For Magnepans try the "Rooze" comfiguration

Is this a joke?

As a long time Magneplanar fan, this is a little out there for me.

It would be very interesting to hear of other experiences if any of you are inclined to experiment.

What happens to the bass? In my experience, Magneplanars can have very good bass, but for me this has only happened with my back near the wall in front of the speakers and behind my chair.

Well I'm both pleased and relieved that it's working so well for others.
Rooze rhymes with ruse and also my last name, so just a little play on words to keep people guessing.
But this is not a joke, it's a very serious re-alignment of listening priorities. The 'new' setup does not fare well under the typical audiophile scrutiny that we typically apply to any new tweak, component or parameter change. It has some deficiencies when we start to think about the usual audiophile checks and balances, but if we're just interested in enjoying music then the presentation is hard to beat.
I won't get into the specifics, since I'd just be repeating myself, but anyone with the time and inclination should give this a try. I haven't had much time to optimize speaker/chair position for the new setup, so I suspect there is a lot more performance to be had from the idea.

I wasn't aware of the Bose 901 principal of operation before trying this, but from what I've learned since, doesn't the Bose method have drivers firing into the front wall (behind the speaker), and drivers firing at the listener? That would tell me that there are the usual issues with transparency, since there are still direct-firing drivers, and also an issue with time-alignment, since the distance from the rear-firing drivers to the front wall is a variable. Again, I know very little about the Bose method so I may have this completely wrong.

All I can say about the 'maggie method' is that there are no direct firing drivers, all the sound is reflected. One would expect the sound to be diffuse, but it isn't. One would expect room influences and reflections to be more influential, but they are not. You hear significantly less of the room affecting the sound negatively.

Well, I'm not trying to sell you anything other than a dose of madness, and even that is free if you call with your credit card in the next 24 hours.

Rooze.

Rooze...Maggies emit sound equally in both directions, with opposite phase. Turning them around doesn't change much...just a little because the magnets are in the way on one side. Bose 901s had eight little FR drivers aimed at the wall, and one at the listener.

As I noted in an AA posting, I think that the main thing you have done is pull the darned things out nine feet. IMHO, best results are achieved with the Maggies at 40 percent of the room length, and a 40 foot room length is nice. Your 9 feet would satisfy my rule in a 23 foot room.

El,

I'm not sure that the 9' is key. Remember that I'm not listening to the rear wave, I'm looking between the speakers and listening to a soundstage that is formed against the wall that the front of the speakers are firing into. The 9' dimension is not critical. What is critical is that the space behind the speaker has sufficient room for a seat, with at least 5' between the seat and the back of the speaker. So 6' or 7' is important to make this work, but not necessarily 9'. More would be better I think, and I may experiment with taking the speakers out into the room.
As you mentioned, I'm not going to win any 'best home decor' competition, but who cares what the house looks like so long as the music rocks!!