My New Magnepan 1.7i's sound dull and lifeless on the top end...why?

+1@ oldhvymec
That makes the most sense!

I have the Maggie's 0.7's ( room won't support 1.7's) for money spent I'm very satisfied with the performance of my Maggie's 
As most know they need watts/current
I tried using my VAC KT88 tube 100 watt amp that has 8,4,2 taps  l also felt l was missing something also on the top end
l decided to try my SS amp that puts out 500watts@8ohm 650@4ohms and 1,200 watts@1ohm +65 amps for 500 milliseconds  I did the fuse, jumper upgrade and Magna Risers speaker stands
All l can is, that it totally transformed my .7's
I position my Maggie's 48" into the room, 110" apart, slight toe in and l have approximately 60" to the side walls l sit 120" from the speakers 
All l can say is now they have excellent inner detail dynamics and nice extended highs

Where along the vertical axis are you measuring?  1.7is and all QR Maggies are only good in the middle one third of their overall height. That’s why 3.7is are so much better… true ribbons do not have that limitation.  

bypass the fuses.

Maggies like high power

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Now we are getting somewhere, which may lead us to the resolution of the OP,,,wait a minute,
Nayls02 has a massive SS amplifier,, and still he can not get the Magnepans to perform as high fidelity speakers...
......

Sure glad my tech geek screamed at me..
***NO***
wow, would have been yet another speaker project disaster.
The Voxativ Project set me back $900.
Good Luck to Nayls02
I’m outta here