Magnepan 1.7

Just picked up my new Magnepan 1.7s two weeks ago and have been playing them for several days. The first two things that stand out are their clarity and seamless sound from top to bottom.

While most of my music playing is classical, I really enjoy Rodrigo y Gabriela's incredible guitar playing (check out the video on http://www.rodgab.com/home.html). In the past on my Magnepan 1.6s, I really felt that the music was just a little too fast and felt the Maggies had a hard time keeping up. It was good, but not great. Now, with the 1.7s the same CD was amazingly clear from start to finish. Every instrument in its proper place and all the details came forth. The best way I can describe it is “effortless detail.”

Last Friday I sponsored an event in Frederick, Maryland at the Downtown Piano Works. At the conclusion of the evening, the owner, Theresa Shykind, played a piece on what I believe is a $135,000 grand piano in this fantastic small concert room at their store. It was breathtaking. Then on Saturday, I set up the Magnepan 1.7s and played a couple of piano recordings (Haydn and Mozart) that for a few brief moments in each piece, it sounded like the piano was in the room. It was as if I could hear, for the first time on a recording through speakers, the natural vibrations of the piano itself as the notes trailed off just like I heard the Friday before. Very impressive.

The 1.7s are a little better with rock than the 1.6s but still not comparable to most good box speakers, in my opinion. I have lived with several different Magnepans for many years and if you are into rock music (or today’s equivalent) I would recommend other speakers. Acoustic rock, and Jazz and classical music are its strengths.

Finally, to me one of the best features is that I no longer hear the treble as separate from the rest of the speaker. With my 1.6s, I could, with eyes closed, point directly at the tweeter. Now, you can now listen to the 1.7s in the near field and hear a seamless wall of sound from bass to treble!

One last update: Just received the Wyred 4 Sound Dac 1 and have been paying it non stop for about 48 hours. Wyred 4 Sound says that the DAC need 200 hours of break in before it sounds its best. Let me tell you that with every, and I mean every change in the chain of electronics feeding the Magnepans (First with MGII 35 years old, then MG 1.6s and now MG 1.7s) the Magnepans step up to another level of quality.

I get that people don't like the Magnepan sound. There are times I want to play rock music and look for another stereo in my home to do so. But when it comes to acoustic music, the Magenepans are absolutely outstanding - with the 1.7s being a significant upgrade to the 1.6s.
I just pulled the speakers out of the box on Saturday and they sounded great from the beginning (a little bright, but not objectionable). If they need break-in as suggested by Magnepan, I can't wait to hear the improvements over time. If you are a Maggie fan, this is an improvement in all areas of the 1.6. More natural sounding, clearer from top to bottom, seamless bass through treble and, to me, a little better bass (but still needs a subwoofer).

Wanted to follow up with almost two months with the Magnepan 1.7s. The break-in process has been a real education. The speakers keep improving with age with the expectation that I have or will have shortly, reached the "fully broken" stage.

One problem (a great problem) is that I replaced my DAC with the Wyred 4 DAC within a couple of weeks of getting the Magnepan 1.7s so I know that the clarity improvements are in part, due to the Wyred 4 Sound DAC.

Finished loading 315 CDs onto a Netgear 9150 500 gig harddrive which I use for all of my listening. The combination is at my highest expectations. For 35 years I have been involved with the lower end of high end audio gear and never have I been so satisfied listening to music.

What amazes me is that the Magnepan 1.7s sound incredible on all types of music. I do have them augmented with a Polk Audio DSW MicroPRO 2000, probably the weakest link in my audio gear, but amazing good for what I paid for it.

I have been running through all types of music, classical, rock, jazz, even Gregorian chant, and everything is sounding amazing. You can hear through the recording at a level I didn't think possible. Even less than steller recordings come through well.

I worked for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a couple of years and had an opportunity to hear concerts at both their locations (Baltimore and N. Bethesda, MD). I also had a number of the BSO musicians perform at fund raising events. I am very familiar with the instuments of the orchestra and the Magnepan 1.7s do an amazing job of making each instrument sound natural. The Maggies do not bring the instrument in the room as much as they take you to the hall. Sometimes this is a slightly distant perspective, but very natural sounding.

On June 19th I will be visiting a gentleman with MBL loudspeakers and MBL amp and preamp. I can't wait to hear with $50K++++ can sound like.

Mapman,

I did purchase my Magnepan 1.7s along with my previous 1.6s at The Listening Room in Pikesville. They assisted me in selling my 1.6s which helped the process along.

I was at the Strathmore Hall last week to listen to Marin Alsop and the BSO. They were playing Brahms Requiem - not my favorite or even close. However, I did come away with the same impression - the Maggies 1.7 nail the sound of the orchestra and the hall. It is not a forward sound, but more recessed as if you are listening through the microphones in the hall and the orchestra is some distance from you.

I had to laugh. I have been trying to get "depth" out of my Magnepans by inching them closer then, farther from the back wall, never getting close to the huge hall sound I read about in Stereophile and Absolute Sound magazines.

Yet, when I closed my eyes in the hall during the concert, I really didn't get a feeling of a significant amount of depth like I read about in Stereophile. I knew the orchestra was in front of me - I was in great seats in the orchestra section - but it didn't sound cavernous. Again, the Maggies seem to catch what I heard, not too laser focused, not with exaggerated depth, just natural width and depth.

Can't wait until this coming weekend. I am visiting a great guy I recently met at a BSO function in Frederick. He invited my wife and I to join him and his wife for dinner and to listen to his MBL 111E speakers and MBL electronics. I am taking my Wyred 4 Sound DAC 1 with me (he has no digital) to test it out on his system. Looking forward to hearing what a cost-is-no object systems sounds like!

He is considering the Magnepan 1.7s for his "second-system" in his California home - I guess it would be his "slumming it" system. I may bring my Maggies over to his place and see how they sound with $$$ electronics sometime over the summer.

This past weekend, I just tried some 96 kHz / 24 bit downloads from HD Tracks.com and I was blown away. The detail, depth and lack of harshness is unbelievable. You can easily hear the limitations of CDs when you switch back from the high res files. You also get a sense of unlimited dynamic range with an almost analog sound. WOW!

This is what I have always enjoyed about owning Magnepan loudspeakers. Everytime you improve the front end, whether it be the amp, preamp, DAC or, in this case, digital quality, you can easily hear the improvements through the Magnepans. The 1.7s just keep sounding better and better.

I use a Netgear 9150 linked to the Wyred 4 Sound DAC1 via Xindak cable. The clarity of the high res files will spoil you for anything else. I am going broke downloading new albums!

I have been away from this thread for a while and was quite happy to see it continues. I have had my 1.7s now for just over 9 months. The Maggies continue to sound better with each passing month. I have been backing down the subwoofer each month in very small increments as the speakers break in and bass improves.

I believe that the speakers continue to break in with changes not only to the bass but to detail. I now listen to music at lower levels than I ever did before with full enjoyment due to the tremendous detail provided by the speakers at low listening levels. It has opened up many more hours of listening time without disturbing wife and remaining son who is off to college this year.

Very jealous of Clavil with the dCS Puccini + Clock and Jeff Rowland amps. Even with my lowly but beautifully made BADA amp and preamp I get absolutely amazing sound and can't imagine how good the speakers would sound with such electronics.

I like the Wyred 4 Sound DAC so much I am considering purchasing their STI-1000 (I do crank it up from time to time). Everything I read about their sound characteristics seems to be a good match for the Maggies. Anyone use Wyred 4 sound integrated amps with the Maggies?