I'd be buying an extra pair or two of the LRS vs. spending 3x on the 1.7i which seems like frankly the absolute dog of the Magnepan line. I own the LRS and can't imagine what 2200 bux would do for me vs. 715 to my door and not messing with the snobby local dealer.
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.