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Broken hearted...magnepan and vandersteen

I finally got an opportunity to hear the 1.7i magnepan. I will blame my ears and taste, but I was underwhelmed. I heard them with tweeters inside and outside for comparison. outside did sound a bit better. Then I allowed them to play the vandersteen quatro ct. The speakers disappeared into the music. Deep, tall, wide soundstage with excellent imaging and air around the different instruments. Full range sound. Thankfully the trio ct sounded almost the quatros equal. I really was ready to go with magnepan. I was surprised. All other speakers are sounding inferior now. 
glfrancis2
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,911 posts
 
...but with 11 bands of analog EQ you can tune any powered bass Vandersteen FOR the room you are in. I recently moved my pair 9” and reran the EQ, not massive differences but certainly a few tweaks, THEN listen and set level and Q. BTW a nice review of the Quattro CT and matching 5 high pass amplifiers in this month Stereophile, including measurements built on a tower of salt....

fun, enjoy the music....
gormdane
35 posts
 
@kingbarbuda
your comments regarding placement are spot on (some guidance is also provided in the manual).  Regarding the tweets, I replaced the cheap stock fuses with Synergistic Blue fuses with notable improvement.  I hear good things about the Mike Powell silver upgrades - although I think it’s important to first make sure the amp is well suited for the Maggies (i.e. high power/current).  Clipping would do damage to the speakers and the fuses are the only protection.  Would like to here more about the Mye Stands - probably add greater stability.
johnto
1,023 posts
 
Another direct sell brand to consider is Philharmonic Audio Dennis Murphy makes some outstanding sounding speakers high quality parts at reasonable prices.
Having owned Maggie 1.7i with a Parasoumd Halo Integrated I thought it was a great sounding system combo, just add a sub if you need real deep bass. I have since moved up the Maggie line.
mcreyn
293 posts
 
Dennis Murphy has had some personal issues and is not currently selling speakers.  Jim Salk is continuing the the BMR and was kind enough to step in and finish Dennis's existing orders.  
gdnrbob
4,444 posts
 
@OP,
You can also go with the Treo's like I have and get a pair of 2wq subs.
A bit less expensive, but gets you 85-90% of a pair of quatro's.
B
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