Magnepan .7 Alternatives

There are 3 immediate problems I see: 1) the room is too small to allow a dipole to work properly. 12 x 18 would be more like it. 2) the acoustical panels would be of more help on the sidewalls helping to scatter and diminish the first reflections, effectively helping the room sound bigger. 3) the dimensions are nearly cubical, causing a cluster of eigentone resonances in the 100-120 Hz range.

For speakers, the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G works well with the face only 24-30" from the back wall and 18-24" from the sidewalls. With dual 6" woofers and dual rear-facing ports, bass tuning is easily matched to your taste and the room. While the Soundstage will never be as big as a Maggie, you'll never get that with Maggie's in a small room anyway. But the midrange clarity and dynamics of the MAs will capture your attention every time. Anything with larger 8" woofers will likely overload the room. Other high quality brands with similar configuration 2X6" woofers, stuffable ports will yield similar results, only with their own 'flavor' e.g. B&W, Focal, Dynaudio, to name three.

I'd also consider a few more acoustical panels. The short critical distance in a small room means the reverberant field overwhelms the direct sound very early. More acoustical treatment will help mitigate that.

Once you've addressed the the big acoustical issues, then if you wish to pursue tweaks, you'll have an environment where you might actually be able to hear minor improvements. 

Finally, different mixes of the same song from different platforms can and do sound dramatically different. Some will favor your rig, and some won't. 

There is always an alternative, except one...

Your biggest issue is the room.  When reading your room was near square I thought 'ow, the only save is a low ceiling...'  Yeah, some room treatment would help, even with anything new to the situation.

AMT fan myself when I'm not listening to my Walsh, so I 'do' dipoles and omnis...in a larger space ( 16w x 20' 'ish', 12'h average, sloped). 

The MMGa’s I lucked into are pleasant if a little ’polite’ imho. I run them with a sub that needs to be tweeked to fall in the mags...works for me.

They are particular as to what sounds best from them. Vocals are nice, melodic works best. But they need space about them to do their dipol thing, lightly furnished on the back wall...

My condolences to the OP, and family first. Take the time. ;)

First off condolences on your loss.

I’ve been watching this thread with great interest as I recently purchased the .7 and couldn’t be happier with them.

I would definitely take Johnny R.’s advice and go straight out of the Node into your amp. Impedance mismatching and system synergies are real things and it’s easy to try.

2nd, I don’t know how flexible you are with placement, but i think you’re sitting way too far away in a room that small. My room is 11’ x 13’. I’m setup on the short wall. From the front wall to the top screw on the Maggie frame on the inside edge is 3’. Tweeters are out and I have them toed in significantly. The speakers are about 6’ apart and I’m sitting about 6’ away.

The soundstage and imaging is superb. Probably the best I’ve heard in my room.

The fact that your room is nearly square is not doing you any favors, but don’t believe the naysayers that say Maggies don’t work in a small room. I’m proof that they do and can excel.

Also, the Node is a great little entry into streaming, but as funds allow; I recommend stepping up to one of the better streamers from the likes of Lumin, Auralic, or Aurender.

Best of luck to you and happy listening,
Joe

Check out Spatial Audio open baffle speakers several sizes ,even builtin

powered subs.

The biggest mistake is that 99% wants a low, i call it in  Netherlands a pump low but  thats not a instrumental low. They want a lot of pression and thats not a musical low. A magnepan give the most natural  instrumental low. But evrything depends how is the recording. A room full with low pumping air is not a bass guitar or a contra bass.