Magnepan 1.7

No, I am not a dealer, etc. I am on a quest for better speakers to complement the rest of my system. Therefore, my question.

I heard a short demo of them on Naim gear, speakers were 3-4 feet from the back wall, about 7.5 feet apart and toed in a good bit. I just heard a few Norah Jones songs (20 minutes worth) I know pretty well. I have demoed the 3.6 and 20.1 at length but have never heard the 1.6.

All in all I though they sounded pretty good. They had a lot more bass power than I thought they would. They were also pretty detailed and the detail in the bass seemed exceptional. I heard the 3.6 on a Mcintosh 252 the week before (also played some Norah Jones) and I do not recall it being as detailed in the bass. These were different systems for take that comment with a glass of salt.

The highs are going to be a little forward for a lot of peoples' tastes. I like the tonal balance but I like my gear really neutral. I liked the highs and they had good detail but they were not as integrated as I expected. I read Jonathan Valin's (from the absolute sound) short review on Avguide where he describes them as if they are as seamless as a pair of Sennheiser headphones... I would have to disagree (could have been room/gear). I could clearly tell where the highs were coming from and where they separated from the midrange. But the rest of his comments seem pretty accurate to the way they sound

The mids seem a lot like the 3.6s to me. They still had the larger than life vocal staging. It is nice but a unrealistic at the same time.

They looked much better than the older 1.6 with the metal trim and all in all I would buy a pair. I don't know that they would be my mainstay but it would be fun to swap them out with my boxes (Thiel CS2.4) from time to time.

We recently did an installation with our M-60s are our local dealer who has the 1.7 in stock- so I heard it with our amps. IMO this is an excellent speaker and a nice upgrade from the prior 1.6; no doubt why this speaker has been big news as Magnaplanar does not offer new models very often. It is very fast and detailed, yet relaxed, images easily and is not hard to drive at all (after all we did it with a 60-watt OTL).

Sorry, I have not been on the board for a few days. No, neither myself or my two friends are dealers and have never been a dealer of Magnepan or any other speaker brand. Only an enthusiast. In fact two of us personally own Magnepan MG-IIIA's and think they are great speakers. I'm not disparaging the 1.7s and think I clearly stated it 'could' have been the electronics or room. I'm just stating what each of us heard. All I suggest is, listen to them yourself before buying and make up your own mind. Each of us hear differently.

Happy Listening....