I happen to like both brands but own a pair of Magnepan 3.7i which sound wonderful in my listening room. You do need a high current amp to drive them (I currently have a Musical Fidelity Nu Vista 800 Integrated amplifier). Setup did take some time (found soundstage shrank with ribbon tweeters inverted), but not more than time than I would spend on any other speaker - one has to play the room to get things right and all speakers are different in that regard. I’m sure with properly matched electronics either speaker would sound good. I would agree with the others that even under the best of circumstances comparing the 1.7i with the Quattro might be a tad unfair (and with everything else being equal both do have different sound signatures - becomes a matter of personal taste). Enjoy your new speakers!
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.