Thinking of Magnepan ... finally!

+1 @lalitk Buying high-end equipment and not treating your room is akin to getting a Ferrari and putting the cheapest tires on it. That being said, we know that many audiophiles share listening rooms with family and its not always feasible (WAF).

All the existing room treatment I have currently was a result of working closely with GIK. They're not as comprehensive as Vicoustics, but their prices are much more reasonable. I realize that I have changed speakers 3 times since getting room treatments, so perhaps I need to re-evaluate everything. For example, do I really need to treat the side walls? Either way, treating the front wall is the highest priority for now.

There are so many good speakers out there, you needed to go to some shows or to some dealers to listen to different kinds of speaker systems

What makes you think I haven't already done so? I have owned many speakers ranging from $5-30K in the past. I regularly visit shows (when they're local or nearby) and audio dealer show rooms. I'm also part of an audio club where folks have speakers ranging from the uber-expensive (high-end Magico, Avantgarde, Wilson, Borresen, Sonus Faber, etc.) to affordable (GR Research, Rega, Tekton, etc.) where we meet regularly and listen and critique each others' systems. So believe me, I know what I'm talking about :)

IMO Magnepan 3.7i's, despite their reasonable price (comparatively speaking), are one of the best values around in audiodom today. Are they the best? Of course not! But what they do well, they do it better than many speakers costing two to three times. Secondly, I don't believe in endgame speakers anymore. My goal is to try (in my own system) all manners of speaker designs, including horns, open baffle, omni-directional, etc. at some point in my journey. No speaker is best at everything, but that doesn't mean we cannot enjoy and appreciate the great qualities that each speaker type is capable of. Happy listening!

@arafiq

For example, do I really need to treat the side walls?

I would wager no. I just removed all 6 of my side wall absorption panels, which are Primacoustic Broadway 12" x 48" x 2" of high density glass wool. Easy to do as they are just pressed on protruding triangular hooks screwed into the drywall.

I think Cannonball’s sax (Kind of Blue- So What) was a little further outside the speaker, and the tiniest bit of high frequency information and spaciousness was introduced, and the upright bass was a little looser with them removed, but if I had to pass a blind test I don’t think I would. This is in an 11 foot width room- I would guess a larger room would have less effect. Room looks naked without them now so I replaced them. 

Due to dipole cancellation there is not alot of energy dispersed to the sides of maggies. Maybe the sidewall is a good place for the painting? If you wanted the sound of the alto sax to emanate from the painting that is.

Broadway panels absorption coefficient data

Great thread @arafiq .  Having been on the fence as well with mags, this "thought" comes up, kind of like dipping toes into vinyl .  I have friends with 1.7i and have heard them many times and they do sound great.  They do things really well and other things that may or may not meet ones preferences.

I recently heard them again in a diff setting and although they do kinda wow you at first, it didn't take long to realize I don't think I would be happy long term - citing many of the same attributes you did, that's why this was such a good read.

The big soundstage etc.. is "cool" but to me always seemed a bit too much or "artificial" for lack of a better word.  It sorta mashes everything together compared to dynamic/point source.  That's what I miss almost immediately - the dynamics, pin point imaging and bass authority.  I run two sealed 15" subs so I should be OK if I decide to try, 

Maybe that's just an element I'm used to and living with mags overtime would fall in love, dunno.  Like you I have determined that its either 3.7i or the 20's and really its more of a "something to try" and not at all unhappy with current setup - far, far from it.  However, I'm not a constant gear swapper, I find something that gels/has synergy and stick with it for awhile.

I always read from experienced/established users/audiophiles that everyone should try planers, just to see - that's always my motivation.

One other note, you have a nice room and your comment about diffusion - I would recommend against mixing up different types.  For the front wall do all QRD's (one dimensional only) along with proper corner bass trapping.  I've tried it and it can mess things up (diffusion is tricky/complex and in all honesty professional adivice is highly recommended) - I have on front wall two dimensional skylines (vicoustic  DC2) which are hemispheric broadband diffusion.(about 12-14 panels).  Works well, but I "think" if I were to do it over, would put all QRD - at least from my research, so the usual YMMV, my $.02

An interesting observation for me today with my Mini. I switched over to my Schitt Aegir monoblock amps which run at 70 watts 8 Ohm in Class A. Not sure about 4 Ohm. All other gear was the same.

The sound was a little more rounded than my Sander Magtech (Class AB). The sound was also rather boomy. I was getting fatigued and was thinking that I needed to put some of the GIK panels back behind the speaker to tame this sound. However, I gave all my panels away so that is not an option anymore.

I put back my Sanders Magtech and the boominess and fatigue went away. This was without any acoustic treatment in a weird room..

I am assuming that the Mini was not well served on the low end by the Aegir and the boominess was the result. My takeaway is to use a very powerful amp with the Mini. I am surprised I am not getting any sonic issues with the Sanders. It sounds great.

After a few more days with the 10 AWG Blue Jean speaker cable, it is no longer a question of whether I am keeping the cable. I put my Audience FrontRow up for sale. I am not even trying it on the Mini because I would need to rearrange some things to make the short FrontRow cable work. I also do not care for any marginal improvement, if it even exists, with the FrontRow. The Blue Jean cost under $300 for 2 sets and the short FrontRow speaker cable was about $5k MSRP.