Magnepan durability

they are both great , look for a used pair of TREO, but any toddler can topple anything.....

I owned a pair of Tympany IVs when my kinds were 0 to 5 years old. These were the old-style 3 panel room divider speakers which I literally used as room dividers between my dining room and living room. They actually sounded great in this location with about 14 feet behind them and playing into a room that was 15' x 20' with a two story high cathedral ceiling. 

I never had a problem with the kids knocking them over. To be honest, I never even thought about it as a possibility. I guess I got lucky. 

I've owned three sets of Magnepans over the years, starting with MG-1s. The last pair I had were 3.6Rs.

I've had a couple of reliability issues, which I don't really fault Magnepan. When I had the MG-1s, I had a cat that used to love to climb them. I had one panel eventually go bad when the cat's claws eventually broke one of the wires in the membrane. This was repaired fairly inexpensively.

I used to really crank the Tympani IVs (with a Levinson ML-3 amp) and I blew the ribbon tweeter twice over about six years. Again, this was easy and relatively inexpensive to replace. Magnepan just shipped me a new ribbon and it was easy to replace with a few screws and soldering two wires. This was over 30 years ago, and I think the ribbons are a bit more robust now. I never had an issue with the 3.6Rs even though I would occasionally plan them pretty loud. 

There’s no way I’d put Maggie’s in a room with a toddler. The good thing is if they are toppled, they are not heavy. I put my now departed Snell E3’s in the basement until my son was 5 and they are far more stable than Magnepan planars. 

i recently purchased a pair of mmgis slightly used and noticed as i ran my hand up and down the backside cloth of both speakers....i came across a sharp /tack/staple  like  object standing proud of the baffle in 2 or 3 areas..it will come thru or against the fabric as its depressed...anyone know if this is normal ?

Maggie's are very revealing and may be more position dependent . As far as durability, never a problem with our own kids.....they learned from a young age. However when the neighbor child visited one day, over one went and it became a trampoline on the backside.

My dear wife thought I would not notice the slight buzzing. But to make a long story short, Magnepan replanarized it, changed out the Mylar, tuned up and it came back as good as new at a very reasonable repair cost (for our neighbor). I would say they're bulletproof as have owned 3 pairs over the years and would still have them except for WAF.

Maggie's are very revealing and may be more position dependent . As far as durability, never a problem with our own kids.....they learned from a young age. However when the neighbor child visited one day, over one went and it became a trampoline on the backside.

My dear wife thought I would not notice the slight buzzing. But to make a long story short, Magnepan replanarized it, changed out the Mylar, tuned up and it came back as good as new at a very reasonable repair cost (for our neighbor). I would say they're bulletproof as have owned 3 pairs over the years and would still have them except for WAF.

Also, with Maggies, definitely be sure they cannot be knocked over in that they have some weight and there might be potential to injure a playful toddler if that occurs, which is even worse than any potential equipment damage that might also occur.

FWIW I had Maggies with a toddler in the house, however, they were never in the same room together unattended.

If you like the Vandy's, I'd stay put with newer, bigger better ones.

Magnepans can be toppled easily as mentioned plus are likley to be damaged if that occurs. Plus I would expect a different sound with Maggies, so be sure that is what you want if you switch.

"I'm finally going to be allowed by my better half to replace my Vandersteen 1C speakers"

You have bigger issues than what speakers to buy.....

Shakey

Thank you both for the responses.
Mt10425, the thought of that has only caused me minor stress. My solution is to add a Vandersteen 2wq sub and that would allow me to keep my current moniker.

Well, if you choose the 2CE, you won't have to change your moniker to Magnastephen. ;)