Magnepan 1.7 too bright, HELP

I tried a couple of different subwoofers with my 1.7's including a Genesis 928 with dual 12 inch woofers. I did not like it - could not seem to get the bass right in terms of loudness. I was changing the gain all of the time depending on what I was listening to. It seemed like the Genesis was too much woofer for the 1.7's.

While this subwoofer auditioning was progressing, I started to hear distortion from one of my Maggie 1.7's - sort of a slight "crackling ssshing" noise from high up on one panel. I switched the two speakers just to be sure it was not some other component problem. The sound followed the one speaker.

The dealer said that it would be fixed under the warranty; I just would have to bring the speakers back to the store.

While at the store I got to hear Maggie 3.6's and thought that they sounded darn good. I ended up taking them home as my loaners until the 1.7's were repaired.

As it turned out, I kept the 3.6's.

I would have to say that the 1.7's sounded bright and sterile compared to the 3.6's in my listening place with exactly the same components (W4S amp and preamp and Audiospace CD8).

I think that the 3.6's sound warmer, sweeter, and definitely more mellow - much more of what what I prefer to hear.

In addition, the 3.6 bass is another whole level above the 1.7's.

Also, the 3.6's create a much bigger soundstage. In my listening space the soundstage extends across the whole 15 front wall.

So...while I thought that the 1.7's were pretty good, my vote is that the 3.6's are much better.

I found that the gold hifi tuning fuses had a greater effect than the 1 ohm resister (approx $80). Second buy a pair of ATS Acoustic panels and place them on the wall behind your speakers ($120 shipped) to reduce reverb. The tweeter jumpers are also a source of brightness, try the cardas jumpers sold at dedicatedaudio.com ($40). The 1.7's have a horrible tendency of revealing dirty electricity. This is a costly problem. I found an excellent solution at blue circle called the PLC Thingee FX2 (weird name for a weird looking device). I can plug the entire system into it and not have any effect on dynamics. It had the most impact on reducing harshness ($320 or the lower model $220).

I second the NAD equipment, the M3 has been well suited for the speakers. A similar source unit is the Oppo 95, very smooth sounding player. Try to get as much Cardas cables into the system. Golden Cross interconnects if the brightness issue is really bad, Golden reference if you can. The Neutral's will take away too much details, but you can listen to the system all day long with the Cardas Neutral's. If you are having to play the speakers loud to derive lot's of bass you'll need a lot of acoustic panels in your room. You could consider adding a small REL subwoofer to help with the bass and play the speakers at a lower volume. A Martin Logan Grotto i could also do the trick. I've had luck with ESP reference power cables (most balance and smooth cable I found), but I wish I new of a lower cost alternative. If you are running low-end speaker cables you may want to try Clear Day Cables. They will lower distortion, provide ample deep bass, and present exactly what's being fed to the speakers. They are the best value for the $ in my opinion and compared very well with purist audio cables costing several times as much. They will be revealing on the top end, but without added harshness. Lastly, if all else fail's use the plastic rings provided with the stands to tilt the speakers back. This will fire the highs upwards and you'll hear more bass. However, you will lose top-end details.

I love the Magnepan's but they have cost a lot to get right. However, I demo'd them along with the Martin Logan Vantages and found the Vantages to be even more harsh running on the same McIntosh set-up. I wish I still had my old Martin Logan Accent i's to compare side by side. I actually used those speakers with windows behind them! System was simple with a Consonance Calaf (warning not reliable), Consonance CD120, Wireworld III cable's and ESP reference power cables. Threw in some Amprex PQ White Labels in the Calaf and life was great...

"I love the Magnepan's but they have cost a lot to get right." Magnepans are SO RIGHT; they reveal EVERYTHING and ANYTHING that's wrong, with the rest of your gear. That's the price of any ACCURATE/DETAILED speaker system.

fwiw this person got a different perspective with his 1.7's

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1332030982&&&/Magnepan-1-7-w-Tubes-lots-of-Class-D-Pow

Just to follow up, the 1.7's do sound incredible once you have the right components, cables, power conditioning and room treatment. Didn't mean to offend anyone. I can say my current solid state setup does not have any issue with brightness. It's smooth, dynamic and very revealing with a massive soundstage. So I don't think there is an issue with the design of the 1.7's, but one does have to budget extra to get things right (indeed my fault for not realizing that early on) and expect a lot of trial and error. The magazines reviewing these speakers have reference equipment and rooms. Lot's of us buying 1.7's do not, however the low cost tweaks in my prior post can help reduce brightness greatly. Having listened to MG20's for years I do agree with those pointing out differences with the older models, the sound is different. The 1.7's sound closer to planer's from Analysis Audio. Very life like and have more "attack." Because the 1.7's have the ability to reproduce instruments in such a truthful manner any flaws within the system (down to fuses and each power cord) will be highlighted. Perhaps, it may be easier to have a tube component or two in the system, but I have not had the opportunity to try that. Maybe a Rogue Audio Tempest with a Raysonic CD-128 would be a nice combo.

For those that can't get the 1.7's to work or those that are building a 5K-ish system with a strict budget, try an old pair of Martin Logan Accent i's if you can find them. It would not be up to the level of the 1.7's, but the old electrostat's sound excellent, IMO are easier to place in a room and start listening, and the woofers offer much more bass.