Puzzled about reasons why there seems to be no shortage of used planner speakers


All the over the top reviews of the Magnepan LRS has awakened the old puzzlement of how good are my DIY speakers and is it worth it to make a change?

I am very satisfied with my current system as far as my analog sources go.  I have a Denon direct drive turntable in a custom plinth, a Jelco tone arm  and a Transfiguration Temper Supreme cartridge. The phono pre is the octal version of the Hagerman Coronet with Lundahl step up transformers. I'm using a Toshiba HD DVD player for playing CD's. I'm using a Rotel RSP-1098 in analogue bypass for all sources. My amp is a VTL 50/50 tube amp.

My speakers are transmission line and utilizing parts from North Creek including hand wound coils and Harmony capacitors. Any one who has heard them has been impressed with them and with one being brought to tears of joy having never heard his favorite song played through a system such as mine.

That leaves me with a dilemma. If I go with the LRS, I will have to sell the VTL amp to get a used amp that can power the LRS. 

What is troubling me is seeing so many used planar speakers for sale on Ebay and Audiogon. Is that because they grow tired of them, or feel a need to try something new? Or are they upgrading to another planar speaker, or all of these reasons?
 
I'd like to hear from those that sold or are selling their planar speakers. 

I've only ever heard one planar speaker in my life and that was for about 5 minutes when I was taking my daughter through one of Seattle's high end stores to let her hear the differences between between differing levels of quality speakers as she was planning to get a her own system in the near future.  I've never heard a Maggie.

I don't want to get in the position of having sold my VTL to make this change and winding up with probably an amplifier that really doesn't come up to the same level quality and would most likely be a SS amp.

My goal here is to try get the best information I can from those that felt the need make similar decisions. I am retired now and living on a fixed income in a town in New Mexico (Las Cruses) that has no real Hi-end stores.

Any offers from anyone locally to let me hear their system would be most appreciated.  
rogue_angel
"Why are you puzzled there is no shortage of used planars?"

I was expecting ( rightly or wrongly ) that the people that loved the "boxless quality and sense of transparency" would make it difficult to give that up. Personally if I were that enamored with that sound presentation that would be the case for me. There are so many more box speaker manufacturers with many choices of models that it seems more likely that the desire to upgrade would be more pronounced. 

Since it appears I will not be able to audition a maggie after discussions with nearby dealers; the discussion is essentially mute,  as I will never ever buy a speaker without hearing it first. Same idea applies to cars; no test ride means no sale. 

Thanks  all of  the responses. It was very useful to me!

It is comforting for me that my horns and I are prepared for the High Efficiency fad coming next year...bring 'em on I say. I do think Maggies sound great, but I have noticed that they're often mistaken for dressing screens much to the surprise of the embarrassed disrobed people found behind them.
I had a set of Maggie 1.6QRs for several years and really enjoyed them. Then I moved. I went from a house with a perfect room for planar speakers to a house with a poor room for them. Bi-polar planar speakers interact with rooms differently than conventional box speakers -- if your room isn't suitable for planars there isn't much you can do to fix it. So, now you know why I sold mine 12 years ago.
I have owned Maggies for the last 38 years, and since buying a set of MG20.1's in 1998, I wouldn't change! Well, there are the MG30.7's. If only.....
Why just limit yourself to planar or box or horn etc. Buy used and spread your money out over all varieties you like and take turns listening to each type and move on when you would like a new experience.