concerning maggies are usually about how much power one needs to get them to 'come alive'and open up.