I've listened to both at my local dealer. I have sufficient space for either one in my living room (16x21). If you have some ideas/a clear opinion on which one to purchase I would very much appreciate hearing from you..thanks.
Really the question Netwon is why just those two? Have you listened to many others in the price range, have you visted all the dealers in your area?
Both of these speakers have different attributes.
The Maggies are clearer with a fantastic ribbon tweeter, howerver a large panel throws a very large image that many people find too large to be believable, also panels suffer from the ability to play loud as well as having truly fleshed out bass, they are also difficult to drive and very inefficient.
The Vandys are a polarizing speaker, they do not have the treble clarity of the Maggies, many people like them for their ease of listenablity and musicality, They are inefficient, and do not have very deep bass compared to others in their price range, the image is also a little low for some people and some rooms.
There are many Vandy fans on these posts who believe they are the only speakers to purchase same thing with the Tekton guys or planer guys, in reality there are many good choices.
We love the Legacy Signature which use a Heil AMT folded ribbon tweeter and midrange so the top end is similar to the Maggies, with a warm midrange like the Vandys, they are very easy to drive and have very deep bass and they are $7k so similar in price, the only caveat is they are hard to find.
The Golden Ear Reference at $8.5k are very easy to drive, have very deep bass, (self amplified subs) and are getting a lot of press for their wonderful sound. Again AMT driver for the treble. so good detail. Their look is big black and monolithic so you may not love their look.
.If you are having difficutly choosing then in reality you are not convinced in either model as you like attributes of each or your decision would be easy.
Good luck and if you are wed to this dealer keep on listening or be bold and go see if you can find another set of loudspeakers that combines the virtues of what you like about both of these products.
call me a fanboy but i actually own one of the best ribbon tweeters ever built - apogee stage and the vandersteen 7 which while not identical has the CT as in carbon tweeter in the Treo
typical dealer running competing product down as polarizing vs selling..well what they sell...and peddling a myth
what is cool is your dealer has the maggie and the steen it seems ( there are more than a few in the country who do) so leap in
but yes the home demo is easy and you should go that route if at all possible
Both great choices. I have owned older Maggies and Apogee's as well. I owned the Treo's while I waited to save the money to upgrade last year. I went with the Quatro's as they took the Treo to another level with the tunable bass. I auditioned nearly all the speakers from 45k down and for my ears, system and house the Vandersteen's just gave me everything I wanted. I think tonality it so great with them and they were very easy to fit into the room as they go right in the corners of the room. My wife loves where they are positioned, but I do also. It's nice not having the speakers out into the room too much. I don't get suck out in the middle of the sound stage or anything like that. I'm running all Ayre gear on them.
As for Maggies, their mids can be glorious. There is something special to be said bout properly set up panels like Maggies. They just won't have the lower octave in the way the Treo or Quatro will have.
What are you going to run the system with? If you can't get them into your house (I"m sure you can), just bring in your amp and pre to your store and listen for a few hours with your favorite pieces. Rather than listening so critically this time, just listen and see which one make your body move. Which one will make you want to hum along or tap your toes or....Both are always considered top value speakers that punch well beyond their price ranges. As you can see, Maggie and VAndy's name keep coming up by those of us who own them as we do love them.
I personally got the Treo and now the Quatro's as I wanted a true full range speaker that would easily fit into my room as well as the system that I already had put together. You can't go wrong with either as long as your equipment will work with them and I'm sure your dealer and you have already gone over that. Congrats on two great finalists. You can't go wrong with either.
As the buyer of ctsooner's Treo's, and a Vandy fanboy, I feel ct's post spot on. If I had more room Maggie's would be a speaker I would consider, but you would still need the services of a good sub-like the Vandy 2w/q, to get the full measure of sound reproduction.
So much of this is dependent upon your hearing/needs/desires, so take all our comments with a grain of salt. Bob
"AND the choice might depend on the type of music..."
I think the choice also depends on the amplifiers feeding the speakers. Based on my limited experience, I think you need a twice as good of an amplifier to make a Magnepan sound like a comparably sized/priced Vandersteen.
Since you’re asking for clear opinions, I think the Vandersteen is a much more versatile option. Plus, it seems to me that Maggie advocates present their love with conditions - they need a certain stand, the caps / crosssovers should be tweaked, they need a fast subwoofer, they need a lot of power, etc. Just my opinion.
How far out from the front wall can you place the Maggies? I have the 3.7i's, and my brother owns the Treos (non CT). If you can't get the Maggies at least 5 feet from the front wall, I'd go with the Vandersteens. Also, what type of music do you listen to? The Maggies are not ideal for rock. Integrating subs is also very difficult.
Rock was one of the reasons I got rid of the Maggies quickly years ago. I hear them a lot at friends houses etc... and I still like a lot of rock also. Vocals they are cool, but yea, the Vandersteen's really are versatile
newton, though 5ft. or more is optimum for planars (all, not just Maggies), 4ft. can be acceptable if you treat the wall behind the speakers with either absorption or diffusion. Absorption for a smaller, more "direct" sound, diffusion for a bigger, more expansive one.
True dat. I personally like diffusion more than absorption in so many instances. I think all too often folks make their rooms deader than they should be. All to often diffusion will keep the room alive while stopping any problems you may have. I personally love 4-5 foot high plants (I use nice silk ones). There are plenty of ways to do this.
That said, this is one of the reason's I'm loving the Vandersteen's as they are so easy to place out of the way and you get a huge soundstage when that's what is recorded. You end up using a possibly room problem for helping rather than hurting. JMHO. Many ways to skin the cat.
Can't speak for those models but I much prefer Vandersteen's entry-level 1Cis to the Magnepan 1.7i. To my ears, the Vandys have better detail, tone, bass depth, note decay and a wider sweet spot. They also require less volume and power to wake up.
The 1.7s had a slightly deeper soundstage and faster mid-bass.
On a more minor note, I find it much easier to get in contact with Vandersteen than Magnepan if questions arise.
I like both of these manufacturers. But, if positioning is a problem, the Vandy's are the way to go. Even with the 1Ci's and a pair of subs, you'd have a remarkable system. OP, do you have any way to listen to them in your area? Bob
I have the Maggie 1.7s. I have a fairly large audio room (14' W x 28' L x 10' H) They are about 4' from a treated front wall and am running a ADS-12 sub. So far I am most happy with the 1.7s but then I listen mostly to, light jazz, and contemporary pop or Celtic with good vocals and live acoustic orchestration. I'm considering moving up to 3.7i but not sure that my room size warrants the move. I've long been a Vandi fan and have had the 2c and the 2ci and liked both but, for the style and volume of music I listen to now I truly love the Maggies. Good luck with your quest...Jim
Not yet mentioned here is that some find Maggies lacking in low-level dynamics---the ability to go from 0 to 60 in 3 seconds, as more dynamic speakers appear to do. They need to be listened to at higher SPL than other speakers in order to "break through" what is called the "Maggie Mist". At lower volumes, Maggies sound slightly veiled, thick, and slow to some people. That is less true than it used to be, with improvements to the basic magnetic-planar design Magneplanar has been using since the early 70's.
Planars---all of them, not just Maggies---sound very different from box speakers, even one's with as "open" a design as Vandersteens. Some people prefer planar sound to any other, but one doesn't know if that is true of himself until living with them for awhile. Some listeners tire of the planar sound, missing what dynamics and horns do better. As with everything in hi-fi, one must discover his own personal priorities in music reproduction, and find products that excel at those. Magnepan offers a 60-day trial period for their $650/pr MMG. That's a great way to find out if you like the Maggie sound.
get both.... Vandersteen 7 in my main listening room and a pair of Apogee Stage on sound anchors in my hunting/fishing therapy / work room vintage museum.....
get both.... Vandersteen 7 in my main listening room and a pair of Apogee Stage on sound anchors in my hunting/fishing therapy / work room vintage museum.....
@bdp24 while the older Maggies did need a bit of volume to become dynamic and break the veil, the new .7 models sound very nice, even at relatively low volume levels. My ears and head no longer handle hours of loud music and I do most of my listening in the evenings at moderate to low volume levels and am not disappointed, at all, with the performance of my 1.7s. for the music that I most listen to. I do have to agree that the Maggies may not be for everyone, or fit in every environment; always best, as with any speaker or equipment, to audition at one's own home listening to one's own music....Jim
Funny as they are different speakers in so many ways, but Vandy's are so open, they compete with Maggies in the area's that Maggies do best, but then you get the things that Vandy does that Maggies just can't and that put it over the top for many of us I think. Can't go wrong with either, but it's more about what you partner the Maggies with.
You can use any amp/source and get the best sound out of them. With Maggies, I have heard them with the same set up as the Vandersteen's and hated them. They had to pad it down with a resistor I think it was and it was still too hot for my ears. When I had them in the house, they were run on Quicksilver and then Audio Research gear and did just fine.
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