What speakers can make a convert of Maggie lovers?

I'm an old planer guy ... Acoustat IIIs, Acoustat IV's, and Martin Logans. I never thought I'd ever leave the planer camp even with their hunger for power.

Then, I had the opportunity to buy a pair of used Legacy Signature III's. Original cost of the Sig III's in the finish I have was around $5000. If you can find them, they can be bought today for under $2000 per pair.

At 93db one can drive them with a 25 watt receiver. My ARC Ref-75se just coasts with the Sig III's. With good electronics they just disappear, and they're every bit as transparent as any planer I've had. They have a ribbon tweeter for the upper highs making for a sweet treble, and they move tons of air.

If your room would allow, I'd even go for a used pair of the ORIGINAL Legacy Focus speaker. Don't go for the newer "A" version. The originals sound better. A good used pair should go for around $3000 to $4000.

The Focus is more relaxed sounding (more natural) than the Sig III's, but they need more room to breath. Still a very efficient speaker so there's no need for tons of power from an amp. I think they are 93db efficient too.

Here's the thing about the Legacy sig III's and the Legacy Focus speakers. A lot of guys bought them and used solid state electronics to drive them. Big mistake. They don't sound their best with solid state, so onto the used market they went.

Tubes are the only way to go with these two Legacy speakers. The first time I heard the Sig III's was at a friends home being driven by a modified Dyna 70. It was enough to convince me to sell the Martin Logans and go for the Legacys. I've never looked back. Every time I upgrade my system these speakers improve right along with the upgrade. At this date, they are amazing.

If I had to get rid of the Legacy speakers, I'd seriously consider the Harbeths.

Happy listening ...

Well, here's another thought. This thread started and had seemingly died over nine years ago. It was only resurrected three days ago.

The original post is sort of irrelevant now because it predates the current *.7 and *.7i Magnepans, whose improvements minimize the negative dogma that accompanied Maggies for so long.

I've had 1.7s for two years now. They are dynamic, they play well at lower levels than the .6s before them. Their volume sweet range kicks in at a lower SPL than before. You can get really good sound out of them with a current production 150wpc NAD amp. I'm using a 30-yr-old Perreaux PMF1150B that I picked up for under $500. It's a good match. So they aren't as amp-picky as before either.

You still need 40-50 inches behind them. I'm sure the DWMs help flesh out the bottom, but I already had twin Mirage MM8s. The modern high powered sealed box subwoofer can integrate very well, despite what many people say.

So in 9 years, dynamic speakers have improved to where their speed, dispersion, and lower box resonances challenge panel speakers. But the panel speakers haven't stood still in that nine years either. Jim Winey's son has taken over design and product launch. It appears that Maggie models will be upgraded and improved far more often than they were before.

In very little time the 1.7 and 3.7 have become the 1.7i and 3.7i respectively.

Spatial Audio M1 Sound open baffle they sound like a planer on steroids