Maggie 30.7 Demo

Last night I attended a demo by a dealer of the Magneplanar 30.7. It was at a local community center. I was excited at the idea of this venue because of the well known Maggies need of the of a large room in order to "breathe". What a disappointment.  As I entered the room several things struck me as odd. There were no chairs set up to serve as places to listen to the speakers. In fact there were several people sitting on the floor in what would have been the "sweet spot". The owner of the store did a brief welcome and said that Wendell Diller was there and would be happy to answer any questions. Instead of Mr. Diller doing just that they started up more music. I thought they were going to pause and let Mr. Diller do his thing but that never happened while I was there. Back to the room and demo. Perfect sized room. Awful acoustics. Lack of a decent attempt at doing something to improve the sound. A few artificial potted trees along the back wall just didn't make it. I would have thought that a full service audio dealer could have come up with something. The speakers filled the space but the problem was the lack of any low bass and the harshness of the top end. The mids were ok but the mess made by the top and bottom wouldn't let you listen to them. I am not familiar with the sound of the electronics used. It was a well respected company. I just have never auditioned any of their gear. I am pretty sure though that if they were responsible for what I was hearing they would not have been around for as long as they have. I have owned several Magnapans over the years and are very familiar with their sound. What I was hearing last night was not an example of that sound. It was an example of a poorly executed demo. I have attended a number of shows and demos over the last 40 years, all types of rooms, this was one of the worst. I was so looking forward to it.