Followup-Magnepan 1.7s in a 10x13' dedicated room?

I'd like to emphasize that "some" recordings were a "little" bright, but far from unlistenable. I think it was more the recording than the speakers. These speakers just show you what's in the recordings more than I'm used to. If they didn't, genuinely good recordings wouldn't sound as good as they can through these speakers.

I put the Athena LS500bs back into the system last night and that actually showed in stark contrast what I was hearing with the MG12s. Or rather what I was no longer hearing with them gone. The last day that I had them I had just received a new CD by Keiko Matsui named Soul's Quest. I had not listened to this disc through my speakers. Track six on this CD, "Antarctica--A Call To Action" has some really dynamic percussive transients that just blew me away exclaiming WOW by the end of it. Literally raised goose bumps on my arms. I could feel the drummers sticks hitting his snare drum and toms. I could hear and feel his foot pedal mallet hitting the bass drum skin, not just the boom of it. I was actually afraid the speakers might hurt themselves. So now that the speakers are gone I go to listen to this really great recording again through my Athenas and when I get to track six, I'm left wondering if I'm remembering the track number correctly. It literally sounded like a different song. The drums were recessed way in the background with no impact and puny, as if the recording engineer intended for them to barely be heard. There was actually more low frequency energy from the bass drum but none of the transient speed and slam. It's as if the speaker box and damping inside are just soaking up all the energy, even though they are five db more sensitive. If I hadn't just learned that the MG12s are soon to be upgraded to .7 with the full QR drivers I'd put an order in right now. It's going to be hard to wait, but I think I'll just continue accumulating funds until they are released and if it takes more than a couple of months I'll just get the 1.7s.

Where the the conversation from this thread has gone is interesting. Especially interesting is the statement that Magnepans and therefore any large flat panel speakers is flawed due to it's design being physically impossible to be time coherent from the top of the panel all the way to the bottom. Though speakers employing drivers that range from 1 to 3 or 5 or 6 or 12 inches to reproduce the wave launch of a piano, a cello or a harp recorded in a large space are not flawed. When you think about it, the sound from an instrument as large as a piano isn't time coherent either and would get worse the closer you are to it. Just think of the tilt of the top of a piano that's played open. It's the reproduction of the size of instruments and the transient response of planars and electrostatics that draws me to them. The effect is very obvious and easy to hear. I have yet to ever experience listener fatigue from Magnepans. I have experienced plenty of it from speakers employing conventional drivers however, time coherent and not.

Bombaywalla, sorry, guess I was making assumptions. Wife says I do that a lot. So I'm confused, how can the Lft-8bs be time coherent? Doesn't the length of the panels cause the same problems? BTW, do you have any experience with them? I've considered them also and they offer a generous trial period for those who don't have a nearby dealer.

Well since I started this thread in relation to Magnepans in my small listening room I suppose I should share what's been going on. Instead of waiting until I have the funds to pick up a pair of 1.7s, I took advantage of Magnepan's MMG trial and trade up program and ordered a pair of MMGs. I got the speakers last Friday and it's been an interesting few days. I unpacked them, put the legs on, fired up the system and they sounded awful! No bass, a very strident upper midrange and very bright. Not the same experience I had with my SMGbs years ago. The SMGbs lacked in bass at first but still sounded great everywhere else. Being well aware of the need to break in, I left the room and let them play for a few hours. Their sound changed dramatically even after just a few hours. They were listenable but not great. The next day I let them play for five hours while my wife and I went shopping. Upon returning, their sound had improved even further. The bass was starting to come in and the upper midrange harshness was gone. I let them play all day Sunday and all day Monday. Last night they sounded very much like the MG12s the dealer let me borrow. They are playing away at home as I write this at work and I hope to hear further improvements tonight. A Paradigm SE subwoofer will be arriving today and I'm looking forward to hearing how that integrates. Another thing I should note which I don't understand, is that these speakers were much more sensitive than the MG12s when first played. This is not subjective or imagined either. I use an SPL meter to protect my ears and the volume knob on the preamp was set significantly lower at the the SPL I normally listen at than with the MG12s. Throughout the last three days the knob has progressively been dialed up to maintain the same volume. They are still more sensitive than the MG12s but the change is significant and puzzling. Overall I'm happy I didn't drop another 600.00 dollars for MG12s given the performance I'm experiencing with these humble MMGs. I think I will be quite satisfied while I acquire the necessary funds for the 1.7s. Maybe the .7s will be out by then and I'll consider those also.