Magnepan's sound thin and bright to me, too. I heard them several times, with several different amplifiers, and in several different room, and with different types of music. They've always sounded that way to me. I have always thought that the Theil's sounded pretty good, but I would have to agree with you on B&W speakers. I have to agree with Beemer, save your money and listen to what you have.
I'm a little stumped
My base system (power & speakers) is a McIntosh MA6100 integrated amp running a pair of Klipsch Chorus II's.
I'm been thinking real hard about upgrading both the power & speakers. After a fair bit of research and remembering a friend's MG1's from many moons ago I pretty much decided to go with a pair of Magnepan 1.6qr's. I auditioned a pair today and pretty much drew a blank. I expected to be amazed (I would have brought a pair home) and was left with sort of a "no comment". The audio shop ran the 1.6's with a Bryston 2B (180W @4 ohms). Overall they sounded a little thin & quite bright without much bottom end. The bottom end can always be cured with a sub, but the brightness?? I'm sure they could have used more power, but I thought there would be a hint of greatness I could draw on. I also listened to a pair of B&W 704s & Theil 2.4's. Basically they all paled in comparison to my little MA6100/Chorus combo. I was looking forward to maggie nirvana, but didn't see it...any ideas what happened? Bad room, bad setup, not enough power??
I'm been thinking real hard about upgrading both the power & speakers. After a fair bit of research and remembering a friend's MG1's from many moons ago I pretty much decided to go with a pair of Magnepan 1.6qr's. I auditioned a pair today and pretty much drew a blank. I expected to be amazed (I would have brought a pair home) and was left with sort of a "no comment". The audio shop ran the 1.6's with a Bryston 2B (180W @4 ohms). Overall they sounded a little thin & quite bright without much bottom end. The bottom end can always be cured with a sub, but the brightness?? I'm sure they could have used more power, but I thought there would be a hint of greatness I could draw on. I also listened to a pair of B&W 704s & Theil 2.4's. Basically they all paled in comparison to my little MA6100/Chorus combo. I was looking forward to maggie nirvana, but didn't see it...any ideas what happened? Bad room, bad setup, not enough power??