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Tweaking the Magnepan 1.7s

Looking to tap the Audiogon crowd to come up with inexpensive tweaks for my new Magnepan 1.7s. Here is what is planned so far:

Have room treatments. I am a bigger fan of sound absorption than sound dispursement. I have four 2' x 4' x 2" sound absorption panels that sit on each side of my stereo shelving unit between my speakers. Does a great job of removing the reflections off of my electronics.

Having Magnepans for 30+ years, I do like to deaden the front wall behind the speakers a little bit. From hanging an oriental rug to curtains or whatever. Will be trying out some of these ideas with my new location.

Mye stands. I am waiting for my bank account to grow a bit before I go for these. I believe Mye has the new updates for the 1.7s (although, I can't see any difference between the 1.7s and my old 1.6s).

I want to bypass the fuse and that stupid metal jumper with the least disruption of the speaker itself. Anyone remove the back panel and replace with better speaker connects? If so, what do you recommend? How about wiring tips - anything I should be know before I start the project?

Debating on using a 1 ohm resistor to tame the high end. Any suggestions for high quality 1 ohm resistors?

Anything I am missing?

Sound notes: full description of my experience with Magnepan 1.7s and the electronics I am using in other Audiogon threads, just search for ronwills.
ronwills
magfan
1,583 posts
 
Utley,
You may want to try 'em all 4 ways........
Tweeters can go in or out....with a simple side-to-side swap.

Than you can 'rotate' them in place and do it again.

Personally? Not that it matters to you or your situation, I find tweeters IN and mylar back to be my ticket. This is opposite of Magnepan recommendation.

When I rotated my 1.6s, the entire presentation improved.

No matter what, I urge you to ignore the directions and just try the other possible orientations. I agree that I don't particularly like seeing the plug in panel or wires sticking 'out', but the sound is eyes closed so much better that I simply will ignore the visual, until I can do a reframe.

Any chance your panels were simply mis-packed? What are you suspecting? A dealer return sold to you as new?
utley1
44 posts
 
A dealer return sold as new....The shipping box was really beat up . Did contact Magnepan. In Minn. They would not comment but told me to correct the the sties which were mis-alligned and could not have been shipped that way. It hurts but they are wonderful instruments. My electrostatics (which had built in amps)gave out and the repair process in NYC was a night mare. Did not listen to muic for a year so when the the opportunity came up I jumped at the 1.7's. I am not sorry, they are wonderful and I know the Magnepan will stand behind them.BUT THEY WERE NOT NEW At least two weeks in limbo as I had Magnepan check the serial numbers. Sorry for the wHining. Too many pirates out there. Feel like a character in GRAVITY'S RAINBOW- all paranoia is justified.
wslam
90 posts
 
I just took delivery of mine today!
My first Planar! In total shock! I have listened to Maggies dozens of times at dealer's showroom but they never impressed me. In my room, a familiar setup, I thought they are affordable enough even as an experiment, and boy am I just blown away!

Are you guys using anything like spikes etc underneath the stands? They do seem somewhat flimsy.

Also, may I ask what your serial numbers are? I am surprised that mine are 100002-1 and 100002-2. Don't tell me they START at 10001!
josh358
286 posts
 
Kehonka, I read somewhere that Wendell Diller of Magenpan suggested try them both tweeter in and tweeter out. He said that a majority of people prefer them tweeter in, but some like them tweeter out. It may depend on your room.

Also, to those who are comparing mylar front/mylar back -- remember to flip polarity when you do, otherwise the difference in polarity can confuse the comparison. As I recall, Magnepan switched to mylar front to get a brighter sound, it was mentioned in I think TAS when they first did it years ago.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
WSlam.
Just keep any drunks from knocking them over.

On a Serious note, check out MYE stands. They have a following and the claims are reasonable.

Also, Magnepan is a DIY dream speaker. Crossover? Stands? Reframe? all have followers.

I recently rotated my panels in place. I now listen to the Pole Piece side, not the mylar as Magnepan would have you do. Read my other posts for a description / rave.

That being said, a complete reframe in WOOD is in order. Wood absorbs the vibration which the MDF rejects.
I'm taking a woodshop class right now, and next year at this time will be well under way in my 'project'. Some nice Sapele frames and junk out the MDF.
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