Hello bwang29,
I think mijostyn gave a very good summary of the .7s overall performance characteristics. I’ve never owned the .7s but I’ve listened to them, know they’re very good and are an extreme bargain for their price. I’ve also owned various models of slightly larger Magnepan panels in my system over the past 30 yrs, so I’m fairly familiar with their general strengths and weaknesses.
It seems like you’ve already discovered their many midrange, treble and stereo imaging strengths but are just beginning to experience their main weaknesses of poor bass impact and poor bass dynamics performance. I’ve noticed over the years, on various audio forums, that many Magnepan owners are willing to accept or justify this overall poor bass performance by convincing themselves that it’s actually a matter of preferring bass quality over bass quantity or as an unfortunate but required compromise, or cost of entry, to the Magnepan/planar-magnetic world of very high quality midrange, treble and stereo imaging performance.
Apparently just like you, however, I’m not willing to accept, justify, exchange, compromise or sacrifice the benefits of high quality bass impact and bass dynamics performance for the benefits of high quality midrange, treble and stereo imaging performance. Call me crazy, but I prefer to enjoy music and HT surround sound audio sources reproduced in a manner that is as full range and high quality as possible.
Based on my 40+ years experience of building home audio systems, I've found that the high quality reproduction of the bottom 2 octaves, from about 16 to 32 Hz, is what distinguishes a decent hi-fi system from one that is felt as well as heard, is so visceral, dynamic and palpable, that one perceives the musicians as realistically playing in the room or perceives being very realistically transported to the musical venue itself with a good seat.
This has consistently been my goal, I believe it’s your goal and I’ve only been able to achieve it successfully thus far by incorporating independently and strategically positioned subs in my room. I currently utilize the Audio Kinesis 4-sub complete kit, that mijostyn suggested, which relies upon positioning the 4 moderately sized subs in a distributed bass array (DBA) configuration in the room.
This has provided near state of the art bass performance and seamless integration with my current and previous models of Magnepan panels in my room. I strongly believe this A K Swarm bass system would be an ideal solution for you and your .7s, here’s a link to a very accurate review of it:
https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/audiokinesis-swarm-subwoofer-system/ I don’t know, however, how well the $3,200 Swarm system fits your budget. If you prefer a less expensive but still good solution for better bass at a single designated listening seat, I could describe how to utilize, properly position and configure a pair of good quality subs to accomplish this.
Let me know,
Tim
