back and forth i went with what to buy, maggies or legacy and in the end i went and listened to the 1.7's and dropped 2 grand. when i got home i first hooked them up to a krell kst 100 with a krell krc 3 preamp and thought wow this is just amazing. next i tried them with a threshold t400 and audio research ls2b mk2 and that is it just plain mind blowing with imaging,depth and sound stage to die for. these speakers do lack in the very low bass but not in a way that you would need a sub. drums and symbols are very tight and extremely fast and the vocals are in mid air on stage. these speakers sound so good that my dogs will not leave the room at high levels lol, they even like them. bottom line is big high current class a amp a must as these are power hungry your reward will be audio nirvana.

I WANTED TO HATE THESE SPEAKERS AS I DID HATE THE 1.6 BUT CANNOT HATE THEM THEY ARE THE BEST SPEAKER DEAL UNDER 5K IN FACT THEY BLOW SPEAKERS AWAY AT ANY PRICE...MAKE SURE YOU BUY A EMOTIVA XPA-2 AND BUY A DON ALLEN DUAL TUBE PREAMP HIS 1500.00 MODEL AND NEVER LOOK BACK I OWN A QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS OF AUDIO EQUIPMENT IN MY SPECIAL TUNED AUDIO ROOM AND THESE HOLD THEIR OWN.......PERIOD..........DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON ANYTHING ELSE BECASE FOR 800+2000=1500=4300.00 YOU CAN BLOW AWAY ANYONE'S 50K SYSTEM AWAY TOTALLY OUT THE DOOR

I believe people should be aware of my disappointing experience with owning Maggie 1.7 QR's. Purchased pair in 2001. There is not a great value here when just after the warranty expires the wiring coils loosen from the baffles due to the glue drying out over time. This caused speakers to carry fuzzy distorted sound and needing repair. Speaking with a woman at Magnepan she informs me that this happens ocassionally. Remember the warranty just expired three weeks earlier! She said it would cost approx $587 to repair the speakers including shipping both ways and they would arrange the pick-up. I deemed it unfair and decided against the repair for fear it may happen again over time. They are not the bargain the audio industry says they are. Cost $1800 plus $587 over 5 years equals a $2387 bargain. I think not! Real shame, I liked them, but they lost me as a customer. BEWARE!!!!

Audio for hi-fi is another area with prevailing confusion, illusion, misconception, blind dedication, fanatical believers, etc. like religion. Bible and Koran overrides periodic table and quantum theory, and sun had orbited the earth for at least a few thousand years. After so many trial and errors for years I came to conclusion that most of the reviews and comments are not worthy to consider, and it is total waste of money to spend atrocious sum for stereo equipment. Marketing thrives on perception and illusion. I strongly agree with Richard Clark’s hypothesis. These audiophiles opinion does not show any binomial distribution with any standard deviation statistically. It is flat from left to right. No consensus. And I am committing a paradox by writing a review also.

But I have to admit that one exception is the speaker. Sound of speaker to ear is like the final screen picture of TV to eyes. You don’t need an oscilloscope with knowledge of electronics to tell whether it is good or bad. The positive aspect of Magnepan is relatively inexpensive price of their products considering the quality. But again sound wave is simply sound wave whether it is pop music or classical one. It is hard to believe one is good for a certain type of sound wave but not others. I have played from Ace Cannon to Bruce Springsteen and Beethoven to Richard Strauss, it sounds all fine. It does not even need more power than MMG but gives profound bass and clear treble. Especially when you can hear and appreciate the extreme pianissimos of symphonic orchestra you get thrilled. Don’t even need subwoofer unless you want to shake the window with annoying RAP stuff. Plenty of bass for any rock and pop.
I’m sure there are other speakers doing better job than Maggie 1.7. But when my 30 buck atomic clock does almost same job as ten grand Rolex watch, I would not spend ten grand unless I want to show off to my colleague or friends. Magnepan 1.7 is a reasonable choice for its money

One thing noticeable is significant improvement of sound quality was obvious when I moved to house with carpet from a house with wooden floor. $100.000 hardware equivalent worth of improvement.

1year old as of 04, 2013 these are broken in ;-)
Some say bass (LF) is distorted.. HUH? Just finished test with 3.2KW amp gain at max the amp lights were at -10db well.. no slam no breakup I could hear.. sure could feel the wall vibrate though, these things were sucking some serious juice. Sure they are nice with subs but you COULD live without them. The midrange is spectacular the highs seem clear and detailed. Imaging and the entire spatial experience depends on how you set them up and the amount of room dampening (very important in a bright room) you use. I've been playing with different amps and these seem to like something that drive a low impedance load without dips in the output, old school stuff applies to the 1.7s They are beautiful with the rosewood peaking out the sides, when you feel the heat flashing over your goose bumped skin your just gonna want more.

The product model year is actually 2012. But there was no tab for it! I have owned many great speakers over the years. These are the best. Bar none. End of discussion, over and out. You want the best speakers for the money? Buy Magnepan if you have the room and it's ok with the wife. These guys will do it all. They are great with any kind of music. I have run them with a 50w Jolida tube amp (the real one, not the Maryland con artists), 200w Nakamichi and 500w Dussun. They are power hungry and sound best with more power. But they will do the job in a smaller room with tube power. They take a long time to break in. At about 100 hours you will be rewarded with a sudden "pop" and things will sound great.I have about 250 hours on mine and they are still getting better. I ended up with 1.7's because I also have MMG's (the best buy for $600) and wanted to move up. I looked at the 3.7's but could not justify the size OR the additional $3500. If you get the 1.7's you are better than 80% on your way to the 3.7's. If that's not enough spend another G-note on a good subwoofer and your neighbors will love you. If tha'ts too much, look on Audiogon and "steal" a pair of 1.6's, now available for less than a $1000. The opinionated dude over at "Peter Gunn" who builds those fugly 1960's polyurethaned monstrosity Magnestands even thinks they sound better. Hey beauty is in the eye of the beholder but he does know his Maggies, that's for sure.
Bottom Line: What are you waiting for? Go buy some Maggies, Wendell needs a new car. :) I will never own anything else.

First, let me say this great speaker technology doesn't compare with anything else. But they have little reason to be this LARGE accept for profit. The MMG size and weight is all most people could possibly ever really use especially if they (Magnepan) would add the real ribbon tweeter as in the "Mini Maggies". I don't know of another speaker technology, at any price, that sounds more real. The surrounds "MC 1s and it's next generation" which should come with stands and a decent wire connection!!!!!! are more than enough as surrounds and centers for movies. Magnepan has not yet comeout with a center channel that can take the dynamics required for a center channel movie speaker though they do get better and better though you will need 2 of them! . I suggest Martin Logans in the meantime for this purpose. (Surly the Mini Maggie could help in this regard!) However, for the bass, you'll need an excellent sub to match the Maggies speed but there is an "abundance" of those out there.

Magnepan is wonderful and the cheapest way to go if you have the space.

In summary, I see no reason, given the introduction of the Mini Maggies, for Magnepan to develop larger and larger speakers.

In this review, I compare MG1.7 with my two pairs of MG1.5. One pair (set A in small room) is used as its original form and another part is used without internal network (set B in medium sized room).

My set A driven by Accuphase P-800 sounds warm and powerful. I enjoy jazz and pops vocal and jazz piano on CDs and SACDs.

My set B driven by Accuphase F-15L (2,500Hz, 12dB/oct)/P-300V/P-300L sound straightforward, clear and with wide dynamics. I prefer classical music such as orchestra, organ and piano works with this set on LPs, CDs and DATs.

A new pair of MG1.7 was set to the medium sized room. After several trials, bridge (monaural) connection of P-300V and P-300L (each about 500W/4 ohm) showed best results. In the first several weeks, MG1.7 was half asleep and the sound was too bright. However, after the burn in, it started to sing elegantly.

Major advantages of MG1.7 over MG1.5 (set A and B) are as follows;
1. Extension of bass. If properly driven, no need of subwoofer.
2. Sounds as if a full-range unit with a well-designed crossover.
3. Better transient property, but never noisy. You may image STAX earspeaker.
4. Dynamic range is expanded and sufficient. If your volume level is ordinary as a music lover, not ear-splitting levels, you will never feel the limitation of dynamic range.
5. Tonal characteristic is slightly brighter than that of MG1.5.
6. My original DAT recordings of classical concerts sound definitely best in my whole experience.
7. Natural vocal reproduction is maintained.

I recommend MG1.7 if you love live music.