@richopp,
@helomech Thanks for the comment. I am sorry the 1.7s did not meet your requirements. I might suggest some agonizing reappraisal, to quote a ’70s 7-UP commercial.
As you clearly understand, your ROOM is the most important element in any sound reproduction evaluation. Possibly your room was not set-up correctly for the 1.7 experiment? I will admit that this is a real chore and may not ever be right depending upon the room. I have years of experience doing this and can state that there are some rooms that simply do not sound right with dipole speakers. So be it!
HOWEVER, you seem to be an open-minded individual, so might I suggest that you give it another go at a dealer who knows what they are doing in their shop and listen again to a comparable model of non-box and box speakers in the shop where they are all set-up correctly? You might be surprised at the quality of the sound, or not. The objective, of course, is to make sure YOUR chosen system sounds the way YOU want it to in YOUR ROOM!
I owned a pair of Maggie 1.7is for about 4 months - after a year long stint with Monitor Audio Silver 8s. I had the Maggies in a dedicated and treated 16x26x8’ room, so they had plenty of breathing space. Power was from a Parasound Halo Integrated. When I first auditioned them, they were being driven by $30K Devialet Monoblocks. I subsequently auditioned them with my own amp and while they were better than the MAs, they didn’t exactly bowl me over. However, I liked them over other speakers I heard that day (in their price range) and took a pair home. Unfortunately, I began experiencing fatigue from their treble. I did an absurd amount of experimenting with placement to alleviate it, but the only thing that worked was resistors in the jumper terminals. That limited their transparency to below that of the MA Silver 8s.
A couple months later I heard a pair of Spendor SP100s at Acoustic Sounds. It was a revelation. This was before I began going to audio shows, but even so, I still consider them some of the best speakers I’ve heard anywhere. I subsequently auditioned Harbeths, Spendors and the Stirling Broadcast LS3/6s in my home. Each was better than the Magnepans and by a significant margin, even their imaging. What really struck me was how they produced greater detail, despite being less fatiguing. I settled on the Spendors because they were the most "musical" of the bunch to my ears, however, the LS3/6s were the most impressive regarding typical audiophile terms. To say they were merely better than the 1.7s is an understatement. Knowing what these monkey coffins can do, I simply don’t understand the hype surrounding panel speakers.
As for value, I found both the KEF LS50s and Vandersteen 1Cis offered more bang for the buck, even in my large room.
I think I gave the Maggies a fair shake. I respect that others like them (they’re not terrible speakers by any means) but I also suspect that some of their devoted fans haven’t heard some of the best that box speakers have to offer. If I’m wrong, then I suppose it’s simply a matter of personal perception - a matter of Laurel vs Yannie.
