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What are some of the downsides of owning a Magneplanar .7 or 1.7i ?

Thinking of moving up speaker wise, and so am considering  the fabled Magneplanar speakers, that is, either the  the .7, or supposedly new 1.7i.   (BTW, I am not sure the Maggie .7 is necessarily an upgrade, and has less bass than my current box speakers...see below)

Besides "Maggies" having outdated speaker terminals that might be a struggle with banana plugs,, and they are generally power hungry, I am curious if anyone can honestly tell me of any other downsides of this design.  For the last 30 years, I have owned several traditional box design speakers. 

I currently have a pair of Golden Ear Technology model 7's....which I like and generally sound good However, I  would like to confirm what a planar design brings to the table in sound quality. I have read many times about the box-less sound  provided by this design, and its wide sound staging and low distortion. 

I think I have enough power with BAT VK-200 amp (100RMS) to drive the .7, but not sure that is enough to drive the MG1.7i. to higher volumes The pre-amp is a Conrad Johnson PV-14SE. 

The listening room area 12 X15ft, but opens into kitchen/dining area divided by a medium size couch. The rest of the space is approximately 12X18ft behind the sofa with a stupid counter island ( so I cannot move the sofa back any further.. The ceiling is 8 to 9 ft feet high ( not a cathedral ceiling, praise the Lord) . It is a bit of haul to the dealer I bought the Golden Ear T's from who also carries Magneplanar line.  All advice welcomed.    Thanks, SJ   

sunnyjim
johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
it is easy to get better speakers than any Maggie -- just spend 3x as much
Add in a good powered subwoofer or two and it competes with even more expensive speakers. I go to a high end vendors' open house almost every year. The first time I went (in 2006), Wilson Audio Specialties was demo-ing their $160,000-ish Alexandria V2s. In another room were a pair of Magnepan 20.1s augmented by a pair of JL Fathom F212s, total retail price $25,595. That was less than 1/6 the price of the Alexandrias while being competitive in performance.
terry9
2,212 posts
 
I have owned planars exclusively since 1973. Obviously, I agree with the positives above. Inner detail, natural sound, etc. Yes, for head banging you do need a lot of power, it's true.

The big thing, to me, is that some planars, and I don't know about these, use the same technology for all frequencies. That lends a coherence to the music: e.g. a piano doesn't change into a harpsichord at 2 KHz.

I would hold out for a speaker like that. I use Quad 2905's.
beernut's avatar
beernut
293 posts
 
Let me preface my comments by saying I have owned Triton 7's and 3's. Magnepan MMG's, MG12', 1.6's and most recently .7's (my favorite). Planers and box speakers are apples and oranges in some ways and neither is superior to the other IMHO. First, all Maggies respond well to good, clean current. An amp that doubles into 4 ohms is a good place. I used a Rogue Sphinx with nice results but better yet was a Wyred4Sound SSi500 pushing 550 w/ch into 4 ohms. It brought the speakers to "life" as it were. To me, the biggest challenge with Maggies was room placement, they need to be a minimum 3 feet from the front wall and away from sidewalls,  this is not always easy. Also, they sound will benefit from NOT having an entertainment center (or furniture) between the speakers. To my ears it lessens the imaging markedly. So, for the full monty you need to tailor the room to the speakers. I tried and eventually had to concede and 2 days ago purchased the Triton 3's. Let me say when properly set up, with proper amplification (no A/V receivers here) the Maggies can be magical in their detail and imaging. I used Speltz Anti-Cable with great results as well. There are some other well known tweaks, stands etc. that do have merit as well. I hope my experiences helped somewhat. Your listening tastes of course come into play, Maggies aren't Klipsch when it comes to rock music....

russ69's avatar
russ69
3,360 posts
 
I'm a big fan but I wont sugar coat it. The Maggies MUST be placed well into the room (5 feet minimum), they just don't work if you have them 2 feet out. This is an important consideration. Your 100wpc amp may or may not be enough power, that is up to you and your listening preferences. For me it would be marginally adequate and I don't do loud. Finally the tweeter on the smaller Magnepans including the 1.7 is a step down from the 3.7 or 20.7 tweeter. It really is a good tweeter. Having said that the 1.7 can present a satisfying musical experience.  
johnch993
5 posts
 
Couple of additions to the above comments.  Maggies are like Porsche 911s or Lotus Super 7s.  They either work for you, or they don't.  If they do, nothing else really comes close and their shortcomings are irrelevant.  If they don't, you just won't get the hype and will be left wanting,  Neither view is universally right, but one probably is for you.  Audition a pair and figure that out. 

Yes, they do need to be placed well out into the listening room (6' in my case) but they are so easy to move back and forth, that should only be an issue unless furniture is in the way.  I leave my 1.7s about 18" from the back wall for TV, and simply pull them out to marks on the carpet when listening to music.

-John
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