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RE: Magnepan MG-1.7: casual impressions

71.191.200.72

Posted by ronwills on November 7, 2010 at 10:46:31

In Reply to: Magnepan MG-1.7: casual impressions posted by magiccarpetride on October 21, 2010 at 11:00:50:

I am very confused by the string of comments, some from people who have never listened to the Magnepan 1.7s but offer opinions! I have had Magnepan speakers for 35 years. Starting off with the Magnepan IIs and later Magnepan 1.6s and now Magnepan 1.7s.

I never try to sell the Magnepan sound to anyone. You either get it or not. I understand, they are very different speakers. However, as I moved from the Magnepan 1.6s to Magnepan 1.7s, there was no contest. The Magnepan 1.7s bested the 1.6s in every single category that is important to me:

1. The speaker is more coherent than ever before. I can now do near field listening and not notice the tweeter / woofer panel separation. It sounds uniform from top to bottom.

2. For the first time, I am enjoying rock music on my Magnepans, ever. The 1.7s do a great job of handling the slam of rock music - still not a good as a very good cone speaker, but great for Magnepan.

3. Low level listening is absolutely amazing. It was good with the 1.6s but is exceptional with the 1.7s. I must give some of the credit to my Wyred for Sound DAC1 for detail and quite background. It is so good, that much of my listening has shifted to later in the evening at lower levels. Very enjoyable.

4. They bring me closer to the recording environment than ever before. Magnepan has been known to be able to reproduce the sounds of acoustic instruments as well as any speaker. The 1.7s are a major step forward. Piano, guitar – both electric and acoustic, violin, cello, clarinet, etc. are reproduced with a realism that I didn’t think was possible.

5. There is no recording that doesn’t at least sound good on my system with the exception of some very hot recorded rap and rock CDs. The Magnepan 1.7s seem to be able to extract the most from every CD in my collection. The detail and realism of recordings keeps me listening for hours.

6. And, best of all, you do not need to spend a fortune getting high-end sound with Magnepans. My equipment totals less than $6,500 including the Magnepan 1.7s, Wyred 4 Sound DAC1, Bada Preamp and Amp, Netgear 9150 music server, subwoofer and Xindak cables and I get an amazing taste of the highest of high end sound. After recently visiting a friend with $100K+ invested in MBL 111F, MBL amplification, and $30K turntable /cartridge combo, I didn’t feel that I was missing much comparing his system to my system. The analog sound from the turntable/cartridge was more three dimensional and the speakers didn’t need bass augmentation as do the Magnepan 1.7s, but in the end, I wasn’t blown away and didn’t feel at all “outclassed” by his system.

I have had the Magnepans for 6 months now and I still feel that they are breaking in! The low level detail has just in the last two months started to really come into its own whether at very low, medium or high audio levels. I still don’t get much bass, but augment with two inexpensive subwoofers. Don’t listen to the Magnepans at the dealers, find someone with a home system and listen to them. I have never found a dealer where the Magnepans sounded good. I purchased from the Listening Room in Pikesville, Maryland where the speakers sounded average at best in the showroom while blowing me away in my home system.

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