Magnepan 1.7 too bright, HELP

as of this time I am diagnosing the caps in the MG 1.7 crossover as cheap and causing glare on certain CD's (groups like the Cranberrys and Sheryl Crowe's Globe sessions CD come to mind). So musing on how to replace what looks like Axons and some caps pulled out of a refrigerator with a better alternative. Not sure what others definition of glare is, but mine is that certain upper register harmonics seem to create an exagerated irritating resonance(perhaps akin to why a soprano can shatter wine glasses...). Now considering the Gold Obbligatos, Clarity Cap ESA, but the trick is fitting 116.8uf of capacitance into a 60x100mm space thats only 35mm deep... i suspect a bulge in the back of the speaker cloth is unavoidable.

As much as I love Maggies, it continues to surprise me how they continue to nickle and dime their speakers. I know they want to hit price points, but good grief. It seems like they could be so much better with just a few extra bucks. Well, I'm glad they do what they do, but really. Most of us would not mind throwing another hundred bucks or so at good caps and decent jumpers. Of course, if the 1.7 is too good, who buys the 3.7. And if the 3.7 is too good, who buys the 20.7?

Maggies by nature are on the bright side of the spectrum. The tweeter is a midroscope that will reveal all before it.
A couple of tweeks may help however changing components appears to be the issue.
I agree about using a sub to even out the freqencies will reduce the brightness.
Not all panel speakers are bright. Apogee, Soundlab and Analysis are not.
if it were me a CJ amp and a tubed DAC or CDP would be the way to go.
Maggies just sound more natural with components that are rich or warm in character. That tweeter will never sound better.

Agreed, my CJ MF 2300A with a Mapletree 2A SE preamp sounds very natural and musical, never bright or fatiguing. System matching is very important as is fitting a system to one's own listening preferences.

A good class D power amp of same or higher power would probably fix the problem.

A cheaper thing to try beforehand might be to swap in a pair of inexpensive MIT Terminator ICs for the Monsters and see if that helps. If not, probably still a good investment down the road.

Has anyone tried Sound Anchor stands on the 1.7's or similar? Any difference in overall sound?

solution: sell me your speakers for a great price!
check the date of build on your speakers. i was told by a dealer that there were problems with his original 2011 1.7 demos, but no problems with subsequent sales w/newer panels. i imagine he sold the demos off slightly cheaper & replaced them with ones of 6/2011 vintage. he didn't know if others were lemons but he wasn't happy with his demo-obviously, his customers still ordered 1.7's. hmmm-maybe our ears aren't really that well trained as we think when hearing such well-reviewed/well thought of speakers??? most surprising to me was deciding not to return the demos to magnepan with his complaints?

by the way after hearing the 1.7's twice i longed for my just sold IIIa's. also, i too find the 1.7's bright. owners can cap the highs down w/provided resistors, tho it seems like you're defeating the exquisite highs maggies are known to reproduce. personally, i've decided i'm buying 3.7's.

I have Maggie 1.7 and Cary tube amp. Definitely sounds too bright. Cheapest solution is to buy Mills resistors at parts express. I bought 0.5,1,2 ohm values which gave me ability to fine tune from 0.5 to 3.5 in half ohm incremental steps. To my taste(and my system)2ohm worked the best. transparency and details retained while tweeter was tamed to perfection giving integral nice tubey sound. Cost 4$ per resistor saves thousands instead of changing DACS, preamps and tubes. Highly recommended! And yes Maggies need 4 tubes per channel to sound good.

I recently purchased a pair of 1.7s (new). I play them in a wood paneled room (my office) with oxygen free (non-audiophile $.50/ft) speaker wire. Power is provided by a piece of junk (Old Yamaha AVR rated by the manufacturer at 85/channel into 8 ohms probably about 100 into 4 ohms).  And I run them without resisters.  They do not sound bright. I do not play loud, though and am planning to upgrade the power source (possibly with tubes).

Here is my advice. Make sure the speakers are angled so that the woofer is a little closer to you than the tweeter. Magnepan recommends that the tweeter be on the inside (speaker with serial number ending in ’1’ is the right speaker). I find this is best if you are able listen from near the ’sweet spot’ If you listen at higher volumes, by all means make sure you have enough power, and consider tubes as they tend to be ’warmer’.