Upgrade to Maggi 3.7i or Tekton Moab?

Do you want more impact from acoustic live-to-2 channel ensembles (whether classical, folk or jazz) or EDM? It makes a big difference. Maggie 3.7is have plenty of "slam" for the former category, but not enough for the latter. Classic rock sounds great on them too, up to a point. Is that point enough for you?

@crusty Great questions. I will answer with a couple examples rather than try to describe. I have on my favorites these:

These sound great..
* classical (mostly Bach ranging from his organ works to orchestral and passions) - all these sound fabulous on my current setup
* piano jazz (e.g. Vince Guaraldi, Bill Evans) - sounds equally stellar

These I feel I need more.. (note this is with the sub engaged. The sub does add depth but does not satisfy the overall dynamics I am looking for)
* electronic/rock - Mutemath is a good example of this (they are hard to categorize so forgive me). Not enough live feel and kick here. Current setup does a 7/10 job.
* Electronic, e.g. Daft Punk Random Access Memories album. I’d say I am 7/10 on this one. 1.7’s do not handle the dynamics and Steely Dan type of funk well, at least not in my venue.
* Folk rock such as Delta by Mumford and Sons. Dynamics are not represented well here either, probably 6/10 rating.
* Biggest disappointment of it all comes with really dynamic soundtracks, such as Interstellar (Hans Zimmer) - I would give this 5/10 rating. There are several tracks on there with a very large dynamic range. No Time for Caution is a great example. This track I want to feel. If you have heard it you will know what I mean. It’s very emotional, very moving, it needs to be felt down deep and it needs to shock you. The feeling I get from the 1.7i’s on this track is that I have a compressor/limiter in the signal path :(. When the crescendo comes, I feel "is that it?".  I also know that I am at the upper limit of excursion on this track when it hits the peak, so there is a raw listening level issue as well.  I get it that this soundtrack has a ton of low-end and that is def not the specialty of planars. That is probably a large part of it

I had a similar dilemma recently. I ended up going from Magnepan 1.7s to 3.7is. ... I can tell you that the 3.7is are a big step up from the 1.7 - that true ribbon tweeter is sweet! The soundstage is bigger and deeper too.

@thewetdog59 thank you. Hearing good things on both of my options here. Also agree with @gormdane that I should audition, however I do not know how I would be able to pull this off. Would love too though, specially in my own home. That would definitely be ideal.

I have had Moabs for a couple of months now. Sold my 3.7i shortly after getting the Moabs.  Don't miss the Magnepans at all. The Moabs are special.

I also have Eminent Technology LFT8b, which I feel are the equal or better than the Magnepan 3.7i. So if you want to consider a less expensive option, I would strongly recommend the Eminent Technology over the Magnepan 3.7i.

@jlarryk thanks. If planar is the answer, categorically, I will be sure to check out ETs.  The fact that you don't miss the 3.7is now that you have Moabs is very interesting.  Did you not sense the loss of any soundstage, transparency, cohesion across frequencies?  What types of music do you and did you listen to in both, if you don't mind me asking?

I listen to all kinds of music. Don’t get me wrong the Magnepans are wonderful. The Moabs are way more dynamic. The bass is the best I have had. The high efficiency of the Moabs, affords the use of some very special lower power amplifiers that simply did not work with the Magnepans. Soundstage, imaging and dynamics on the Moabs is first rate

If you want slam-me-in-the-chest bass like you used to hear at hard-rock band concerts, you need two stacks of 24" woofers about 30 feet high.

Other than that, the Maggies are transparent, so garbage in, garbage out. I suppose you can add a few Hartley 24" woofers if you want that old-day BANG you are seeking.

Funny, I wonder where everyone making box speakers today got the idea for "tall" speakers?  It couldn't be from Jim Winey, right?

Of course not.  Before Magnepan, people listened to Klipschorns, I think.

Enjoy!