Magnepan Owners - Need Your Thoughts Please

Have moved on to Plan B... Pulled out my 20 year-old NAD 2200 PE solid state stereo amp (still use it for one of my secondary systems upstairs). This thing is rated at 100 watts continuous but can swing 600 watts or so for brief peaks; so far, so good. The NAD appears to have plenty of ba$$s to drive the 1.6's... Not as sweet, smooth, or 3-D as the VTLS but at least it hasn't blown-up! Going to spend some time listening with the NAD.

I first auditioned my 1.6's with the PSE Studio V's in a room larger than yours (dealer demo room was 30+'L x 20'W) and the bass was as strong as a pair of Vandy 2CE's with the PSEs (240W@4ohms/channel). I ran my 1.6s with a Classe'25 (500wpc@4ohms) successfully in a large volume room (irregular shaped 25'L x 20'W with 15' peak cathedral ceiling and opennings to other areas) producing 90db at the listening area 12' away! Sounded great with rock and roll even without a subwoofer. In conclusion, 1.6 can really rock out with the right amp (high power with lots of current).

I agree; 1'6's are a great speaker at a great price and I may just buy them. However, as some have mentioned above I will have to find a good muscle-amp to get the best out of them.

In audio, as in life, there is no free lunch. Great high sensitivity speakers that can use nice flea powered amps, many of which are very reasonably priced, are usually very expensive. To the other extreme, there are Magnepan speakers, which although univerally praised for thier performance and price point, really don't sound anywhere near their best until you put some pricey high powered amps with them.

The digital/ice amps have mitigated that somewhat, and do sound really good in most instances, but with the exception of the BelCanto's and Wyred4Sound amps, even digital (Sanders Sound, Spectron) amps have gotten expensive at anywhere near reference levels. Also, really good Pass, Bryston, Cary and Parasound (sort of reasonalbe, used) sound the best with Maggies and they are not cheap at all.

Glad for your success w/Cardas setup.

I have been a Mag user for close to 30 years......bought some MG-1s from a friend and have never looked back. As it turns out, I've also had 'em in rooms from large closet to great hall with many stops between.
Amp choice? Match it to your max SPL, of course.
Magnepan, I'm told, shows with Bryston. The 4BSST is considered a good match as are any of the larger monos.
I use an ICE based solution to great effect. I have a PSAudio GCC250 of 500x2 into the panels nominal 4 ohms, or so. People seem happy with BelCanto 'd' amps as well. Either the over-the-top 1000 watt monoblocs or for more modest systems, there small integrated. Spectron has been mentioned, as well, and is an all original design from someone verging on genius.
If the sound is a little 'too bright', as it was for me, I toed them out a little more so they 'crossed' in back of me. That, and moving them as close together as possible, given they bracket a large TV helped imaging. The supplied attenuator resistor should be discarded and replaced with a good wirewound, if you REALLY gotta have it.

If you go to a sub, and don't play loudly, past the LF limits of the speaker, cross the sub over as low as possible and run the Maggies full-range.

Now, and finally, Magnepan is a DIY DREAM. Crossovers? aftermarket and homebrew all over the place.
Stands / Stiffeners? Yep. All have there fan base and advocates.
Turn the panels around? Sure! some people like the pole pieces facing them, not the mylar.
ReFrame? This is a beautiful solution to the 'monolith' look some find offensive. WAF is a factor, here. There are many beautiful and exotic woods which will make them one-off looking and enhance the sound.
At least one of the reframe persons also does external crossovers of different design.

Above all, have fun. links upon request.