Magneplanar Listening Comparison 1.7 vs. 3.7 Speakers

I've always felt that the 3 series Maggies were the sweet spot in the line up. The smaller one's sound a bit bright to me. If your budget and room can handle them, I'd suggest going for the 3's.

In my experience, for a given manufacturer and model line, a bigger - and naturally more expensive model, will always sound better given enough room to breathe and fed by the appropriate amplifiers. You clearly have enough room so it's a no brainer that 3.7i is the better choice if cost is no object.

I've spent an hour listening at the dealer's with his music, and about 2 hours with a test CD I made up.  Not against a 1.7i, but against a 1.7.

The 3.7i does sound better to me, but even if the improvement is not due to visuals (the bigger speaker, known to cost nearly 3x as much _ought_ to sound better), I am not really hearing $4,000 worth of improvement.

In my room the difference may well be less, but there is no way to test them both in my room, or even to hear  the 3.7i at home without buying it outright.

That's why I'm interested in hearing other people's impressions of particular qualities to listen for next time I try them out.

Priced just slightly higher than the 1.7i, the Eminent Technology LFT-8b Magnetic Planar speaker ($2499 retail) is not only considerably better than the 1.7i imo, but some feel also better than the 3.7i in some ways. Worth endeavoring to hear.

Well, time for another POV.

I've owned both 1.x and 3.x in the past (in both cases, it was roughly 10-15 years ago, so I don't want to swear to the specific generation).  I liked both, but the threes eventually ended up in a difficult room where they weren't doing what they're capable of doing. 

These days, I digitally cross room corrected subs to MMGs.  There's no doubt that - to my taste - this is the best sound that I've gotten out of Maggies at any price.  A DSpeaker, a pair of SVS sealed subs, and a pair of MMGs runs about $2400 right now (Underwood is selling the DSpeaker at $800) - and I believe that all come with an in-home trial.  I'd strongly recommend that you think about this set-up, especially if you use only/primarily digital sources.

NOTE -  This involves ADC/DAC for analog source material, so it may not work for LP types.  Either way, it's another Maggie based option to consider.

If you love it, you've saved a bunch of $.  If it's not your cup of tea, box it up and send it back.