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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

Showing 7 responses by crom

crom
19 posts
 
Utley, I am driving my 1.7's with an Audio Research SD135 amp.
crom
19 posts
 
My 1.7's are black with the black aluminum trim and can be seen on the Myesound website. The Mye stands provide more stability than stock stands. Bass is tighter and better defined. There is more clarity across the entire frequency spectrum with better focus and low level detail.
crom
19 posts
 
Ron, I have had 1.7's for 4 months and had 1.6's previously. The 1.7's are definitely a better speaker all the way around. Since you are over 400 hours you definitely know that the bass improves dramatically. I use to run my 1.6's with tweeter out and listened to my 1.7's that way up to the 200 hr mark. I then swapped positions of the left and right speakers putting the tweeters in. Everything seemed to gel with the tweeters in. All the tweaks I have done on 1.7 are reversible atleast until the warranty period is up. So far, I have Mye Stands, replaced metal jumper bar (tweeter atten) with 3" wire jumper w/bananas and replaced stock fuses with the HiFi Tuning fuses. You can take backplate off and easily bypass fuse and tweeter attenuator too without any expense.
crom
19 posts
 
Ron, my 1.6's were black with cherry trim but I like the look of the aluminum trim better. Although it may just be cosmetic, I think the aluminum stiles add a little stability to keep the mdf from doing any flexing whereas the wood stiles are plainly cosmetic. As far as the value of Mye Stands, that would be up to you. I plan on having my 1.7's for awhile so I think the Mye Stands are a good investment and they definitely improve the sound. As for jumpers, the first thing my dealer said was to get rid of those crappy metal bars. I had some jumpers and installed them without any comparison. The fuses I used are HiFi Tuning 4amp fast blow (gold)fuses which are on sale right now. If I used one word to describe them it would be "cleaner." Like I said before, I decided to keep fuses in while still under warranty and using a better quality fuse gets me closer to no fuse at all.
crom
19 posts
 
Utley, I don't have any experience with organ music.
crom
19 posts
 
Mylar front, Tweeters in is Magnepan suggested placement on 1.7's.
crom
19 posts
 
There is a pink piece of paper entitled "Magneplanar 1.7 Quick Step-Up Instructions" (looks like typo and should be set-up) stapled along with Magneplanar Loudspeakers plates to the clear plastic that contains the 1.7 owners manual. The instructions read:
"The 1.7 has exceptional phase characteristics that are accomplished without the use of compensation networks. To realize the optimum phasing, the 1.7 should be angled inward to be on-axis with the listener. (Do not place parallel to the front wall.)
In most rooms, we have achieved the best imaging with the tweeters placed on the inside.
The frequency balance should be smooth for rooms with a modest amount of damping. The enclosed resistor should be used for under-damped rooms."
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