Broken hearted...magnepan and vandersteen


I finally got an opportunity to hear the 1.7i magnepan. I will blame my ears and taste, but I was underwhelmed. I heard them with tweeters inside and outside for comparison. outside did sound a bit better. Then I allowed them to play the vandersteen quatro ct. The speakers disappeared into the music. Deep, tall, wide soundstage with excellent imaging and air around the different instruments. Full range sound. Thankfully the trio ct sounded almost the quatros equal. I really was ready to go with magnepan. I was surprised. All other speakers are sounding inferior now. 
glfrancis2

Showing 1 response by douglas_schroeder

No reason to be ashamed for your impressions. You pick the speaker you like, period. If I read you right, I think your wallet is crying.  ;) 

I can appreciate what you are saying about the panel sound. I enjoy panels and dynamic speakers, but they are obviously different in their characteristics, and it is easy to see why someone would be drawn to one or the other. 

As an alternative, you may wish to hear the PureAudioProject Trio15 Horn 1 (there are several versions; you can see on the website). It is a horn hybrid that is open baffle. That would give you further experience and let you conclude whether you enjoy or not open baffle. See my review of it at Dagogo.com 

Perhaps the Vandy 3 will be sufficient at a lower cost. It, too, is a terrific bargain performer.