Will 1.7s work in this room?

[atomicAdam]

So I've been thinking about purchasing a pair of 1.7s.

I'm kind of concerned about how my room is laid out and would like some feed back from Maggie owners on if room layout would cause significant issues.

My listening room is also my bedroom/livingroom (studio you know) but it is a nice older Victorian style room.

The room is 15x12x10 and the current set up would but the speakers along the long wall - about 6ft apart - 1.5-2ft from the rear wall - so that means about 10ft from the back wall - and almost no side wall reflections.

I'm worried - since the room doesn't have dampening on the walls - especially the rear reflecting wall and front reflecting wall - if the high end would bounce around.

Currently though this isn't an issue though - with the bookshelf speakers I've been using, but I do have some dampening material on the wall behind my head.

I'd be driving them most likely with the 100W Electrocompaniet PI-2 amplifier.

Well - what do you think?

[manlystanley]

Why not get some good room conditioning? If your handy I can give you some pointers of how to build the frames.

Best Regards,
Stan

[atomicAdam]

I'd make'm if I had a place - but apt living in Oakland means no place for that type of work. Plus I'd like to keep the room more open if I can.

[blackraven]

Adam, they will work. If you are concerned about high freq reflections, Maggies come with a resistor that you can use to attenuate some of the high freq's. Magnepan includes these resistors just for this purpose and problem. I have tried them and they work well. Feanor uses them with his 1.6's.

Do you have carpeting or bare floors? My listening room is 17x17x10 and the room has wood floors, and lots of big windows on the 3 of the walls.

What amp and preamp would you be using? Maggies really pair well with tube gear or at least a tube preamp.

[atomicAdam]

Thanks for the input -

Yep the floor has carpet and a bed - so no reflections from there.

I would use it with either - I mean at this time unless I get something else - with the Mystere ia11 35W tube amp or the Electrocompaniet PI-2 100W SS.

[blackraven]

Thanks for the input -

Yep the floor has carpet and a bed - so no reflections from there.

I would use it with either - I mean at this time unless I get something else - with the Mystere ia11 35W tube amp or the Electrocompaniet PI-2 100W SS.

I'm not so sure that 35w tube amp will have enough oomph for the 1.7's. You shoud take the amp to the Maggie dealer and see how it sounds.

[atomicAdam]

I'm not so sure that 35w tube amp will have enough oomph for the 1.7's. You shoud take the amp to the Maggie dealer and see how it sounds.

Yep - I wasn't really considering that one for the pairing - more the Electrocompaniet. Which is good - cause that is easier to carry to a dealer... :)

[Feanor]

So I've been thinking about purchasing a pair of 1.7s.

I'm kind of concerned about how my room is laid out and would like some feed back from Maggie owners on if room layout would cause significant issues.

My listening room is also my bedroom/livingroom (studio you know) but it is a nice older Victorian style room.

The room is 15x12x10 and the current set up would but the speakers along the long wall - about 6ft apart - 1.5-2ft from the rear wall - so that means about 10ft from the back wall - and almost no side wall reflections.

I'm worried - since the room doesn't have dampening on the walls - especially the rear reflecting wall and front reflecting wall - if the high end would bounce around.

Currently though this isn't an issue though - with the bookshelf speakers I've been using, but I do have some dampening material on the wall behind my head.

I'd be driving them most likely with the 100W Electrocompaniet PI-2 amplifier.

Well - what do you think?
So your seating postion would be 9' or so from the speakers and close to the back wall? Sound absorption behind you would be a good idea -- I think this is a general rule.

1.3-2' from the front wall for the speakers is workable if you have some sort of sound diffusion/deflection behind the speakers. I have found an arrangement like pictured below to work well at shorter distances than shown; the angle of the baffle defects an sound preventing dopler distortion and creating a more benign ambiant effect. ...

http://gallery.audioreview.com/data/audio//500/MaggieSetup.jpg

The new, QR supertweeters in the 1.7 will deliver wider dispersion than the single QR tweeter in the 1.6, but if your speakers are in the middle of the 15' wall side wall reflections shouldn't be much of a problem.

[blackraven]

AA, I curious. What do you like about the 1.7's as opposed to traditional speakers? Planar speakers, you either like them or you don't. I don't think that they are the best speakers but they offer great value and performance. I havent heard anything that compares in under $3k in my limited experience with speakers with the type of music that I like.

[Fred70433]

How did things work out Adam? Did you order them?

[atomicAdam]

Sadly I've not ordered them yet. Braces for wifie come first this time around.

[Big Dog RJ]

good day mate,

I have been a previous owner of maggies since 1984. Owned the following: MGIII, MGIIIA, MG12, MG1.6MG3.3/R, MG3.5/R, MG3.6/R, MG20.1/R - they are all great speakers, and each model requires certain type of amplification to sound best.

I was once using a little 35watter tube amp to drive my older MGIIIA's, it sounded very sweet, and relaxed nothing too dynamic. Then of course I drove the newer MG3.5/R's with 350 watt monoblocks and wow totally different realism!

It doesn't really matter what you drive it with, whether tubes or SS, as long as both have good current drive and can handle 4 ohm loads, sometimes dropping to 2 on high frequencies ohms.
I would try to bi-amp if possible using an external cross over, but them again with this config you will be sacrificing pure signal from the source.

I would try to get hold of monoblocks to drive your 1.7's or a very good SS amp with at least 200 watt output on 8 ohms, in this case it would be able to drive a 4ohm load.

The 1.7's I auditioned here in Melbourne were driven with 300 watt monoblocks from Audio Research, price of monoblocks were nearly $20k, but the sound was very nice indeed. Full of life, full of body and depth, very well controlled in all frequencies (unlike previous magneplanars) and the most coherent I have ever heard from maggies, even more coherent than the MG20's! Although the ribbon tweeter is probably the best in the world, it is so fast that other drivers cannot match its speed, hence this is where the problem starts.

All the best mate and enjoy those new 1.7's you won't be disappointed!
cheers, RJ

[RGA]

the room speaker interface is more of an issue for panels - you're a reviewer - get them home and make sure they work FIRST before you buy them. They may have sounded fine on a showroom floor someplace but again real world in home for these speakers can be an issue. I know a dealer who spent four years trying them in his house and never could get them to work right. Sounded fine for imaging not bass - then moved them - got the bass right imaging was lousy - got the stage right but something else was off.

If you can get them to work in room they're one of the better ones around for the price - but you won't know that without an in home trial.

[atomicAdam]

Thanks all for the feedback.

[Fred70433]

[QUOTE=atomicAdam;376430]Thanks all for the feedback.[/Q2 UOTE]

Ah, since you haven't yet taken the plunge I will add the following for you to consider:

I purchased a pair of 1.7's last July. My room is 14x12x9. It is a dedicated 2-channel room.

First, I really think you need a minimum of 3 feet from the back wall to let the dipole nature of this speaker work its majic. I have mine positioned just at 3 feet. Believe me, I tried it a 2 and just cannot get the expansive soundstage with the speakers positioned that close to the back wall. I really think something in the order of 4 to 5 feet would be optimal, but just don't have the real estate.

Next, I wouldn't bother with these speakers or waste my money if you're not ready, willing and able to throw a lot of quality watts at them. The 1.7's need to be driven a bit to sound their best and anything less than 250 watts is a wasted exercise. I learned this first hand with my Jolida 502BRC at 60 watts per.

Luckily I was able to salvage the situation when I found a mint pair of Musical Fidelity 550K's from a Canadian dealer. The increased power has transformed the sound in every way imaginable.

So, just FWIW, take it from a guy who tried with a lower power tube integrated. To make the 1.7's really sing and become "special" you need gobs of quality power that the typical tube IA just cannot deliver.

As much as I'd love to read down the road that you've become a Maggie owner, I would also want to read that you are entralled by the purchase. Without being able to commit to the amp side of the equation, it may just turn out that your spouses orthodotic needs really saved you in the long run.

(I remember you reviewed a pair of Zu Omen Def's a while back, wouldn't that be a more practical solution?

[Big Dog RJ]

yes, spot on to the note above. maggies do require good enough current drive and capable wattage to make them sound what they're supposed to sound like. Also as RGA put it, the room does have a huge impact on all types of panel speakers because the fact that they are dipoles.

I have had all my previous maggies well away from the wall behind them, approx 4 to 5ft, and my Quads 2905 sit about 5&half ft away. This allows the soundstage to expand and place everything in sync. Also quality power amps are required as I said I ultimately had these driven with 350 watt monoblocks from Manley Labs gear. Those were the bigger maggies as well 3.5 &3.6 series.
The 35 watt tube amp I drove my older pair of MGIIIA was only good for near field listening as back then the system was located in a very small area, hence 35 watts was good enough - but not much bass though!

Sorry, I forgot to mention this earlier and being a maggie owner for over 2 decades. I thought you would have alreasy known about room placement, hence I didn't address this before. But believe me room placement is one of the major critical factors with maggies, they can make the speakers sound wonderful or basically crap! if not given adequate room around the panels.