I've heard the LRS and I don't know of anything that will approach it under $1000, if your goal is realistic reproduction of acoustical music. For rock, I'd choose something else or add a sub, because the LRS just doesn't have bass slam. It also needs a sub in a larger room -- with dipoles, you need a larger baffle in a larger room because of the way they interact acoustically (the closer they are to the side walls, the more the acoustic size of the baffle, and that means more bass). As Wendell Diller at Magnepan put it, when you put the LRS in a large room it turns into a midrange!
Also, re the larger Maggies, the dealer is right -- there just isn't a comparison. The LRS is unbeatable under $1000, but the larger models have more bass, better imaging, better highs particularly when you get to the 3.7i with its amazing true ribbon, and play louder. But you can get some of that magic by buying Magna Risers or making your own stand so that they're vertical and off the floor.
Finally, you'll never get pinpoint imaging with the smaller Maggies because of the separation between the acoustical centers of the woofer and tweeter, but the further back you are, the more precise the imaging is, and if you put absorption behind them they get close to pinpoint. (In live music, you don't get pinpoint imaging either, but it is cool when you do.) Usually, though, the best thing to put behind planars is diffusion.
