Can Magnepan survive Wendell Diller?

Wendell's personality is a matter of perspective and it depends very much on the way you approach him. He does not like the "Tweak" crowd. If you come at him from that angle you will get the' "oh no. nota an other one" personality. If you come at him with a real concern he is very friendly. I had a conversation with him about making the woofer panels of the 20.7 7"10" tall to make it a line source in rooms with 8 foot ceilings. It had been on his mind but apparently the marketing folks shut that idea down. It would make the speaker more expensive and the look more intrusive. The primary goal of a company is to perpetuate itself and Magnepan has obviously been good at it. It cost them a sale to me but probably made an additional 20 sales they would not have made with an 8 foot speaker.

As for dipoles making bass, they certainly can if the panel is big enough. But if the speaker is one full range driver making bass distorts everything else. The Magnepan does not use a full range driver but neither is their woofer panel big enough to prevent cancelation at very low frequencies. Although using subwoofers with Maggies is a good idea, it does not produce the kind of improvement in performance you get with a full range ESL.

I had a pair of 1.6s about 20 years ago. The biggest improvement was in an upgraded, outboard xover. I later owned 3.5s and I swear the 1.6s were more engaging.

Oz

OP, that Wendell would dismiss the need for better cables reminds me of another audio manufacturer here in MN who's niche was always SOTA amps and preamps that won't break the bank.  He has also had a disdain for better cables---patch cords were just fine, captive AC cords served the purpose well.  In recent years, he  agreed to offer IEC connectors to meet market demands.  
It seems these manufacturers, who market to budget-conscious folks, do not recommend buying expensive cables and cords because that spending just takes away purchases of their own products.  They want to sell you on their stuff, not someone else's.  
 

@jafreeman 

From what I can tell from testing cables so far is that you want mass. After hating my Audiquest 14 gauge side by side cables that should have satisfied Magnepan's directive, and getting Benchmark's, 11 gauge equivalent, and liking them I decided to test what I had laying around. Some of that was an industrial grade 10 gauge extension cable, and a 4 gauge one. Mass matters. I am theorizing that since the signal doesn’t go through the wire, that the signals from the amp require maximum throughput capabilities for minute bursts of energy, regardless the length of the peak power output. But if anyone knows that, it's a closely guarded secret.

And no, Magnepan has to charge less for it's speakers because they require $10,000 worth of watts output. How is that saving me money?

But I could now write a book on this, an example being: Regardless of the cables gauge, the ends of multistranded cables have to be tinned to the connector that attaches to the binding posts on both ends. And if you are using Magnepan's steel ones, you should tin the cable with no addition at least, however if you tin a copper tube over the end of the cable to match the inner diameter of the sockets, there is better definition.

This makes sense when you view the signal from the amp as a field of energy, and any restriction of the signal carrier diameter as something that deforms that signal. And don't ask about the interior wires on Maggie’s, I had to rip that crap out and replace it with Cardas Chassis wire, 12 gauge. Does owners for the bass, mids and highs. But with no inductor on the bass panel, it's trying to be a full range driver itself.

And everything you do to get bass out of Maggie makes you aware of how deficient the 1.7i's are in midrange and highs.

I bought a pair of the LRS just for fun.  I've had a lot of expensive speakers over the years and these little guys just blew my mind.  You sure as hell don't need 1000s of watts.  They play just totally killer with my Pass 30.8 amp.  Not breaking glass but def 95 DB or so level.  I have the LRS in a big room and no they don't rattle the walls with bass but it's not terrible and the sound is just such a shock with the right type of music these things are just totally magic.  I would have to consider building a Maggie room if I ever built a house. I thought about trying to have two sets of speakers set up in the same room.  I think I'll just pull them out every now and then and just soak it in for a few days or more and then put them back for a while.  I would encourage anyone curious to try them, has to be the best bang for the buck in hifi history