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Tweaking the Magnepan 1.7s

Looking to tap the Audiogon crowd to come up with inexpensive tweaks for my new Magnepan 1.7s. Here is what is planned so far:

Have room treatments. I am a bigger fan of sound absorption than sound dispursement. I have four 2' x 4' x 2" sound absorption panels that sit on each side of my stereo shelving unit between my speakers. Does a great job of removing the reflections off of my electronics.

Having Magnepans for 30+ years, I do like to deaden the front wall behind the speakers a little bit. From hanging an oriental rug to curtains or whatever. Will be trying out some of these ideas with my new location.

Mye stands. I am waiting for my bank account to grow a bit before I go for these. I believe Mye has the new updates for the 1.7s (although, I can't see any difference between the 1.7s and my old 1.6s).

I want to bypass the fuse and that stupid metal jumper with the least disruption of the speaker itself. Anyone remove the back panel and replace with better speaker connects? If so, what do you recommend? How about wiring tips - anything I should be know before I start the project?

Debating on using a 1 ohm resistor to tame the high end. Any suggestions for high quality 1 ohm resistors?

Anything I am missing?

Sound notes: full description of my experience with Magnepan 1.7s and the electronics I am using in other Audiogon threads, just search for ronwills.
ronwills
utley1
44 posts
 
Ron- Many thanks....will try to find a dealer in NYC..
crom
19 posts
 
Utley, I don't have any experience with organ music.
ronwills OP
52 posts
 
Crom

Thanks for the reminder about the jumpers. I dug through my stuff and switched out the Magnepan jumpers and replaced them with the Mapleshade jumpers (way oversold on the Mapleshade records site, but they do sound better than the standard Magnepan jumpers.)

The funny result was that it makes 44.1 music sound better, more slam, but now the diffence between the 44.1 kHz and 96 kHz recording is not as great as it was before. Part of me thinks that they jumpers somehow exaggerate the leading edge of the sound making regular CD sound more exciting. Could also be that I am dreaming!

Recorded CD does really sound better, even more detail and I am getting close to the slam that you get from really good traditional speakers which Magnepan usually lacks.

I don't know if I am going to have the time in the next 30 days, but I am really looking forward to bypassing the jumper and fuse. I have to believe that it will sound better without all the jumpers and fuse in the signal path.
magfan
1,583 posts
 
What kind of JUMPERS? Mine are untouched since purchase and are daily in my sight since rotating the panels.

Did you try the rotate yet? With the (positive) effects I noted, I heartily recommend that move. Mine are NEVER going back and when I reframe to all-wood, that's the way they will be mounted.

You tell ME what you hear, so I don't bias you in advance of 'test'.
ronwills OP
52 posts
 
I am still grapling with the Mapleshade jumpers. Makes rock music jump compared to the standard jumpers provided by Magnepan but I do find putting the Mapleshade jumpers on the Maggies seems to make the music just a tad more harsh. This was my opinion of the Mapleshade digital cable - initially it sounded like it gave life to the music, but ultimately I had to remove it because it became too irritating.

Can't wait to bypass the jumpers AND the fuse. I have to order a soldering iron and solder (I assume that the connections are soldered). Anyone have suggestions as to brand and type of solder?

I am in the process of moving furniture and creating a significant space in my basement for my system which is currenty in my masterbedroom. I haven't officialy reversed the speakers for serious listening other than to listen behind the speakers. Seems to have less treble behind the speakers but I wasn't doing critical listening.

You have convinced me to give it a try tonight. I can just hear my wife's comments when she sees the speakers turned around. She already thinks I am crazy . . .
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