Maggie owners opinions wanted

Secretguy, another possibility is to rebuild the III's yourself. Magnepan sells a kit for practically nothing, I gather it takes about a weekend.

You might find this interesting reading.
http://db.AudioAsylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=mug&n=14383&highlight=MgIIIA+vs&r=&search_url=%2Fcgi%2Fsearch.mpl%3F

Hifiharv...I talked to them a couple months ago and they said they would work on them. Josh...don't think I want to get into that....above my pay grade. LOL. Frogman...thanks for that. I've heard people say that the 3.6 was the first of the series to be superior to the IIIs. Still not sure what to do, but glad to get the feedback. I've picked up some older Monitor Audios, which I really like a lot...and could probably live with. But it's still not the "maggie magic".

Secretguy, a couple more thoughts. As you have obviously found out Maggies do some very special things. I used MGIIIA's for many years. They are now sitting in my basement in need of repair. These are highly modified, with completely upgraded xovers, rewired, socks removed, etc. Partly due to all that "abuse" both midrange sections need rewiring. I ordered the repair kit from Magnepan, but it too is waiting. The reason they have sat unrepaired for a few years is partly my procrastination, but mainly that I have a couple of other speakers, including the fabulous Stax F-81 electrostats, and Paragon Regents (a very fine full range box speaker).

I bring all this up simply to make the comment that inspite of all the wonderful qualities of my other speakers, especially the Stax, I still miss the Maggies a great deal. The best sound (overall) that I have ever achieved with my system was with the Maggies. For lifesize scale of the soundstage, the Maggies win handsdown. The MGIII's tweeter is a fabulous tweeter and with careful system tuning integration problems can be minimized. The bass that I got from the Maggies was also the best that I ever had, quality and extension-wise; even if not quantity-wise.

I disagree that the 1.6's are a better speaker. Better integration perhaps, but less extension top and bottom, less clarity in the highs and upper mids (the MGIIIA's xcover at a fairly low frequency), and smaller soundstage. A friend recently had his Timpany refurbished by Magnepan, and I must say they did a great job. The 3.6's, even used, will cost you more than double what refurbishing the III's will. You obviously like the III's. I would go for it; I don't think you will regret it. Good luck with your decision.

If you can get up the extra coin, the 3.7's are far superior to the 3.6's, first panel speaker I could listen to for long.