New Magnepan 1.7

There seems to be multiple Magnepan 1.7 discussions going on. I posted this elsewhere, but here are my impressions of the new Magnepan 1.7s:

I have been living with my MG 1.7s now for two months. Shortly after purchasing the MG 1.7s, I purchased the Wyred for Sound DAC 1, a Netgear 9150 digital music center and a Polk Audio DSW MicroPRO 2000 subwoofer so some of the subjective changes in sound quality can't be pinned on any one piece of equipment. Other equipment includes a BADA MA3MK II tube hybrid preamp and MA100MK II amplifier (300 watts into 4 ohms). All wiring is Xindak ribbon speaker wire and Xindak analogue and digital cables.

The past two months have been an amazing journey with the new equipment. I replaced 5 year old MG 1.6s with the MG 1.7s (along with an original 35 year old pair of MG IIs!). As the equipment has broken in the clarity of sound is becoming nothing short of outstanding. The combo, Magnepan and Wyred 4 Sound DAC, has been a marriage made in heaven. Both seem to provide amazing clarity without sounding etched or unrealistic. I primarily listen to classical music and couldn’t be happier about the sound quality. Music ebbs and flows and where orchestra crescendos used to send me to the volume control to turn it down, now explode with amazing control. It really is phenomenal.

I have always had a problem getting “depth” from my system. Clarity, realistic reproduction of orchestral instruments and vocals have been outstanding but all were presented within a broad right to left very narrow depth presentation. For the first time, I am getting some depth to the music. Still not what has been reported by others with Magnepans, but much better than ever before. I am still tweaking the position of the speakers to try to improve the depth but it is a work in progress.

Rock music, for the first time ever for me, sounds good through Magnepans. Always to me a weak link, I now enjoy listening to rock music through my system.

I will be visiting a gentleman who has a dedicated sound room with MBL speakers and amplifiers with analogue front end on June 19, 2010. I estimate he has between $50K and $100K into his system. I am very excited to hear what the absolute top end sound equipment can bring and to be able to compare it to my system which is based on the “best deal for the dollar” strategy. If we can work it out, I may bring my Magnepan 1.7s to his system at a later date to hear what a top end turntable and MBL amp/preamp can do with my speakers. Will follow up on this later.

For now, I am very happy with the quality of my system. The weakest link is likely the small Polk subwoofer; however, I must say it is amazingly good for the price I paid for it ($429.00 at Newegg with list over $1K) and very convenient with a separate remote control.

Ronwills,

"I will be visiting a gentleman who has a dedicated sound room with MBL speakers and amplifiers with analogue front end on June 19, 2010."

Please post a sitrep about your experience when you are done playing around with the high end stuff. I am toeing the line between Maggie 20.1 or MBL 111F hybrids. I have a friend who has 1.6's and from what I heard, these are speakers you can listen to all day long. From the consensus it seems like the maggies are truly an audiophile bargain. On the other hand, the MBL 111 represenst a sweet spot in the product line that has a lot of the features of their extremely priced products.

Ciao,
Audioquest4life

Audioquest4Life,

Just got back having an opportunity to listen to a state-of-the art system with no digital (except for my Wyred 4 Sound DAC1 which we installed for some light listening). First of all, very gracious host who could not have been any nicer, breathtaking historic home in the Maryland countryside and a top-to-bottom state of the art system with MBL 9007 Monoblocks, MBL 5011 preamp, MBL 111E loudspeakers, unidentified turntable including Tara Labs “The Zero” interconnects.

Sorry for not having the turntable and cartridge brands. Having been out of analog for over two decades, I have no sight reference on which turntable is which. It was, however, huge horizontally! Speakers or amps and preamps, not a problem, turntables, phono preamps and cartridges, forget about it.

First of all, I do get what people say about the sound of analog vs. digital. The orchestra instruments were more 3D and sweeter sounding than with the DAC1 in the system. It really was a thrill to hear records after so many years. I had flashbacks to my first days in audio. There was this feeling of "oh, so that's what I have been missing all these years" feeling about the sound.

Frankly, the Wyred 4 Sound DAC1 sounded a bit flat in this system. To be fair, we compared a $1K DAC to a $35K+ analog system comprised of turntable, cartridge, separate tube phono preamp with separate power supply, etc. However, I realized the next day we had the right and left interconnects reversed which may or may not have caused a little aural distress, we really did not give the DAC1 time to warm up as I do in my listening sessions, and we had it being fed by a older Rotel CD player within 3 feet of the left speaker. In fact, in my system with Magnepan 1.7s, the Wyred 4 Sound DAC1 sounded appreciably better than it did in his system.

Before I get into describing the MBL 111E speakers, here is my opinion of the room acoustics – not enough sound absorption for my tastes and some kind of mid bass hump that made complex musical passages a little overripe! Mostly wood floors with area rug, plaster walls and two doors form the “back wall” with equipment on the left and shelving on the right. I have these 4’ x 2’ x 2” sound absorption panels that I strategically place around my speakers cancelling reflections off of my equipment and furniture. I wish I would have had the panels for the listening event.

The MBL 111E are effortless loudspeakers. They project sound in the room in such a way that they disappear and when playing analog, I hear the instruments in 3D space. Having said that, I may be stripped of my rights to post on Audiogon to say that I feel the Magnepan 1.7s get me 90+% of the sound of the MBL 111E loudspeakers when the Maggies are augmented with good subwoofers. On paper that is an outrageous statement, but going back home and playing the same music I brought to the MBL listening, I felt, digital to digital, the Magnepan’s were not that far behind. And, I am playing through just a couple thousand dollars in electronics, not 10s of thousands as we listened to for the MBLs.

The Maggies have very similar sound mid-range and up with the MBL’s achieving the last little bits of realism from the recorded medium. The MBLs are the best high-priced, high-end speakers I have heard. Having said that, if you have any inkling to purchase Magnepan loudspeakers and are a little patient, I would wait at least 12 months to see if Magnepan introduces 20.2 or 3.7 versions. What they have done with the 1.7 is nothing short of amazing and I can only guess how good the 20.2 or 3.7 versions will be.

If my host is interested, I will bring over my Magnepan’s for a test listen at his home. Can the $2000 Magnepan 1.7s stand up face-to-face with the MBLs (or at least not get embarrassed by the comparison)??? I am ready for the competition!

Hello,

I heard the 1.7 at a Maggie dealer and it was a disappointment compared to my friends 1.6 ( tweaked and with stands) frankly i heard no reason to drop a good setup 1.6 for a 1.7 . Now with that said , the dealer never mentioned how much break in time he had on it or how long it would take to do so. So who knows, if this was the situation.

The sound we heard was different from what you describe , this one was thick and congested sounding, I'm sure his setup could have been better 2, but Based on what was presented to us we said no thanks.

Maybe a used 1.6 , already broken in and at current prices
(800-1000) a bargain. this way you can see if the sound works for you before committing to a 1.7 ....

regards,

Hello Ronwills,

Thanks for the report on the MBL's and at this time I can agree with your feelings in regards to your Maggie's getting you 90% of the sound of the MBL's.

May i suggest another visit, if after a few more times and hrs spent you still feel that way, i would be very surprised as i do believe the differences would not be so close to you anymore and ahhh if not! Then i guess you could suggest to your friend on how to save some cash ... -)

regards,