Magnepan 1.7s in a 10x13' dedicated room?

Hi Linesource, my friend has the 1.7 in his 12•15•7 basement room.
Sweet spot is about 7-8 feet from the speakers so there's plenty of space
behind the speakers. When you see the room you shake your head and think no no, this will never work. But it does. The sound is very good and 3-d ( depth ) is amazing. Basstrapping is good but I would strongly recommend diffusion instead of absorption on the wall behind the speakers.
We tried both in that room with his 1.7's and with diffusion it's MUCH
better. It makes the room seem bigger and the music is more free and alive. I say it again: big difference . Good luck.
Cheers,
Mikko

I have 1.7's and wouldn't do it. For starters you need the speakers 3-5 feet away from the wall and you want to be at least 8-10 feet away from the speakers. So without even thinking about sound, the physical layout doesn't work. Go with the smaller MG's that allow wall mount and a separate bass panel. I'd consider 12x16 as minimum room size needed

Don't worry,
We have been installing Magnepan MG1,7s, MG12,s etc in a wide range of rooms 10 x 15 x 8 works fine. Just insert the Attenuator resistors that come with the speakers before you play them,read the manual,experiment and let us know what happens.
JohnnyR
Audio Connection

Have you considered the Maggie desk top speakers? They are supposed to sound as good or better than the 3.7s, but for a smaller space. They can be had with two woofer panels, and those can be disguised as tables. I have 1.7s myself. My room is much bigger and I would like to step up to 3.8s, but they would be overpowering size wise. I once had Timpani IIIs in a modest living room. My whole house was probably the right size for them, if I took out all the walls. Too big speakers just don't work, even planars. Been there, done that!

Thanks for all the responses everyone. There seems to be a lot of different opinions on the subject though. My dealer will let me borrow a set of MG12s for a weekend and that should help me make a decision, though I tend to think 1.7s would probably be too big. I had a pair of SMGbs which ended up in a small room in another house and I ended up getting rid of them. It wasn't until I got the replacements in there that I realized it wasn't the speakers and the room, but mainly the room by itself. After treating it I was fine and always wondered what the Maggies would have sounded like in the treated space. I have a partially finished space in the basement which is much bigger and may end up moving down there when I figure out how to keep the damn cats out.