Can Magnepan survive Wendell Diller?


I bought my first set of Magnepans in 1976, and I currently have a pair of 1.7i's.

It is difficult for me to upgrade to the 3.7i's because their are so many things that the company can do to improve their product that they simply won't offer; upgraded crossover components, a solid wood/rigid frames and better stands are examples.

Other companies are now doing this, but Magnepan always says Wendell doesn't think that is a good idea.

Can a man who suggests using lamp cord for his speaker line really have that much control over an otherwise unique technological approach to speaker design? I must be missing something obvious when a product is hand assembled in MN and any of these upgrades would, in my mind, warrant factory upgrades. Who wouldn't spend an extra $1k for a 1.7i with a hardwood frame and an upgraded x-over? Adding a ribbon tweeter to the 1.7i would warrant an additional $1k, still bringing them in $2k under the 3.7i.

Is it common for one person to hold an entire company back in high end audio? 
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I agree Russ. One of the mods I tried on my Maggie’s was a rear facing tweeter crossed over at 5khz with a 12db slope. I used the Eton 29HD2 Magnesium/Ceramic 28mm Dome Tweeters from Madisound and it added a lot to their tweeter that just isn't possible with their design, but I think a dipole AMT like one of the Mundorf makes would be better. Trouble is their over $600 apiece now, and ideally you’d have three per side in an array. (This is why I would prefer Magnepan make the 2.7 with a ribbon tweeter.)

What the Fostex does that the tweeter did not do is add the feathery effects to instrument and crispness of certain voices to the sound that only a lightweight paper cone driver can achieve. I'm designing a ported wedge with a surrounding flare around it and incorporating a stand to lose the feet. I can  eliminate some of the noise bleed from that driver onto the wall behind the speaker, and by having the flare  shorter on the inside it enhances vocals for movies.  
I'm sure that once I've removed the "sock" from the speaker to upgrade the x-overs I'll try some lateral bracing in the middle of the panel to resist flexation too.

All things being equal, I would prefer that the factory just offer these upgrades so I didn't have to waste 100 hours on doing the modifications.
The Quasi ribbon tweeter is just OK and it holds the whole speaker back from what it could be.  
I've heard that. The 3.7i's sound so much better than the 1.7i's that I would have to live with them to nitpick that aspect of their design. 
I'm simply looking to find out how many flat panel fans would pay for the upgrades if available from the factory?
The 30.7’s are a great sounding speaker, IF-- you have a big enough room for them, you have amps that can drive them ( probably at least 250 watts/ch) and you have room acoustic treatments to buttress them,.
When I heard the 30.7 demo, Wendell had set them up so that they were ok, luckily he let our club adjust them and agreed to a different placement, which let them really shine. I suspect most folks who have heard the 30.7’s have unfortunately never heard what the speaker can do, which is a real shame.
Daveyf,

I did not go to the demos because buying those speakers would have required me to add an $80k addition on to my house.

I’m glad Wendell was accommodating to your club. This is my Wendell story: Wendell says don’t waste your money on speaker cable, 14awg spool cable is "adequate". It is hardly that, once I started reading what NASA has to say about cable, RF interference and a side by side configuration. You just don’t do that in long runs. Minimum the cable has to be twisted so that the ground interferes with the positive sides ability to amplify extraneous background noise RF noise. Then when you look up neurological experiments that require an RF cage, they still use multistanded cables in a woven configuration to maintain the almost imperceptible impulses from neurons.
So I used Audioquest side by side cable, and it sounded thin. Then I read about the twisting and twisted the side by side cable and set it with a heat gun, 8 rotations per foot. Better sound, but my amp was still overheating. AHB2.

Then I bought Benchmark's star quad cables with Neutrek spekons for the amp and bananas for the speakers. The difference blew me away. And the amp runs 7 degrees cooler and never overloads.
So do I trust the ear of a guy who can’t hear the difference between lamp cord and bespoke speaker cables? No.

And you prove my point by being able to set his new speakers up better than he can.