Magnepan 1.7

Ron,

Did you pick up your Magnepans at The Listening Room in Pikesville? Just curious. I have owned Maggies in the past and bought various pieces there, always with excellent results.

One of my favorite thing to do is attend a BSO Concert at the Meyerhoff, which is a wonderful facility, for a reference check. I know what you are talking about. I used to come back from the Meyerhoff and marvel at what a good job my old Magnepan mg1c's did in producing a similarly enjoyable sound! I am confident the new 1.7s break some new ground sound wise to boot from what I read.

I think high-current amps work nicely with the Maggies, too. My speakers are the 1.6, currently being driven by an Odyssey Audio Khartago Extreme SE - it's just 110 watts, right down to 2 Ohms, but is a high-current amp. I've used the Maggies with 300/400-watt Krell, McIntosh and Bryston amps, but the panels really sing with the Khartago. More sensible price too, in the context of the Maggies' pricing!

Mapman,

I did purchase my Magnepan 1.7s along with my previous 1.6s at The Listening Room in Pikesville. They assisted me in selling my 1.6s which helped the process along.

I was at the Strathmore Hall last week to listen to Marin Alsop and the BSO. They were playing Brahms Requiem - not my favorite or even close. However, I did come away with the same impression - the Maggies 1.7 nail the sound of the orchestra and the hall. It is not a forward sound, but more recessed as if you are listening through the microphones in the hall and the orchestra is some distance from you.

I had to laugh. I have been trying to get "depth" out of my Magnepans by inching them closer then, farther from the back wall, never getting close to the huge hall sound I read about in Stereophile and Absolute Sound magazines.

Yet, when I closed my eyes in the hall during the concert, I really didn't get a feeling of a significant amount of depth like I read about in Stereophile. I knew the orchestra was in front of me - I was in great seats in the orchestra section - but it didn't sound cavernous. Again, the Maggies seem to catch what I heard, not too laser focused, not with exaggerated depth, just natural width and depth.

Can't wait until this coming weekend. I am visiting a great guy I recently met at a BSO function in Frederick. He invited my wife and I to join him and his wife for dinner and to listen to his MBL 111E speakers and MBL electronics. I am taking my Wyred 4 Sound DAC 1 with me (he has no digital) to test it out on his system. Looking forward to hearing what a cost-is-no object systems sounds like!

He is considering the Magnepan 1.7s for his "second-system" in his California home - I guess it would be his "slumming it" system. I may bring my Maggies over to his place and see how they sound with $$$ electronics sometime over the summer.

I heard them today and thought they had NO BASS at all. WONDERFUL VOICES IN THE CENTER John and Paul sounded live, but they were sterile and nothing below 60 hz.

"I heard them today and thought they had NO BASS at all. WONDERFUL VOICES IN THE CENTER John and Paul sounded live, but they were sterile and nothing below 60 hz."

Tough to know what to make of this post without any details about the electronics and room setup. All we are left with is you heard some 1.7's and heard "NO BASS".

You may be correct but it is hard to know what to think with so little info....