Magnepan Crossover Mod Approach?

Jaymark, what mods have you already done to the speakers? What is it that you don't like about the sound of the speakers? Right now I am thinking about room acoustics first before I tear into the the speakers. What is your room set up like?

To get to the crossover parts on a Maggie, all you have to do is unscrew the panel that has the connectors on it. The panel lifts out, and there they are.

That being said, I would be cautious about changing the crossover on a 1.7. I've seen the circuit and it isn't a conventional crossover, but a single pole 2.5-way series crossover. A single pole series woofer/tweeter crossover must be used because it's immune to amplitude variations caused by the falling impedance of the supertweeter segment. Replacing components with components of identical value should be OK, but altering other parameters could ruin the magic of the speaker.

Thanks for your responses, cautions, and emails. The input is very much appreciated.

There is nothing that I really dislike about the speakers. I had my boehringer outboard x-over rebuilt for my emerald physic CS 3 speakers and they improved considerably. I am pursuing a bit more top end extension and transparency; the mod can be reversed without damaging the speakers the way we are planning on doing it.

The speakers are in a large room ~ 2200 square feet They are 5 feet out from the walls and there are no near lateral walls.

Jaymark, have you considered moving up to the 3.7? It has the true ribbon tweeter, which has just the top end transparency and extension you're looking for. Or maybe a 3.6? I don't know how it compares to the 1.7, which I still haven't heard, but now that the 3.7 is out the 3.6's are going for very reasonable prices on Ebay.

Josh - I have not considered moving up to the 3.6 or 3.7; I can certainly go and listen to them at a local dealer near me and hear the latest model. Thanks for the suggestion.

Jaymark: If you haven't already looked, an excellent resource is the Planar Speaker forum over on Audio Asylum. The vast majority of postings relate to Maggies, and there are numerous threads on cross-over mods. One of the more popular was developed by "Peter Gunn" (screen name) who specializes in modifications for Maggies.

PG will send you off a copy of his crossover which allows a real DIY.
You'll end up with external crossovers, since the new caps will invariably be larger than stock.
I don't know if he's gotten around to the 1.7s yet, since he listened and wasn't impressed.

Right now, the 3.6 is a real bargain. The new model, the 3.7 is very well accepted so the 'last' model is going for bargain prices.

Room / cash permitting, this is the way I'd go....followed by a trip to Gunn for the full wooden frame. Absolutely beautiful in Sipo Mahogony.