Goose, your impressions track with mine pretty well. I got to three of the four rooms you auditioned--D'Agostino/Wilson, ARC/Magneplanar 20.7, and McIntosh/Focal Sopra No.2.
I was probably making allowances for the D'Agostinos and Wilsons having no break-in, and the bass power was a bit overwhelming, but the room was relatively small. Ditto for the McIntosh/Sopra demo. Too much bass around 40 Hz, which again is probably room overload.
But the Maggies, oh, the Maggies! As soon as music came out of them my emotional center went "Aaaaaaah!" So musical, so relaxing, so involving, with a very natural and focused soundstage. When I brought my humble 1.7s home two years ago, I noticed two things right away--how quiet Maggies are compared to dynamic box speakers (with few exceptions) and how the out of phase backwave helps cancel the room boom you get with conventional speakers. No bass traps needed.
The next day I played a fair amount of music at home, and even after hearing those great systems at Music Matters, my own Maggies and tube phono and line stages kept me happy and engaged with my system.
I do intend to experiment with placement a bit (mostly widen the distance between them) to get something akin to the soundstage I heard from the 20.7s.
I was probably making allowances for the D'Agostinos and Wilsons having no break-in, and the bass power was a bit overwhelming, but the room was relatively small. Ditto for the McIntosh/Sopra demo. Too much bass around 40 Hz, which again is probably room overload.
But the Maggies, oh, the Maggies! As soon as music came out of them my emotional center went "Aaaaaaah!" So musical, so relaxing, so involving, with a very natural and focused soundstage. When I brought my humble 1.7s home two years ago, I noticed two things right away--how quiet Maggies are compared to dynamic box speakers (with few exceptions) and how the out of phase backwave helps cancel the room boom you get with conventional speakers. No bass traps needed.
The next day I played a fair amount of music at home, and even after hearing those great systems at Music Matters, my own Maggies and tube phono and line stages kept me happy and engaged with my system.
I do intend to experiment with placement a bit (mostly widen the distance between them) to get something akin to the soundstage I heard from the 20.7s.