Magnepan 1.7 too bright, HELP

Try to use Class A amplifier w 100 watt for your 1.7. The Threshold 400A is a very good amp as recommended by HP. I had it once several years ago. I still miss it. Good luck.

I went through same issue. I listened to them through high end ARC tube amps in my dealers showroom. Loved them. Purchased the 1.7's with a new ARC LS17 and brought a pair of BelCanto M3 mono blocs home with them for demo. I hated the sound when I got home and set up. I then went to my other local dealer and purchased a new Bryston 4B SST2 to try with the 1.7's. 10 minutes after installing the Bryston in place of the BelCanto's I loved the sound. The bass was so much warmer and more natural and the highs lost the artificial sheen I was hearing with the class D amps. I also installed two absorbsion tubes in the corners behind the speakers. Everything sounds wonderful now. These are amazing speakers if paired with a tubed pre and a high quality and potent SS amp. As others have made clear, they will show you any mismatches or weak links in your audio chain rather quickly.

add a sub-woofer.

Another minor tweak is replacing the hard metal bar jumper with either a copper or silver high quality jumper. This is by no means a make or break tweak IMHO, but it is well worth the few minutes and minimal cost. I have tried both copper and silver and settled on silver Audioquest jumpers that cost $25. It removes a minor bit of upper end shine (for lack of better term) at least with my components.

I tried a couple of different subwoofers with my 1.7's including a Genesis 928 with dual 12 inch woofers. I did not like it - could not seem to get the bass right in terms of loudness. I was changing the gain all of the time depending on what I was listening to. It seemed like the Genesis was too much woofer for the 1.7's.

While this subwoofer auditioning was progressing, I started to hear distortion from one of my Maggie 1.7's - sort of a slight "crackling ssshing" noise from high up on one panel. I switched the two speakers just to be sure it was not some other component problem. The sound followed the one speaker.

The dealer said that it would be fixed under the warranty; I just would have to bring the speakers back to the store.

While at the store I got to hear Maggie 3.6's and thought that they sounded darn good. I ended up taking them home as my loaners until the 1.7's were repaired.

As it turned out, I kept the 3.6's.

I would have to say that the 1.7's sounded bright and sterile compared to the 3.6's in my listening place with exactly the same components (W4S amp and preamp and Audiospace CD8).

I think that the 3.6's sound warmer, sweeter, and definitely more mellow - much more of what what I prefer to hear.

In addition, the 3.6 bass is another whole level above the 1.7's.

Also, the 3.6's create a much bigger soundstage. In my listening space the soundstage extends across the whole 15 front wall.

So...while I thought that the 1.7's were pretty good, my vote is that the 3.6's are much better.