I come from the opposite side of the this story. The first Maggie's I heard, and bought were 1.6qr's, then I heard the older models.
The newer models are better, but I don't think it's a quantum leap in sound, more a refinement. I bought a pair of IIIa's for a home theater (my brother's house) that were then rebuilt by Magnepan, and for 20 yr old speakers they hold up very, very well when compared to my 3.6R's.
When I have heard a rebuilt pair of the MG-1's I thought they sounded fantastic. They actually were being run off of a high powered new reciever, and Velodyne DD12 that was matched with them via the room equilization made the system sound nearly seemless. They sounded like Maggies to me, and the sub really integrated well.
The newer models are better, but I don't think it's a quantum leap in sound, more a refinement. I bought a pair of IIIa's for a home theater (my brother's house) that were then rebuilt by Magnepan, and for 20 yr old speakers they hold up very, very well when compared to my 3.6R's.
When I have heard a rebuilt pair of the MG-1's I thought they sounded fantastic. They actually were being run off of a high powered new reciever, and Velodyne DD12 that was matched with them via the room equilization made the system sound nearly seemless. They sounded like Maggies to me, and the sub really integrated well.