Bdp,
I had had just a slightly different take on the ET. There was a local dealer that had a pair and I was impressed. The more extended low end vis a vis the Maggies made me initially lean toward the ET, but over a longer term listening session, it became evident that there was something in the mid-bass that didn't sound quite right to my ear.
I had previously owned (and loved) 3.6s, but they were too big for the space in my new home, so I was trying to find a similar sound in a smaller package. In the end, I bought MMGs with a pair of subs and (much) preferred the result to either the stand-alone 1.6 or the ET. My total cost was under $1800 and that price tag was lower than either of my alternative planar magnetic options.
I still suspect (obviously impossible to know with certainty) that this may be the best value in a true full-range system on the market. The one caveat is that I use Audyssey in my preamp (pre-pro). The resultant sub/panel integration is undetectable (to me ear), but the trade-off is that analog sources are subject to ADC and DAC. It's not an issue for me as this particular system is strictly digital, but I understand that it could be a deal breaker for others.
