Magnepan 1.7 too bright, HELP

The 'not enough power' carp is, IMO, a red herring.
That is, unless you crank it up....lots. EVERYONE without exception that buys panels and has lesser amps still likes them. The also all, without exception report better results with more power.
Even my RB1070 of 130x2 at 8 and NO 4ohm rating...unless you count the bridged 8 ohm rating as 1/2 of that per channel into 4ohms, did OK until pushed. It was replaced with a 'd' amp of 500x2 which for sure gets the job done. However, I've never measured more than maybe 12vac to the speaker terminals. Even allowing for the fact that it is a 'slow' meter, I'm sure I've not exceeded say.....24vac which is nowhere near 'redline'......
Personally, I'm not into the Rotel house sound so I'm not the best judge.

Work on the 'cheap' stuff before starting down the 'swapping stuff until you go broke' path.
I'm not a big fan of the tilt back, either. Image is impacted in a bad way. The panels when vertical just sound right, to me. Especially when I listen to the pole piece side. Tilt back brings more ceiling/floor bounce into the picture. don't forget that the way low sensitivity of the panels is mitigated by the line source / dipole behavior.

Don't forget there are 4 ways to place your panels. Tweeter in/out and pole piece front/rear.

Lots of interesting points.

My room is 22ft by 32ft and 12 feet high, I have the speakers in the middle 12 feet apart, and 3 feet from the rear wall with 3 inches of toeing with the tweeters on the inside, I have a large rug and a pair of bookselves behind the speakers and I sit about 10feet in the middle. I have ordered some 1.5 and 2 ohm resistors. I will play more with positioning and tilting and will experiment with a vinage Dynaco PAS - 3 tube pre amp that a friend is willing to lend me. Any other recommendation on a used tube pre-amp under $500 will be appreciated.

I just might get those cheap ferrite power cords and a basic AC filter from radioshack.

I think if you had mentioned the room size in your original post the majority of the replies would have stated that the room is too big for the 1.7s, in addition to other info.

Get cheap power cords/an AC filter from RAT SHACK, and you will be pounding nails into those Walmart tires.

Having owned Emo gear I would say replace the pre amp first and also then the source for something with tubes or try a tubed pre amp. Personally Emo has always sounded bright to me whenever I've used it and I will not use it ever again in two channel due to this.

If your looking for budget run a Jolida ect if you wanted to get started in tubes and not have to output a lot of coin. Also not sure about cables but I would try the pre amp first as to me cables do make a difference but the pre will make more. Also the source before cables. IMHO.