Magnepan 1.7

>It also seemed to me that they were eating up the Mcintosh mc275 amps.

The speakers were woefully underpowered. Maggies will play loud, but they're only 83 dB efficient. They also rarely sound their best in a dealer showroom, since as I'm sure you know having owned the Apogees and Eminents, they require careful placement and have different acoustical requirements than dynamic speakers. That's not to say that they're the speaker for you -- I haven't heard them yet myself -- but to point out that the people who have praised their bang for the buck probably aren't lying! Though I have heard some complaints from people who say they don't like them as much as the 1.6's.

Just wanted to add that Wendell Diller recommends trying the 1.7's both tweeter in and out. About 2/3 of the time it works better one way, 1/3 the other, but I don't remember at this point which is the one that's more likely to work :-) :-| Anyway, in my experience (which isn't with the 1.7's) it depends on both the model and the room. (The reason it varies from model-to-model is that the crossover lobe varies depending on the driver position and components.)

I don't know about the Wyred integrates, but several people use their power amps with the Maggies with good results.

BTW, I've noticed the same improvement in detail during Maggie break-in, it seems par for the course.