Affordable Luxury: The Magnepan 1.7 Speaker

F, I do know about these speakers as I have heard models available back in the early 2000s. I thought they were great. I am not an audiophile but to my ears they were some of the best I'd heard aside from some really great B&Ws.

Where can you find these, and if you want wall mount, (which I do), will they come do it for you?

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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Why not? Most people own 1-2k TVs these days. And if 1-2k isn't affordable, I don't know what is. 1-2k is not even close to the mid-end of speaker prices.
Feel free to re-read my post as many times as it takes. What percentage of the total people you know, do you suppose will be willing to spend $5,000 on surround speakers for their television? Unless you only know audiophiles or whatever, chances are that MOST people are usually willing to spend about the same amount of money or less than they did on their television. I know it must pain the audiophiles out there, but many people don't care about the difference between a $1600 BOSE 5.1 V20 system out of a box at Best Buy, and anything audiophile grade. This is the reality of it. This much money for one speaker, is definitely a luxury, and when taken in context with what most people historically WANT to spend for speakers, are *not* "affordable".

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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Feel free to re-read my post as many times as it takes. What percentage of the total people you know, do you suppose will be willing to spend $5,000 on surround speakers for their television? Unless you only know audiophiles or whatever, chances are that MOST people are usually willing to spend about the same amount of money or less than they did on their television. I know it must pain the audiophiles out there, but many people don't care about the difference between a $1600 BOSE 5.1 V20 system out of a box at Best Buy, and anything audiophile grade. This is the reality of it. This much money for one speaker, is definitely a luxury, and when taken in context with what most people historically WANT to spend for speakers, are *not* "affordable".
Slim, you are misinterpreting "affordable luxury" as "cheap with mass appeal." Most people that have the interest are perfectly capable of putting away a couple thousand for speakers just like they manage to do it for their television sets. A kid with a summer job could do that. The fact that most people are ignorant of the benefits or have different priorities is irrelevant. I don't know where the "luxury luxury" line should be drawn, but I'd argue it should be drawn higher than 2k. As for the bolded part, you're goddamned right it pains us.

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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I don't know where the "luxury luxury" line should be drawn, but I'd argue it should be drawn higher than 2k.
I disagree, and I'm more important than you. I can see the MMG's being called "affordable luxury" at $600 a pair. Considering that is approximately what normal people are willing to pay for speakers. I'm not sure how luxurious they are though.

I have heard these and agree with Andre in that the bass is a bit lacking.

I understand that these use similar technology to electrostatics, which also have a reputation for paucity of bass.

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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Slim, you are misinterpreting "affordable luxury" as "cheap with mass appeal." Most people that have the interest are perfectly capable of putting away a couple thousand for speakers just like they manage to do it for their television sets. A kid with a summer job could do that. The fact that most people are ignorant of the benefits or have different priorities is irrelevant. I don't know where the "luxury luxury" line should be drawn, but I'd argue it should be drawn higher than 2k. As for the bolded part, you're goddamned right it pains us.
Don't you want the Lifestyle?

Originally Posted by Tokyo Slim

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I disagree, and I'm more important than you. I can see the MMG's being called "affordable luxury" at $600 a pair. Considering that is approximately what normal people are willing to pay for speakers. I'm not sure how luxurious they are though.
$600 can get one a fairly nice used phono cartridge though.

My understanding is that maggies image like crazy IF you are in their sweet spot. Off-axis, they're not nearly as impressive. That said, I haven't auditioned them myself. I'm going to be auditioning a lot of high-end loudspeakers this year and although I doubt i'll go with maggies of any kind, based on what I know of them and my requirements, I'd definitely like to hear what they sound like.

Originally Posted by LabelKing

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Don't you want the Lifestyle?

$600 can get one a fairly nice used phono cartridge though.
Would prefer a lifestyle more like this: Or this (I'm planning to audition those Revels btw):

Are you planning on putting any pictures in that post? Or are we supposed to guess? Edit: It appears LK's images aren't showing up either. Maybe it's a "me" problem... Re Edit: LK's pic just showed up, yours - MIA. Re Re Edit: All good.

sec. Must be because i'm linking a different forum. I can see them but i'm registered...

i copied and uploaded to imageshack so should be good now.

How the hell could someone call $2k for a single speaker an affordable luxury? :roma:

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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How the hell could someone call $2k for a single speaker an affordable luxury? :roma:

Don't fight it man. This is a thread for big timers. The kind of big timers to whom owning a $50k home theater is a reality. I think that being "affordable" was code word for "can potentially save up for and splurge on". Not "affordable" in the sense that "most people can justify spending this amount of money on this product". Which is obviously not the case.

Originally Posted by GQgeek

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Why not? Most people own 1-2k TVs these days. And if 1-2k isn't affordable, I don't know what is. 1-2k is not even close to the mid-end of speaker prices.

... most people?

I don't think I know anyone with a 2k tv