I had IIIa's for almost ten years and still think they are great. Also, an excellent value even at their new price. Believe it or not I got the best sound out of them with a pair of 15 watt push pull tube amps.Better than with the mighty 300 watt Adcom 565 mono's! To release their full magic you really need to have them 5 or more feet from the wall, but the distance from the sides is not too critical. I sold mine to regain the living room. I would not buy a used pair because all Maggies suffer from the same design flaw: the voice coil will delaminate from the mylar panel and Magnepan will not do a thing for you if they are out of warranty. My tweeters never gave me any problems, but I was careful not to expose them to moving air like from open windows, etc.
