Can Magnepan survive Wendell Diller?

@krelldreams

I am a retired product designer/developer and have a fairly good idea of what it would take to offer a factory upgraded XOver; a second set of picking bins at the XOver assembly station.

Like everyone here you offer good insight from the customers perspective on the issue, but I disagree with other points you make, and so I will address these.

I drive mine to from low to moderately loud volumes, from time to time, with a AHB2 amp. With upgraded cables it sounds as rich and dynamic as a Para A21 or a Bryston. It has all of the power I need. If I got the 3.7i's I’d just use two of them. So this discussion is not about what I'm doing wrong, or all of the old saws we already know about the speaker line, it's about what the factory can do for us as consumers and if there is a need for that.

Another example of where this company lets customers down is contacting them for amp recommendations. They go to great lengths to point out that these speakers require a "special amp" before a purchase, and then tell you that they don’t have time to test amps to tell you which ones work better? How do they know the speakers require a Special Amp if they have listened to some they have rejected?

 A company that makes speakers doesn’t have the time to review amps? What do they do all day at work, watch television? Perhaps they should listen to their speakers with different amps while working? That would require doing two things at once, I know, but I am sure that as a professional courtesy amp companies would provide "loaners" so that they could be on a thumbs up list? Amp arrives on Monday, put in house system and listen for a week or two, ship back to manufacturer. Does that sound like a difficult task to anyone?

There simply is no rhyme or reason to their persnickety behavior, and there are no shortage of complaints about these things on this or other forums regarding this company. I am not the first person to broach this subject, and I know I won't be the last. It's part of Magnepan's job to listen to the consumer, even if it isn’t about how broke they are, that is called only hearing what you want to, and that is the exact opposite of what someone with a marketing background would recommend, in most cases. 
This is how companies stay in business, and why some have to close their doors. Their story isn’t over, so cut me a break on defending abusive behavior, I would prefer a company pretend to be listening to me, and then ignore what I have to say, rather than have them tell me openly to piss off, I'm bothering them. If that's too much to ask of a manufacturer, I must be mistaken about all the companies I have dealt with over the last 65 years where I walked away feeling reassured that I am important to them and that I and others are the reason they have a successful business.

I have a question for the OP...why do you own Maggie's?? Seems like you hate the company so much along with their philosophy, that they should not be playing in your system. I say this, and I don't even own their products, LOL.

I love the concept and would move on to open baffles if I didn’t have planar speakers.

Good enough is a term I dislike. It seems incongruous to me that a speaker company in the high end business should strive for perfection first while paying attention to the bottom line a close second. It stands to reason that you would want to sell as many of your product as possible, and to do this would try and create a product that defines the market.

If I didn’t care about Magnepan, I wouldn’t waste time on them. 

To OP: I was simply relaying my own experience, which is one that differs with yours, so I was offering “possible” reasons for the disparity. I have no experience with your amp, which I’ve read is nice, so I have no constructive comment to make there, other than to say it may not be a great match, but who knows..? Frankly, I don’t understand why you just don’t sell your speakers to someone who will appreciate them, and move on. I respect the fact that Magnepen will openly admit that they can’t keep up with every new amp that comes out, and that they entrust their dealers with offering customers the opportunity to audition associated equipment, with their owns ears, so they can make a decision based on that audition. There’s too much BS in this industry, and some of it comes from manufacturers. That said, your point that they say the speakers need the right amp to sound their best doesn’t seem to make sense. It’s true of most speakers. It’s a synergy. That is not to say that the speakers won’t make sound with any amp.. they will (of course)! Just like they’ll make sound with any speaker cable. Better cables, better sound, but that doesn’t mean the sound will be “bad” with simple 14 awg wire. Recommending simple cable, for most people, isn’t the same as saying one cannot hear the difference, it just means it’s an acceptable place to start. The bigger point here is this: This company HAS stayed in business! For FIFTY YEARS! And without your help. Imagine that! One more thing I disagree with you about… I, personally, would NOT want a company, or anyone else for that matter, PRETEND to listen to me when their not! I’m a big boy, and if you don’t agree with me, or don’t want to take my advice, I’ll be just fine. I don’t really want to argue with people on this forum, but I felt compelled to do so in this case for whatever reason. I can agree to disagree, so it seems that’s where we are. No problem. I’m listening to my Maggies right now, and they sound amazing. I guess I just got lucky 😉

Sorry, I meant to say that you being put off by them saying they can’t keep up with all the amps doesn’t make sense. I should’ve proofread my post before I sent it. Lol