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Broken hearted...magnepan and vandersteen

I finally got an opportunity to hear the 1.7i magnepan. I will blame my ears and taste, but I was underwhelmed. I heard them with tweeters inside and outside for comparison. outside did sound a bit better. Then I allowed them to play the vandersteen quatro ct. The speakers disappeared into the music. Deep, tall, wide soundstage with excellent imaging and air around the different instruments. Full range sound. Thankfully the trio ct sounded almost the quatros equal. I really was ready to go with magnepan. I was surprised. All other speakers are sounding inferior now. 
glfrancis2
jl35
3,926 posts
 
All speakers are a matter of personal preference, Magnepan and Vandersteen maybe more so than others...love my new LRS, love the big Vandersteens, not so much the 2 and 3...would be great to prefer the less expensive models...
jl35
3,926 posts
 
and both brands are notoriously more demanding than most about set up and electronics...
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,404 posts
 
At least you didn't buy the $65k Vandersteen 7 with their really expensive tall amps. Underwhelmingly expensive for what you get.
erik_squires
15,675 posts
 
Vandersteen is doing an amazingly good job of making dynamic drivers couple well in any room.


mcreyn
293 posts
 
I have owned multiple pairs of both Maggies and Vandies.  Your comparison really isn't fair as to either.  Just a few of the issues:

1)  Same room or different room.
2)  Comparing a $2,000 speaker to a $15,000 speaker.  Did you listen to the 1ci or 2ce Sig II which would be a fair comparison to the 1.7i?
3)  Amplification?
4)  Expecting the Maggies to have the same bass response as a speaker with a built in subwoofer.  

Your comparison is like saying I test drove a Subaru BRZ and McLaren and the McLaren blew away the Subaru.  
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