LaScalla "horn" sound compared to "maggie" sound

Magneplanar wants you to avoid using subs with their speakers (tho many people do).

If you like the 1.7, you might want to try the 3.7i (which is acoustically smaller than the 1.7s).  You can reinforce the bass with their DWM panels also (these can be disguised as coffee tables too as long as they are as far away as the speakers).

Then there are the 20s....

How large is your room?

effischer,

Thanks, that's the kind of info I'm looking for.

randy-11,

I am very satisfied with the sound of the 1.7s and have not intention of replacing them.  I'm just looking for something different and wondered about the sound of the LaScalas.

I have only heard Maggies in stores but I owned a pair of La Scalas for a couple of years.  They are extremely dynamic speakers that can give a feeling of listening to live music.  The bass doesn't go extremely low but it is very quick and realistic sounding.  Depending on the room, you can probably get usable bass response into the mid to upper 40's.  I put Bob Crites crossovers and tweeters in mine and it really opened up the sound, but the crossovers had 30 year old capacitors in them, so it was time for replacement of those parts.  They really like a big room, the bigger the better, although I thought they worked well in my 21 x 12 foot room.  The downside, other than the shear size of the suckers, is they are bright in the upper midrange/lower treble region.  Some folks seem more sensitive to this than others.  Also, they don't do detail as well as many modern designs.  I never heard them with tubes, but many say they really shine with low power tube amps.  Oh, and if you like to tinker, there are a million things you can do to them to tailor the sound to your liking.  Kind of reminds me of the muscle cars of my youth -- no one ran them stock.  Definitely a different experience than your Maggies.

Crap, misspelled "sheer."

Ver interesting. I am a former La Scala owner and currently own Magnepan .7's with subwoofer reinforcement. Actually, I had toyed with the idea of trying the Heresy III's recently for similar reasons as you. I listen to a lot of electric blues and thought they might be a nice fit. However, whenever I switched from Maggies(owned several) to a conventional box speaker I missed that sense of "height" the Maggies offer. Back to the La Scalas, they made my ears bleed. I had a nice McIntosh solid state integrated amp paired with them. In my room they were unbreakable. Plus, they are large and cumbersome looking to me. I think that there are better choices in the heritage line. That's my two cents, been there. Good luck and enjoy the journey!