Why don't you like Mageplanar speakers?

I dislike my Magnepan 3.7's because I bought them about a year before the 20.7's came out. Now, I may have to sell my 3.7's to Elizabeth so I can get the 20.7's. OK, I love my Maggies, so I probably shouldn't answer, but here goes anyway.

Photon, I'd love to stand next to tympani or bass drum, but in Indianapolis they make people sit in the seats during concerts. I'm pretty sure I would get booted if I tried to stroll through the orchestra during a performance. My point is that I want my music to sound (or feel) like what I get in a concert hall, 100-200 feet from the percussion. The physical feel of a 25 hz tone is something I have never felt in an actual concert setting. Now, for a rock concert, that may be a different story. I would accept the comment above that maggies may not be a good rock speaker. I recently added a sub to my system, and I do enjoy what it adds to organ, tuba, double bass etc. But I have to say, it is a little surprising just how little help the 3.7's actually require, even though they fall off rapidly below 40hz in my room.

I had a pair of 3.6 for a while and also spent a good deal of time at a friend's who had the 1.6s. I personally don't care for them above all because they are so big in size. You really do need a dedicated room to get the most out of these, they needed at least for me to come way into the room. Even in my listening room I had them halfway into the room and they made it seem small.

I think they sound pretty neat and do some really nice things. If you like delicate music like acoustic string quartets and such these are pretty great. I never really liked the non precise imaging that I heard with them and when it comes to higher energy electronic music they sounded weak in the bass slam department, not terrible just weaker than other dynamic speakers I've had. They are also one of those speaker that when you move to one side you basically just hear that one speaker. I personally don't like to have to lock my head in a vice and sit only in the sweet spot to enjoy music. All panel speakers I've had especially electrostats require the head in a vice. That alone is a deal breaker for me.

I don`t dislike maggies,they sound nice for certain situations.The best quality dynamic speakers just simply have better dynamics,tone,presence and have more realism.Transparency is better with the very good dynamic speakers,maggies have a distinct signature IMO.

Brownsfan, I like your sense of humor. You are quite right that when we are forced into our seats at mid theater, the low frequency physicality of the tubas, tympanis, etc. are reduced to naught. I've attended many musical performances in smaller halls where I was within fifty feet or less of the performers and in those situations, the feel of air moving from the instruments is evident. That sort of listener proximity seems similar to how most classical performances recorded in the last decade or so are miked (or it seems to me.) I don't want speakers that create unnatural bass that exaggerates that which isn't there. It's just that recording engineers mike many performances in ways that don't replicate the mid-hall listening experience.

Lack of dynamic range, too much surface area.