Puzzled about reasons why there seems to be no shortage of used planner speakers


All the over the top reviews of the Magnepan LRS has awakened the old puzzlement of how good are my DIY speakers and is it worth it to make a change?

I am very satisfied with my current system as far as my analog sources go.  I have a Denon direct drive turntable in a custom plinth, a Jelco tone arm  and a Transfiguration Temper Supreme cartridge. The phono pre is the octal version of the Hagerman Coronet with Lundahl step up transformers. I'm using a Toshiba HD DVD player for playing CD's. I'm using a Rotel RSP-1098 in analogue bypass for all sources. My amp is a VTL 50/50 tube amp.

My speakers are transmission line and utilizing parts from North Creek including hand wound coils and Harmony capacitors. Any one who has heard them has been impressed with them and with one being brought to tears of joy having never heard his favorite song played through a system such as mine.

That leaves me with a dilemma. If I go with the LRS, I will have to sell the VTL amp to get a used amp that can power the LRS. 

What is troubling me is seeing so many used planar speakers for sale on Ebay and Audiogon. Is that because they grow tired of them, or feel a need to try something new? Or are they upgrading to another planar speaker, or all of these reasons?
 
I'd like to hear from those that sold or are selling their planar speakers. 

I've only ever heard one planar speaker in my life and that was for about 5 minutes when I was taking my daughter through one of Seattle's high end stores to let her hear the differences between between differing levels of quality speakers as she was planning to get a her own system in the near future.  I've never heard a Maggie.

I don't want to get in the position of having sold my VTL to make this change and winding up with probably an amplifier that really doesn't come up to the same level quality and would most likely be a SS amp.

My goal here is to try get the best information I can from those that felt the need make similar decisions. I am retired now and living on a fixed income in a town in New Mexico (Las Cruses) that has no real Hi-end stores.

Any offers from anyone locally to let me hear their system would be most appreciated.  
rogue_angel
Maybe it's because planner speakers are so big?  A lot of new speakers have all sorts of va-va-voom shapes, materials and finishes.  Also one can't rule out visual response.
Roge Angel:

There seems to be a lot of everything out there in the used world
at 50-80% off original retail. Audio Gear is a case where the rich are serving the masses. They allow makers to spend $$ on R&D and develop new stuff to trickle down to the unwashed. They buy high and sell low. Benefits everyone!! Gotta love it!!

Now Quad has pulled out of the electrostatic business recently.
I understand they were made in China but I am thinking it must
have been River City as they had Trouble. Every speaker developed snap crackle pop. Do not buy a used pair of Quads.

This Leaves Martin Logans,  Muradio, Sound Labs, Sanders, Magnepan and likely many others. 

Roger Sanders really has the thing figured out after only 40 years!
Power hungry? Yes two per side, thousand watt, a/b monoblocks. With 4k of bi-wired power you won't hear clipping. And there's more..
Room correction device is included. Not enough ? Transmission line bass speakers. Kicks out real bass. Want more? Okay then -Lifetime Warranty!!!  Price $17k. (gives you one of the 1.000 watt amps)
Sounded amazing at Axpona.

Now the ML Renaissance has attracted some folks. $26k. 
Sounded very nice at Axpona.

Maggie 3.7s $6k ( guesstimated) Really the best value on the surface. Great sound too. Rebuild those XO's and you have something special.
At Axpona demoed as a 5.1 system. The $650 Starter set is getting
mega press and platitudes. The owner of Magnepan must be rolling
on the floor laughing!!!

Plus side:
To my ears Electro and Planar speakers "envelop" you as a listener. The box speaker doesn't quite do that. To me, the E & P sound is "As good as it gets".

Downside:
You do need a room big enough to pull those babies out 3' from the back. Limiting for many. You need SS power out the ying-yang. Goodbye 
sweet tubes. And of course they are all pretty ugly so they tend to look like a turd in a punchbowl sitting in your  Living Room. If you have a wife and a pair of these shield-like speakers, you'll need a listening room or you won't have both for long.

So to answer your question, why so many for sale? Who knows?
Consider it your good fortune and buy a pair!!!
1.  Upgrades--once you own them and set them up correctly, you will HEAR that boxes do not reproduce as accurately (given the quality of your source material and components.)  Thus, upgrades as your ability to purchase increases.  (Personally, I use older ones in other parts of the house, but that's just me!)

2.  De-lam:  Not in many years.  Jim and his team switched glues YEARS ago.  The TI-C's that I listen to and the pair that the factory refurbed for me years ago (last pair they did, I think) are just fine, thank you.  If you look at I-A or I-B you might have an issue.  Get ones that were made a bit after 1975 or so.

3.  Size can be an issue if you are downsizing; good news is that they make ALL SIZES now, so no need to give up the quality of sound that you have discovered.

Once you figure out what you have with these, you will probably not go back to boxes if you can help it.  Of course, some do not care for them, so there are 250+ other full-line manufacturers out there to choose from--no reason to hate on Maggies if you like something else.  When I had my shop, I sold MANY brands--some were horrible at accuracy but the CUSTOMER loved them, so they walked out with them and were quite happy.  Otherwise, there would be only one speaker maker, right??

Purchase carefully; audition them (used speakers) if you can, and talk to Magnepan about refreshing anything you are considering.  Crossover's can fail--you have no idea what the current owner did to them--so purchase carefully and you will be happy.

Cheers,

Richard
I suspect there is one more issue that applies to many of us... “our sense of what sounds good” changes over time. Planars sound great this year... high efficiency next year... and so on. 

The LRS will undoubtedly be lacking in some areas... and won’t satisfy some people long term... but it is so affordable that it may induce more people to have a second system???