New Magnaplanar 1.7 delaminating and buzzing.

if these are new speakers, call your dealer from whom you bought them, or magnepan customer service

I have, it's been 6 weeks and one was shipped for repair and lost in transit in New York and the other panel unglued from the frame just sitting and waiting for it's mate to be repaired, in a heated house. I bought them brand new in January and the diaphragms just started buzzing and shrinking back. This is unacceptable for  a premium set of loudspeakers costing $3200.00. They sounded  amazing for a month though! 

Really sorry to hear about your experience. It must be really frustrating. Appearenty there was a manufacturing problem… you probably got consecutively produced speakers.

It is a real shame your dealer just didn’t give you a replacement the moment he heard about this. Mine would have given me his demo pair until I received my repaired unit.

Call Magnepan and ask about your repair and what you should do with the other one. I'm not sure how the new design can buzz but see if you can get them to clarify the issue. 

Thanks for the good advice guys - as far as sound performance and clarity, I am more than amazed at these 1.7’s. They may not be the best deal or the best in impedance characteristics but everything I audition on them just reveals so much unstrained detail. My amp never falters and I couldn’t use near their volume potential in my 13 x 17 room. The problem is that the vertical adhesive strip on the woofer side of the front diaphragm just came unglued and the vibrating panel isn’t held taunt to the frame. Bad epoxy or newby oversight - something is compromised here. What a shame because there’s a lot of steps needed to correct this and so many formerly conscientious producers of everything have stopped giving a crap anymore - if you know what I mean.

It sounds like both panels need to go back to Magnepan. 

@barmeg

if you are on the west coast - i realize you may well not be - i have my set of 1.7i’s that i will likely sell in the not-too-distant future... i am just making absolutely sure my 3.7i’s are keepers (and i am becoming more certain each day that they are...)

pm me for details if you are interested and are close enough to pick up, i don’t want to ship them, will sell to someone nearby when time comes - they are in perfect condition, grey/cherry, no issues whatsoever, with magna risers

just have the seller give you your money back on the problematic set you have, trying to repair etc etc... it is too bad magnepan is having these issues now...

You're absolutely  right russ69. When the first panel was picked up by the seller,  the other panel looked and worked fine. Then in the last month just sitting there, the ribbon diaphram came unglued and now it has to be shipped back. The problem is the dealer and the  manufacturer are  incompetent . It took 1 month just to get the seller to organize  a pickup and that was on May 21st. Now that panel is stalled in New York and I'm being told to be patient. And now the other panel has to be shipped out separately as well. This reminds me of George Clooney in " The Perfect Storm".

My Maggie dealer tells me  all Magnepans are on back order.  This a legit company and I have no doubt they will make things right, in time.  Seems they are having parts not being shipped on time and of course, labor problems like everyone else.

It seems to me that this broken delaminating pair of 1.7s were bought used, and this reminds me that sometimes when this stuff happens buying used gear can be pretty risky and be a real headache.  Magnepan will hopefully honor the warranty if it still applies to the used speaker owner.

Troidelover1499  -  why are you saying this? They are brand spanking new speakers and you are talking about the risks of buying used. Read first, process, then comment.

"Seller" was the vendor likely where the confusion arose.

Maybe Troidelover1499 said that because the 1.7s haven’t been made for a few years. As a new poster, you may not get much sympathy for calling out someone trying to help! I think I bought mine in 2011 for under CAD2000. How did you buy them new? Are you sure you don’t mean 1.7i ???

Hi ddd1,  as a NEW poster, as if that should make a difference, I meant no disrespect to 1499 but it was  plainly stated that they were brand new 1.7's. I didn't say 1.7 S - I said new 1.7. Of course they are are 1.7i's because they are brand new and  that's why in Canada they cost $3200.00 plus 13% tax. You assumed I stated 1.7s speakers. I was merely   inquiring as to anyone  else experiencing the quasi ribbon diaphragms  ungluing on new brand new speakers.

You said 1.7 in your OP and I referred to them as 1.7s (ie. plural), just to eliminate any confusion.

I had original 1.7s (plural of 1.7) and about 1 month before the warranty expired, I noticed something not right. I only noticed it with one song in my whole collection but once I noticed it, I looked a bit closer and one speaker either had delamination or shipping damage (barely visible) that I didn’t notice until the warranty was almost over. I bought them from Audio Excellence, an authorized dealer, and was able to have them replaced with a brand new pair but I had to pay one-way shipping costs to have Audio Excellence send them down to the USA for assessment. So I was only out a couple hundred dollars for the privilege of using them for almost a year. I never did hear back about what the problem was.

I bought mine from Stereo Passion in Ottawa Ontario  Canada.  They arrived with brand new bagging, Styrofoam  boarding, inner cardboard  box, and an outer cardboard  box - brand new from the factory in Minnesota. There is no way after so many years of expertise  that an inferior glue should of been  used  and now I have to wait months . I'm  naturally an optimist  but I'm dealing with the trades and everywhere  I turn  people are dropping the ball and could care less. Just saying.

Only six month old and those type of problems?  Magnepan should step up and replace both, no questions asked.   Sounds like a problem with the adhesives used.

    Sorry for being off topic, but I had a planer driver failure in my Audeeze headphones. I purchased them as a demo from Parts Express in Canada. So even as a demo they carried the full warranty as I had purchased them from an authorized dealer. I contacted Audeeze which happens to be in California where I live. They replaced BOTH drivers with updated new drivers and replaced my leather free earmuffs. All I needed was 1 new driver. They went above and beyond and now have a customer for life.  I’m sorry for your headache and I hope you get a satisfactory resolution. We’re all on this journey together and we can support each other and strive for a good outcome. I hope this public outcry comes to their attention and they do what’s right. Regards , Mike B.  

Audeze. Pronounced like "odyssey", hence the name. How can you own them and not know how to spell the brand name?

Mike, You are not the only one I have heard that from regarding Audeze.   Some companies really do go above and beyond.  Grado, excellent service, Zesto ....unbelievable service.    

I wish the OP luck,  do manufacturers realize the damage control they could avoid by just taking care of customers?   Magnepans aren't my thing, but after reading this story I would tell friends or family to avoid Magnepans .   Honestly they really are a niche speaker,   I get that they have a unique presentation but there are so many great speaker companies out there fighting for your $$$$   

Honestly they really are a niche speaker,

The "niche" being people who want their music to sound like...you know....music.

That's true  oddiofyl, a lot of great speakers but Maggies don't have a voice coil glued to the center of the speaker cone impeding  it's duplication  of the complex musical waveforms. The  ribbon is more free to shape itself to the soundwave  that's being generated. I use a subwoofer sometimes to beef up the lowest register but the 1.7I'S  are so transparent in the midrange and treble regions that the  recordings sound different than  I remember. Even the best Lossy formats sound drab compared back to back with the same CD recording. No other loudspeaker I've owned has so immediately  pointed out the lack  of detail from CD (1411kb/sec) to, say, standard Spotify (160 / 320 kb/sec). Pink Floyd "Wish You Were Here" comes alive on CD compared to "Remastered" Spotify or iTunes. These guys are all about data bandwidth.To my humble ears, no paper mache or  composite  cone that's nailed down in the middle is free to dance freely in producing all the subtle sonic gestures. 

Magnepans are fine sounding speakers, but don't confuse a 50 foot paperclip, glued to a shower curtain, placed in front of some magnets to be 21st century engineering. Especially when they require the power of a super nova.

Any company can have a bad run of parts, a batch of adhesives that don't meet specs, etc.  One of the best motherboards I ever used was an ASUS, but after a year it starting having mystery problems.  Turned out for a period of a few months of production, all the certain value outsourced capacitors were bad and would "pop" over time. 

ASUS is still in business and makes great motherboards. 

Look at Honda and others with great engineering. Even they were bitten by the airbag issue from another manufacturer and had massive recalls.

I'm afraid it is all just a part of any products that are manufactured, no matter how well engineered, no matter how well built, there can be and always will *sometimes* be issues.

Jana Dagdagan did a video a few weeks ago (on John Darko's YT channel) at Magnepan's factory showing how the LRS+ were made.  Everyone there seemed to genuinely be interested in making a quality product and were proud for doing so. 

😂😂😂koestner! 

@fsonicsmith , I guess I’m just a dumb ass. But when you’ve had as many concussions as I have, and you take all the meds that I must, you just try to be nice to people. God Bless my friend. 

Koestner, you don't know anything - for your information it's a 130' paperclip and it's not a shower curtain Mr.Smarty Pants, it's Saran Wrap. And we don't buy Chevy Novas here in Canada, we buy Nissan Pulsars - much more powerful. The only thing clearer sounding is voice to head technology but it's proprietary and controlled by the Military  Industrial Complex. Mic drop!

It was my oversight to think the pair was purchased used. I saw references to the seller picking them up and so on so I kind of jumped to the conclusion. Anyhow, hope it all gets fixed by Magnepan and the dealer.  Several friends of mine have had Magnepans and every time I heard them I have been quite impressed at how wonderful the sound is.  They definitely make a big impression in a living room though.

Barmeg, thanks for taking my joke in good stride. As a past owner of 1.7 and 20.1 models, I do know about their wonderful sound. I hope you get the issue resolved quickly. Magnepan should be jumping through fire to fix your speakers.