magneplanar and sanders

They are both great speakers. The 20.1's need a lot of room to breath - I had them in a 14x19 room (11' high) and that was too small. Also, they need quite a bit of amplification. If you buy them, I would consider the Sanders amp, as well as others (Classe Omega, VTL, Pass). Personally, for listening pleasure, I would like prefer the Sanders, as a more exciting speaker. However - when I listened to them last (3 years ago) they had a fairly narrow sweet spot, so I don't think they are the best for group listening. That may have changed by now, but it's definitely something to consider.

Let us know your impressions after you do your listening.

Peter

Your idea of a Win-Win situation is absolutely right.

You have two solid great companies with superb products and back-up.

The world is your oyster. Keep us posted on your decision.

Hey Peter, if that was the time we heard them at the show, they were in a room not much larger than your room. At the two shows I've heard his room at he used an asymmetrical corner setup to offset having to utilize those horrible little hotel rooms at the shows. I agree, both times I've heard it his room always sounds very enjoyable and engaging. I also agree on the narrow sweet spot, but wonder how much of that was in the limitation of the corner setup, and if that might be widened in a larger room with a more traditional placement. I'd have to say that even outside the sweet spot the music was quite enjoyable, even without the cohesive soundstaging from being offset to one side or too far back. I've also heard Peter's 20.1's throughout his evolution with them, which included multiple choices of bi-amping, Mye stands, and external crossovers. Peter could certainly speak to the benefits and pitfalls of all of that, but ultimately they were very demanding speakers and sounded best with lots of power. OTOH, Sanders has only had one of his amps running each speaker the two times I've heard them and they sounded outstanding with lots of various source material. It would occur to me that they didn't require quite so much as Peter needed to throw the Maggies' way. Either way, you are right, it is a win-win situation - both sound outstanding. The Maggie's certainly seem quite a bit larger though (wider, not taller), and definitely need space to breath.

Thank you for your response. My listening room is 17x23 but because of the door and window arrangements I would have to put the new speakers along the 17' wall.
My amp is an old Mark Levinson that still sounds pretty good to me. R. Sanders told me that if I purchase the Maggies his amp would sound just fine at the bottom with the Levinson on the top. I'm guessing that since Sanders speakers come with their own built in woofer amp I could use my Levinson on the top and not have to purchase any amp at all.
This is a nice idea for me because that would leave a little room in my budget to purchase a decent preamp and cables.

I would agree that the Maggies likely need more accutriments than the Sanders. Everything I did helped: biamping, a high quality external crossover, Mye stands - so include all that in your budget if you want to feel you're getting the most out of these speakers. And it is also true that I haven't heard the Sanders speakers in a larger room, so I don't know how they soundstage under such conditions.