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? 
128x128william53b
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.
@william53b Wendell is all about saving hobbyists money. I like this approach! He once told me that he likes the fact that Magnepan builds its gear for the less well heeled enthusiast, and not for the mega millionaire who buys with his eyes and wallet only. I agree that he misses out on cables, as we both know they do make an enormous difference, but his philosophy is admirable! IMHO we need more like him in this hobby, although this is probably not a popular stance given the current state of the audiophile world.