Magnepan 1.7

Alpha, thanks for the insight. You are right about "the allure". I find the technology fascinating although I have no experience with Maggies.

Auditioning in my case is impossible without travel. I haven't given up on box speakers. I have travelled to four cities but what I heard so far was not impressive at all compared to what I already have, with one super expensive exception. All the driving gets old.

Without auditioning first, it comes down to chance especially in light of the fact that what I presently have works well in my room.

I notice from reading threads on this site that some use subs with the Maggies to fill out the bass with good results.

My search for a speaker upgrade has not been an easy process, especially living in a locale without any brands to audition or compare. I prefer to purchase new audio equipment. I'm sure this narrows my options.

Thanks again for the insight.

Darkeys,
If you haven't experienced Magnepans, you might consider the MMG's shipped direct from Magnepan. It'll give you a good idea of the Maggie sound. You have 60 day return priviledge or upgrade up the line with full value.

I just listened to the new 1.7s at the local dealer, who forewarned me that they sounded terrible due to not being broken in. Indeed, they sounded very thin, tizzy and totally lacking any dynamics in the mid-bass or bass frequencies. The dealer told me that this was to be expected and that he fully expects that they will sound great once properly broken in.

When the 1.7s arrived, the dealer compared them to his 1.6s that were fully broken in and which he said totally blew away the new 1.7s (I did not get to hear this comparison since he recently sold his 1.6 demo pair). Through the 1.7s I felt that various well-recorded acoustic music did sound very promising, with respect to the resolution in the upper frequencies already sounding detailed and resolved, but when more dynamic material was played (rock, electronic, large orchestral passages, bass & drum) they sounded unacceptably thin and lacking bass of any substance whatsoever.

I have no real experience with Magies. Is this long (and necessary) break in time to be expected, and if so, how much do “new Magies” improve with break in? I have to wonder about all the glowing reviews…for their reviews, do the reviewers receive “pre-conditioned” (fully broken in) speakers?

I plan to revisit the dealer in about four weeks to reevaluate the new 1.7s.

I would appreciate other opinions (regarding the 1.7s)

Thanks.

Ben

Douglas_Schroeder is right about the benefits of high power amps to push performance levels higher with Maggies and many other designs. Even many smaller monitor designs like Dynaudio and Totem seem to benefit.

Wanted to follow up with almost two months with the Magnepan 1.7s. The break-in process has been a real education. The speakers keep improving with age with the expectation that I have or will have shortly, reached the "fully broken" stage.

One problem (a great problem) is that I replaced my DAC with the Wyred 4 DAC within a couple of weeks of getting the Magnepan 1.7s so I know that the clarity improvements are in part, due to the Wyred 4 Sound DAC.

Finished loading 315 CDs onto a Netgear 9150 500 gig harddrive which I use for all of my listening. The combination is at my highest expectations. For 35 years I have been involved with the lower end of high end audio gear and never have I been so satisfied listening to music.

What amazes me is that the Magnepan 1.7s sound incredible on all types of music. I do have them augmented with a Polk Audio DSW MicroPRO 2000, probably the weakest link in my audio gear, but amazing good for what I paid for it.

I have been running through all types of music, classical, rock, jazz, even Gregorian chant, and everything is sounding amazing. You can hear through the recording at a level I didn't think possible. Even less than steller recordings come through well.

I worked for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a couple of years and had an opportunity to hear concerts at both their locations (Baltimore and N. Bethesda, MD). I also had a number of the BSO musicians perform at fund raising events. I am very familiar with the instuments of the orchestra and the Magnepan 1.7s do an amazing job of making each instrument sound natural. The Maggies do not bring the instrument in the room as much as they take you to the hall. Sometimes this is a slightly distant perspective, but very natural sounding.

On June 19th I will be visiting a gentleman with MBL loudspeakers and MBL amp and preamp. I can't wait to hear with $50K++++ can sound like.