Maggie 1.7i's lack detail. Ideas?

I have the 1.6’s modified by "Peter Gunn" into Magnestands and they are great!

I generally drive them with Parasound Halo JC-1 monoblocks, or the Halo A21 - which provide the high power, current and damping factor the Maggies need to sound their best.

As other’s have noted... Magnepan will often show them driven with Bryston amps, and I think I’ve seen them use Parasound amps as well. The Manufacturer will always be the best guide for the proper amp to use with their speakers for obvious reasons.

If I were you... I’d likely get the Parasound Halo A21+ to drive them - you will be very pleased. You can try one out from Audio Advisor and return it if you don’t like it... but... you will. Or, if you want to save a some bucks you will find a used A21 or A21+ for less on either AGon, or USAudiomart.  I might even be willing to part with one of mine - I've got 3 A21's - and an extra pair of JC-1's - all sound great with my Maggies. I'm a real fan... but... can't use them all.

Or... if you want a great integreated preamp / amp combo, the Hegel amps have much the same high current, high damping factor specs to drive the Maggies well, also. I also have the Hegel H590 integrated, which not only has preamp and amp, but also a great DAC - the H390 and H590 are true bargains and you eliminate the interconnect cables. Again great sound with Maggies.

But... you... should be considering something like those with at least 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms / 400 watts per channel into 4 ohms - more is better with Maggies.

Marantz typically has a bit warmer sound - not likely a good match.

I also have the Parasound Halo JC-3 preamp, which is great with the Halo amps.

And... I use Bryston BDP-3 digital player / streamer and Bryston BDA-3 Dac, as well as, the Schitt Yggdrasill R2R Dac which provide ultimate clarity and dynamics for the Maggies. I would always use a AES/XLR, or BNC, interconnect, or even a coaxial cable, between the my DAC and preamp - provides much greater clarity and dynamics than other options.

But... you will want to make sure you have sufficient current and damping factor to control the Maggie’s mids and bass - to achieve greatest clarity and dynamics in the mids and bass.

Prolly not what you want to hear - "go spend some more money" - but, unfortunately you will have to do that to achieve what you want from your 1.7’s.

Here are some links to consider with some good info...

https://www.magnestand.com/ (lot of good information about Maggies here).

https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PAHA21P&variation=SIL

Quit high end audio.

Enjoy the music.

Stereo spread is over rated for I think it discombobulates the sound to some degree.  Try listening with tweeters 4 feet apart and tow slightly inside of straight toward you.  The purpose is to get the ambient field focused.  You get richer timbre and hall sound and less need for a sweet spot;  more like live music at 10 to 14 feet away.  One holistic sound.

@jros , probably a combination of all those factors especially the mushrooms.

The speakers should be three feet off the wall and the wall behind them needs to be completely deadened. I would use acoustic tile. 

Maggies do best with powerful class A amps. 200 watts/ channel RMS into 4 ohms is the real minimum. The 3.7i's are a much better speaker and one of the best values in a high performance speaker out there. For the best bass below 100 Hz you still need a subwoofer but otherwise they are brilliant. It is the real ribbon tweeter that makes the difference. It is arguably the best tweeter made.  It you want detail almost at the level of and ESL the 3.7i is the way to go.

I have a B&K EX-442 Sonata (it's "442", not "440", btw) running from a Parasound P5 preamp into a pair of Maggie MMGs (precursor to the LRS).  My system sounds outstanding (I run CDs through either a Denon DVD-2900 or OPPO BDP-95) both connected via RCAs.

I can tell you that as long as the 442 is functioning as it should, your issue is not with it (or likely with the Maggies either, for that matter).  While more is better, that amp should have plenty of good, clean power and high current for those speakers, IMO.