Experienced Maggie Lovers Please Advise


I have the itch to buy another set of Maggies (MG2s were my last set many years ago)  There are no stocking dealers near me (I'm told Magneplanar is leaning into  a made to order manufacturer) so I'm going on the advice of experienced fellow Maggie lovers.

I see reviews all over the place on LRS,  MG .7 and MG 1.7i. I see little on MG2.7i or x and and nothing on MG 3.7i or x.  My questions are these:

Have you ever listened to a set of MG 3.7i and if so did you have a chance to hear them compared to 2.7 or 1.7? Please share your experience. 

In your eye/ear witness opinion Is the X upgrade worth the bump in price? 

FWIW My nearest dealer said he'd give a full refund and pay return shipping if I wasn't satisficed after 30 days of ownership.  

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xyesiam_a_pirate

I have what many would consider a small room 12 X 15 with my 3.7i and two subs and I'm glad I upgraded to the largest Maggie's I could afford.

I have a small acoustically treated room, 12x11x9 that I had a few speakers in, from monitors to a full-range speaker. I always needed the acoustic treatments with all the speakers including the LRS+. However, with the LRS+ I found that removing the absorption panels for the left and right first reflections improved the sound of the LRS+, without any negative issues.

My only complaint on the LRS+ is that it is not as detailed as some other speakers I have had in the same space with the same price point, ex KEF LS50 Meta. However, the LRS+ was better overall for what I like, a big soundstage with depth that I could overlook the less than great detail retrieval,

A new speaker from Magnepan seems to address my concerns.

MAGNEPAN .7X, Compared with LRS+ and More! (youtube.com)

 

 

 

The other thing to consider with maggies is the power. They love power and the bigger you go the more power they can take. You don't mention what amplification you have or are considering but, in my opinion, the 3.7's I've dealt with sounded much better on a good 200wpc amp than a 100wpc amp. I suspect the 2.7 would also be in this category. 

With that said, I'm sure others would agree, if you go down to the 1.7 or below a good 100wpc amp will do fine. 

@yesiam_a_pirate 

Do you like listening at lower volume levels at all? From my experience Maggie's wake up at higher volume levels. I purchased the Eminent Technology LFT 8's speakers instead. 

@aniwolfe That would be my big knock on the 20.7s.  They really open up around 80 dBC.  On most music they simply don't bring the magic at listening levels 10 dB lower.  I have no idea why that would be true but it is certainly my experience with them.