Any Magnepan 1.6 owner who upgraded to 1.7?

Pinoy6 -Having owned and enjoyed the 1.6 myself, I am also curious to know if the 1.7 is "better" or worth the upgrade. My local dealer has a pair of each side-by-side, so I believe I will compare them. Although it is subjective, I doubt you will get a straight answer on the forum due to so many different opinions. I have owned and listened to Magnepans since the 70's (Tympani, MGI, MMG, 1.6) along with other fine speakers from Thiel, Vandersteen, Martin Logan, etc. One thing that amazes me about Magnepan - they are the only speaker I am aware of that has a small user group with some people who feel they know more about the speakers than the company that has designed and built them for the last 40 years?

Magfan - With all due respect I believe there are probably modifications that do improve the factory sound. But unless there are associated measurements to verify the improvements, certain modifications could make the sound more appealing to what the individual user wants to hear, but it may also detract from the musical accuracy. Kind of like tone controls on a preamp. I have to believe Magnepan does careful research to make sure the stock speakers convey the music as accurately as possible with frequency response curves as flat as they are able to make them. All the Magnepans I have owned were left as stock and unmodified. I had a chance to hear a pair (won't name the model) that were stock, and then later hear them again after being modified (stands, active crossovers, etc.). The end-user thought they were the greatest thing ever in their modified form. I tried to listen in an unbiased manner, and to me the music had coloration and was anything but neutral. Maybe the modifications were not performed correctly, but to me they sounded much better (more neutral and musically accurate) in their stock form.