look cool

need to be in sweet spot

I'm afraid I must differ with the opinions expressed below. I made the mistake of purchasing these speakers after an abbreviated audition. The speaker's strong suit is its dipole soundfield. However, this cannot overcome the horrible upper midrange coloration and absence of bass. The ragged frequency response of the speaker is clearly evident by sibilant "S" emphasis at the ends of words ending in "S."
Jeff

amazing clarity and quality of sound

need a subwoofer for deep base.

I have had my maggies for over 3 years and would like to clear up some issues people are writing about. I origionally had mine set up with a low end technics receiver and cheap wire, I now have them with a higher end yamaha receiver, monster thx rated wire and a new klipsch subwoofer. So, I can give a full, honest review. When set up with inferior wire, and a low end receiver...that s sound problem is present. This is the speaker showing a weakness in the rest of your system..NOT in the speaker itself. With a good setup, these speakers are amazing!!! They are so perfectly clear, that you feel as though you are in the studio with the musicians!!! I cannot stress how important a good receiver and wire are to the sound of these engineering marvels. Get these and you will never enjoy music from a box type speaker again. Also...Use the bipole setup!! It makes a huge difference as well. The only downside of these speakers is the lack of really deep base. A subwoofer is practically a requirement. Set your low setting to 40-50 on your subwoofer. Your subwoofer should be quick to keep up with these speakers...no low quality thumper!!! Any reviews you have read that even mention a funny s-sound at the end of a singers word...disregard..They have these speakers connected to crap, with lousy wire!! Hey, I did too for a while..but now, I hear what I have been missing!! If you are even considering these speakers..then get them..they are worth every penny!!

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Bose

There are very few box speakers that I like -- I haven't found a pair for under $10k that I would trade for comparable planars. The 1.5's are a bargain. Good sound for a reasonable price.
They need some time to place properly (get out the tape measure!) and they take a minimum of 40 hours for burn-in. The imaging is very good as long as there isn't a lot of clutter between the speakers (hint: don't put a chair and refrigerator there).

They also sound much better with a better amplifier with power to spare -- 100 wpc minimum, suggest 200 wpc that doubles into 4 ohms (400 wpc).

No bass, you say? I've not found that to be true. They're accurate to the sound down to 45 Hz (rated at 40 Hz). If you want "emphasized" bass (e.g., +5 dB or so), then you might want a box speaker. I prefer honesty. Put on some bass tracks, like a bass guitar, and the music is right there.

My next upgrad may be the 3.5's, but I really want to save for the MG-20's ($9k). If I was shopping in the $30k-$60k range, the only other consideration would be the Martin-Logan Statements (forget the Wilsons -- they should be selling at about 1/5 their going price).

I bounght MG1.5QR two months ago. I was using MG-II before. MG1.5 is the largest 2-way planer speaker now on sale from Magnepan. After 2 months listening, bass unit started to sound larger and naturally, and balance of base/tweeter became much better. It has wide, smooth and natural sound stage, and listening area is rather wider than you expect for planer speakers. If you are a clasical music lover, you will be much satisfied with this model like me.I use Accuphase P-300L and P-300V power amps. P-300L has softer and more natural bass than P-300V.
In Japan, it costs 320,000 yen (1.8 times of U.S.A.), but I still think that MG1.5 is one of the best speakers in this price range.

The Magnepan MG 1.5 QR is an incredible speaker. They have a wide and deep soundstage, excellent imaging, and are very accurate. They are also one of the best bargains in the HiFi world. If you like your music accurate, natural, and uncolored you should try out a pair of Magnepans. The MG 1.5's are flat down to about 40-45hz and they sound better in a medium to large room. The speakers require a dedicated listening room (or you at least must be willing to move everything around so that they may be placed in an optimal position) The can do justice to large orchestral pieces, but they sound excellent on all types of music. (well ok, maybe not rap, but that isn't real music anyway (-; ) I would highly reccomend that anyone looking at new speakers take a listen to a pair of Maggies, they range in price from $500 to over $3000 per pair so they should be able to fit about any budget.

I'm afraid I must differ with the opinions expressed below. I made the mistake of purchasing these speakers after an abbreviated audition. The speaker's strong suit is its dipole soundfield. However, this cannot overcome the horrible upper midrange coloration and absence of bass. The ragged frequency response of the speaker is clearly evident by sibilant "S" emphasis at the ends of words ending in "S."
Jeff

I have owned these speakers now for 5 years. Till recently I was playing them with a Counterpoint SA 12+SA7 pre-and power and a Cambridge CD3. Nice open natural sound. Good for accoustical and vocal music. Although it was lacking bass and the it was a little bit soft in the hights. But a nice set. Till I recently decided to upgrade the electronics. I wanted something with more punch but not to agressive in the hights. I bought the Quad 77 intgr. amp and Quad 77 cd-player. The 77 series is going to be replace by the 99 series so I got the total set for less than $1000 incl that big but nice remote panel (the only remote which also receives info from the system). Now I know what I missed all these years. The speaker is suddely a total different animal. It gives a much deeper and controlled bass and the hights are more direct and more detailed. The best thing is that after five minutes of listening you forget to listen with an 'technical' ear and I was tapping with my feet on the ground enjoying the music. The nice thing of the Magnepan is that it really makes a difference which electronics you use and you can really change the caracter of this loudspeaker. My experience is that a nice solid state amp with resonable power(>75W) gives a better result than a lot of tube amps I have tried on the 1,5. Overall a very nice speaker if you don't mind the size and made for real music lovers. I found out that the % of musicians having magnepans is extremely big which is an other indication that maggies are really made for music

I have a pair that I play with an Acurus A150. The speakers are flat out the best soundstage I have heard anywhere near this price. The people who gave the speakers a poor review probably did not expirement with placement enough. It took me about 3 days to find the perfect placement. If they are moved more than 2" in any direction, the sound differs substantially. any planer speaker is exceptionally sensitive to placement. If you can't seem to find the sweet spot, ask the dealer if they will help you. A good shop should be willing to help. The Acurus A150 is very well matched to these speakers.
Without exception, all of the people who have listed to the speakers as they are placed in my home state that they are among the best they have ever heard. The soundstage is good enough that it appears to be possible with a good recording of vocals to tell where the vocalist is sitting, and which way they are facing.
These are the best speakers for the price if you are willing to take the time to set them up properly. If you just want to take something home and have it sound acceptable, stick to boxes. They aren't as placement critical, but you'll never get as good an image.

these speakers kick ass. the maximum details i can get are from these speakers, plus they stand up to my height, so the soundstage is the whole wall in front of me, not like box speakers. i also have a pair of nht 2.9 , these are also good speakers, but they dont produce as big soundstage as maggies can. who's talking about these maggies lack of bass? i changed my preamp from b&k to creek passive preamp, and the bass is there, as good as the 2.9's. and the highs are as high they can be. i play from korn, limpbizkit, metallica to jazz or classical musics, you name it. and these babies perform as i want.related equipments:
bryston 3B,
Creek OBH 12,
Cal Audio Delta/Alpha
Monarchy DIP
dh labs cables.

I have recently had the pleasure of listening to these gems at a HI FI exchange here in Maine. I had heard alot about Magnepans and planar speakers in general and was perpared to be blown away. I was. The electronics powering these guys were all Bryston (the amp was a 3BST)and the wires were all Transparent. The sound coming out of these was startling in its realism and sheer presence. The sound was quick, transparent, and open with out typical box colorations. The sound stage was enormous although it only imaged well if your head was in a very specific position relative to the speakers. Sheer dyamics and low bass were difinetly not the strong points with speakers (although it got a lot better with the larger models). What these speakers had in abundance was sheer realism and for $1500 they are surely a steel. As good as these babies are I recommend that if you have the money get the true ribbon models. The MG 3.5rs were the best speakers I have ever heard at any price. Anyway, these guys easily get 5 stars. My next speakers will definetly be Magnepans. By the way these speakers have been replaced with the 1.6QRs which are supposed to be quite a bit more dynamic.