Magnepan 1.7i

TroyD

Anyone own them or listened to them?

Thoughts?

BDT

nooshinjohn

Maggie’s love current and the more the merrier. I personally love them, and sometimes wish I had my 20.1’s back. They image like no other, but need a nice musical sub to give some weight to the bottom end.

Once dialed in, the midrange can be spooky good, with vocalists seeming to actually be in the room with you, and I have yet to hear a speaker that can give life to acoustic guitars and woodwinds like they can.

maxward

What he said! I’ve owned them for 40-ish years, but only heard the 1.7i at a dealer. Very nice, but a marginal improvement over the original 1.7, so you might find deals on them. I may downsize to this particular model at some point.

Emlyn

I have not heard that particular model, but I've been feeling an itch for a few years to get a pair of those because of the value they apparently present. Maybe in a few months. The price is reasonable as far as speakers go even if there's not much to them physically. Subwoofer required, but I have that covered.

tonyb

1.7's seem to be a sweet spot in the Maggie line up. I've heard a few different models to date, not this particular one though, and they all image like nothing you've ever heard. However, they all also carry the same caveats, bass is somewhat limited, and they need lots of room away from walls. That said, I think it was the Absolute sound mag that the reviewer mentioned the 1.7's had a slight 2 dimensional sound when it came to voices. I'd take that with a grain of salt though.

Your answer is tubes, Maggies love tubes and current. If you grab a set, I'd be very interested in your review as these seem to be setting a benchmark in the industry for a 2k set of speakers.

Emlyn

I decided to order a pair of the 1.7i model yesterday. There’s an 8 week production backlog now. Not in a hurry, but looking forward to getting them. Black cloth/dark cherry trim.

The long term Magnepan dealer closest to me in Virginia, The Gifted Listener, shut down after the owner decided to retire once Covid shutdowns closed his doors last spring. So the dealer closest to me in Baltimore now delivers from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.

Price new is $2,399 a pair for any of the finishes.

maxward

I hope you like them. Per the recent (issue 313) review in The Absolute Sound, give them plenty of break-in time. What finish did you order?

Emlyn

I ordered them in black cloth with dark cherry trim. Red trim was preferred but they don't offer that in this model. The dealer said the factory could make a special pair on request, but I decided to just go with the wood trim instead.

xsmi

I have LRS's that I ordered with my first stimulus check. I love them for everything (even hip hop) except, large scale orchestral music and big band music. Highs and mids are excellent, bass, is ample but not thunderous. Give them plenty of space from the back wall and they will shock you sometimes!

tonyb

Anymore insights to the sound as these speakers break in ?

Emlyn

A new pair of 1.7i is scheduled to be delivered to me tomorrow morning. About an 11 week manufacturing timeline on new product from the Magnepan factory right now.

TroyD

Awesome. Can't wait to hear what you think!

Emlyn

I'll be comparing them to a pair of JM Labs Electra 920.1 without subs and a pair of Polk LSiM707s with subs. The system with the Polks is in a room where the 1.7i will have plenty of space to do their thing. My guess is they may need a couple hundred hours before they settle in.

tonyb

Those Maggies have gotten some rave reviews. I would expect their imagining to be above par than the others you have on hand.

TroyD

I've found that you are either a ribbon guy or your aren't.....it's hard to make an apples to apples comparison.

EndersShadow

Very narrow sweet spot, but when you are in it..... it’s awesome.....

Bass is present and fills the room and appears and just is “there” but does not punch you in the gut like other systems.....

Aka I agree with Troy lol....

tonyb

Ribbons have their shortcomings, like every other speaker design. Alot can be overcome with a good subwoofer though....or 2.

I like Ribbon tweets in a more dynamic speaker design probably the best. Combines 2 worlds a little bit.

invalid

My apogee duetta 2 seem to have plenty of bass for music listening, not enough low bass for home theater.

TroyD

I'm just not a "add a sub and call it a day" guy.

Listening to the 1.6's......the bass is fine. I'd gladly sacrifice quantity for quality in that department. My current dilemma is in the living room rig, 1.6's or Thiel 3.6's. Both are great speakers....but different. Honestly, the Thiel 3.6's are a superior speaker.......they do everything REALLY well. However, and this was true even moreso of the Quads when I had them (well, I still do but just not in working order), they just have this seductive quality that is difficult to quantify. They just suck you in......even thought they aren't as transparent as the Thiel's, the treble isn't as clean or detailed. Bass, fuhgedaboutit.........and make you just want to listen.

BDT

tonyb

Yeah, 2 channel...I'm not really a sub guy either, but for those that are, they have options when pursuing ribbons. Very few systems I've ever listened to have that sub integrated so well you can't tell there is one. But, to each their own, enjoy as you see fit.

Personally I'm more like you Troy, I'd like a speaker that can do it all, low end, airy high end, dynamics, soundstage, and can play any genre you throw at it. One of my criticisms of certain speakers is how some are fantastic for only a few genres of music. Great on classical and jazz, but fall apart on classic rock , as an example. Maybe that works for someone who is narrow in their musical choices, but I'm all over the map as I think most are too.

I'll have to give the newer iterations of Thiel a solid listen. My perspective was based on older models. Hopefully they trickle down some of that goodness to lessor model series.

TroyD

C’mon by man....I can demo Thiel, Maggie, Carver, SDA, B&W.....whatever floats ya boat!

Emlyn

Initial impression on setup is the bass is different in a good way. Seamless wall of sound listening to Chameleon on Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters album. Got A Thousand Beautiful Things from Annie Lennox’s Bare album on now. Subwoofer not really needed for music so far. Tweeters on the outside to start with.

Good thing about the size is I can tuck one under my arm to carry it up stairs.

Impressed already.

maxward

In my room, tweeters on the outside is best, but many set them up on the inside.

Emlyn

I'm finding I like the 1.7i without the addition of a subwoofer. As of now, I've been breaking them in in my home theater system with a Marantz receiver going to a Parasound A31. Experimenting with spacing in a 20 by 24 foot room starting about 6 feet from the front wall. One important and noticeable thing is the speakers are very revealing of the quality of what's being fed to them so using them with a receiver in the signal chain is not a good thing in the long term. I do have a Parasound JC2 BP that I can put in for two channel.

Emlyn

The biggest difference I am experiencing so far compared to conventional speakers is the wall of sound effect that makes it seem like sitting in an audience looking up at a musical performance on stage rather than sitting in a room level with the musicians. Simple physics. I guess there is a tilt function I am not using. Probably a more true to life listening experience from the midrange and up but not as pinpoint or as analytical as other speakers.

Next pair of speakers I may try would be Martin Logan.

TroyD

Panel speakers have different radiation characteristics......and it can take some getting used to. Damping rear wall, adjusting tilt angle and toe in can make a big difference.

nooshinjohn

REL subs tend to perform very well with Magnepans...

SeleniumFalcon

With a point source speaker every time the listening distance doubles the volume decreases by 6dB. With a line source speaker when the listening distance doubles the volume decreases by 3dB. This means that a line source speaker and a point source subwoofer will only have matching volumes at one specific listening distance. If the balance is adjusted so the levels are equal at a central listening distance then at every other distance in the room they will not be in balance.
The way to imagine a point source or line source speaker is to have two rooms that share a wall. In one room have a music source, say a jazz quartet and in the other room is the listener. If you cut two holes in the adjoining wall, say 8" in diameter 36" up from the floor spaced at 6' this would be equivalent to a medium sized pair of bookshelf speakers that are point sources. Instead if you cut two narrow but tall rectangles in the wall, say 10" wide and 72" tall spaced 6' apart this would present a line source speaker.

maxward

That’s an interesting point.

Emlyn

After some more break-in of the 1.7i I'm liking them. I prefer to listen to them without a subwoofer but I'm like that with all speakers for music including bookshelf speakers. They're not for rocking out but they produce a lot of sound in the room without really sounding loud if that makes sense. The music seems to come from all over. Running them with a Parasound A21 amp but they could take more power. They're not efficient speakers but they sound good at low volume as well as at high volume. Got to watch the volume control though. The best feature to me is the sound reflects from the backs of the speakers too and it's like music comes from all around the room including from behind the listening area. I was listening to Yes last night and it sounded like music was coming out of rear surround speakers. Definitely worth the money spent but I also like good box speakers for cranking rock music. They're just different.

TroyD

Yup...there is magic in a good dipole speaker and it does take getting used to. Glad you are digging them.