Magnepan LRS Plus vs 1.7i Follow-up

Additional details explained.

[@williamnow146]

The LRS are fun speakers to mess with. Lean back or straight up, raise off floor or not, tow in or out, tweeters in or out, etc. I think most people could find a way to tailor to their room. Every couple months I make a small tweak to keep things interesting. Ha! I thought when I raised my speakers up, it would decrease the bass but I could swear it increased the bass….but it could just be me. Doesn’t make sense to me. Regardless, they are very fun!

[@drde4010]

I'm a big proponent of experimenting with position and it's free of charge. I think it's best to do what works for the listener.

[@michaelwright1602]

Thanks for doing this second video. The placement, we messed around for a few days with these. We found we were getting the best overall sound roughly 18 inches off of a wall of a window with sheer curtains. I have mine on some inexpensive $19ea flat screen TV stands, roughly 6 inches off the floor. I found the bass output, even with the lift, to be a bit overwhelming on more than a few tracks in our room, pretty much the same music you are listening to, Jazz, Blues, classical and a bit of classic rock. Even tilting the left speaker towards the listening position using two CD jewel cases helped in the sound. Amplifiers, I am using my old first get Emotiva XPA2, this amp has been with me since 2008 when I first purchased it for a HT system in my last house. I recently had the Parasound A23+ in rotation and actually found the Emotiva to be on par, and at times better sounding than the Parasound. I still wish I would have kept the Parasound, but the old XPA2 does a fantastic job with the LRS+. The instrument separation is top notch, along with the dynamics and soundstage, especially with all of the headroom the amp offers, which the Parasound lacked in comparison. So, the Emo stays. I tried Class D, very 2 dimensional, lacks soul, life and sparkle, and no real soundstage to speak of, very meh. And, I have looked at Thomas's Gallion A/B amp, I don't know, the Emo does everything so right, and it is paid for, many times over. Another amp I messed around with is the new Emotiva DR X2? The new version of the old XPA2, their audiophile unit, it sounded very sterile, too much like Class D. Something about the new H topology. I returned it too. And here is a kicker for all of you, this Rolls SX45 crossover I have been talking about, this thing is dead silent on my system, just to get that out of the way. The Rolls SX45 besides dumping off the bass to the subs, also has gain. I know my old Emotiva amp pretty well after all of these years, and it sounds and runs so much easier with the boosted gain this Rolls crossover brings to the table. I have it on both the LRS+ and a pair of Zu DW6 Supreme speakers. If there is going to be any annoying issues with the gain, I am going to hear that on the Zu's for sure. There is NONE. This crossover, with the gain, on both the overall output, the high and low side output, is so cool. You can really dial in the LRS+ in regards to output, the dynamic range and the holography of the speaker. I never mentioned that prior. This stupid little $109 crossover simply blows me away on more than a few levels, and I believe really takes a lot of stress off of my old XPA2. It has never sounded better. The LRS+ system, WiiM Pro with LHY LPS > PS Audio Stellar Gaincell DAC/Preamp > Rolls SX45 > RCA Switch > Emotiva XPA2 > LRS+ The Zu system, WiiM Pro with LHY LPS > PS Audio Stellar Gaincell DAC/Preamp > Rolls SX45 > RCA Switch > Cayin EL84 tube amp > Zu DW6 Supremes And I did put the Zu's on the XPA2 in search of any noise or feedback, there was none. Get that $109 Rolls SX45, try it out, if it sucks, send it back. The $600 Sublime Acoustic crossover I sent back yesterday, it was congested and veiled. Don't get me wrong, it sounded pretty good, and was much like the Denafrips Athena Preamp I had through here, which I have since sold. But, you would never know of these shortcomings if you would not have had the Rolls in the house. The Rolls, at $109 bloodied the nose of the Sublime K231, then kicked it in the ribs, it was not a clean fight. ;-)

[@drde4010]

Jeeez, appreciate all the details, my goodness and I thought I was nuts. 🤣

[@michaelwright1602]

@@drde4010 The joy of being single, I have 26 years of suppressed nuttiness. 😁

[@ericelmore887]

Thanks for the breakdown I LRS plus I would love to know about results with active crossover. been hearing some good results with the GR research kit for the LS plus as well speaker becomes more clear and transparent

[@drde4010]

Yea, I'm curious about that as well.

[@jpgvideotwo]

I am running the LRS+ (previously had the LRS) with stereo subs. Speakers are raised 8 inches with 1.5 inches of tilt back. I started with a Van Alstine 400R (well over 200 watts at 4 ohms per Frank). Switched to a Carver 4.0t that was restored by Nelion Audio which was faster and more detailed. I am currently running a Phase Linear 700B rebuilt by Nelion Audio which is just amazing with the LRS+ speakers. Clean, fast, detailed with huge soundstage. A Freya+ with Linlai e-6sn7 tubes seems to be a good match with the PL. This is fun.

[@snowpuppy77]

I believe that the Vidar may have more trouble driving the 1.7i than the LRS+. Sounds like you are hearing some amp strain. I use Schiir Tyr monoblocks with my 1.7i and definitely no edginess or harshness. Sounds amazing with Tyrs. But granted, I do not have LRS+ to compare. I have compared the original LRS and 1.7i are just as smooth though less rolled off in highs.

[@Jack96993]

Like I mentioned before I have the .7's with the Magnarisers stands and they put the Maggie's vertical and about 4 inches of the ground which is apparently a good thing Did you get a chance to check out Orchard Audio Starkrimson amp?

[@mr.b4444]

Thanks for the followup. I agree with your findings when using LRS+ without stands or risers. I mostly sit when listening to these and the bass sounds fuller with the speakers on the floor and will eventually purchase a Rel sub. For amplification I'm currently using an Outlaw Audio RR2160 MkII receiver. It sounds good with the LRS+ plus but seems a bit under powered when playing low output recordings. I play FLAC files on a SSD from a Cambridge Audio Azure 851N and occasionally I'll pop in a CD in my Rotel CD11 Tribute. Looking at upgrading my receiver to a Rotel RA-1572 MKII soon. I'm a musician and listen to mostly straight jazz and a little classical and prefer to keep things sounding good but simple.

[@drde4010]

Thanks for sharing

[@JohnStie-o2f]

May I ask about the wheeled stands upon which the 1.7i's are sitting? Obviously makes them much easier to move around. Can you tell me who makes them and whether you think they have any effect on sound? Thanks

[@geevee1045]

I must agree with your observations that raising the speaker will reduce the bass output. My idea is to have a board as wide as the LRS+ filling in the say 10" vertical space under the raised speaker, to maintain the same floor coupling, it normally has. As far as leaning back or standing straight is concerned, I always have my LRS+ standing straight, but when I emulated your setup just now, where the LRS+ is leaned back as far as it will go, I lost impact, and detail. The highs and mids at the top of the speaker are arriving much later than the much closer mid-section of the speaker. Leaning back ensures there's no brightness on horns, but smoothes over the immediacy and presence of the normally surprising whacks and thwacks. Of course, it's my room, my setup. Your could be different. And as I said before, it's easy to experiment with tilt, or lack thereof. It's so simple. No mods necessary. Just try it and make your choice. Regarding the Vidar2, it's a bargain, though I've heard comments that it's simply ok, not a world beater. But like you, I'd love to know what's better than Vidar2/LRS+ combo, and what's more of a perfect match made in heaven. Possibly, Thomas & Stereo's Galion TS A75 power amp at twice the price? But double the price is about my limit. And cheap class D amps seem to lack the emotion, involvement and enjoyment factor. In case I forgot to mention it, you have a great audio channel. Thx.

[@DANVIIL]

I use a Rogue Sphinx v3 integrated amp with 100 WPC into 8 ohms and it has a tube preamp, MM or MC phono preamp. I use it with my .7 Magnepans and I love the combination.

[@davidslaney65]

I have used extensively class A accuphase A48 and a 60 watt Tri-art class D amp and have had only wonderful results. I have ran some of the newer higher powered switching amps and could not see why everyone talks about how much power/current 1.7i speakers, or any magnepan below this model is said to need. My magnepans are on stands and that has made a huge difference for me in sound. My bass increased too as a result of the stands. It has not been my experience to need gobs of power. I have used major brands of higher power and have not found a huge difference.

[@marcopignone9386]

Posted this on the first vid, but the improvement from Vidar 1 to a Buckeye Hypex 500w amp (I'm sure any Hypex amp with 500w) was astonishing.

[@superdougie10]

Thank you for the follow up, I had made two comments with the original clip. I have recently wanted to eventually have the LRS or LRS+ in my speaker collection. I do not know the difference between the two.

[@drde4010]

I have listened to the standard LRS but only with $300 upgraded crossovers, however, I still preferred the newer LRS Plus. I'll be releasing the video on the regular LRS shortly. You can still get the regular LRS for an extremely reasonble price on the used market though but if you can spring a few extra bucks for the LRS Plus, it's worth the leap IMO.

[@superdougie10]

Got it, thanks.....that's the same response when I just called Magnapan. I listened to Steve G's in more then one review mention the original LRS and he really was impressed with the original. I will most likely possiblyfollow your lead here and push for the LRS+. I will be dying the screen cloth to make them more hospitable in my rooms.

[@drde4010]

@@superdougie10 I think the LRS Plus sound slightly more open and airy which slightly more smooth clarity.

[@007soedal]

Is the plugs/screws in the panel different in the two smaller magnepan? What is the screws/plugs for?

[@dajikbatarang1]

I have the 1.7i and had the LRS. I never found 1.7i shrill, do you think it could be gear pairing?

[@drde4010]

Hard to say because I used the Vidar and the Aretha setup at the studio without any issues with the 1.7i then used the same setup here for this video, so my guess is room size. Thanks for sharing.

[@alainbesario6679]

Ok as to my experience with magnepans, from mmg,1.7 and LRS+, and paired it with adcom gfa555, krell s300i, hegel h160, its the vidar 2 that live up to its expectation. No issues shutting off. And tonally right with myLRS+. I liked it much as soundcharavter compared to my other amps. Well its not as smooth and transparent as my pass labs xa25, but i have sold my xa25 b4 the LRS+ came and for sure power wise it will be have issues. Now so at prsent i have the LRS+ with bass management to the REL t7i, sng powered by the schiit viadr2 and schiit saga+ as preamp. The issue right now im facing is I need some gain on the preamp section, plus the saga + has that less body and clinical sugical sounding. Very detailed though. I booriwed the freya OG from a friend and connected the bf 2/64 in balanced connection to the freya OG in tube mode(12 db gain). Single ended to the vidar 2, voila all is proper now. Like as I have mentioned no more issues with the volume limitation vs the saga+ playing recordings that have limitation on dynamics. To be very specific toto iv cbs issue 1st press and clair marlo let it go album. Well as of the moment waiting to upgrade to a schiit kara preamp. researching on it, they said the kara is more transparent and robust compared to the freya+ and thats all i need. Those are my experience with magnepan. Great channel, I see your videos cause I am a subscriber. Keep up the good work

[@drde4010]

Thanks for sharing all the details, appreciate the feedback. It's interesting you mentioned the famous Adcom 555 because I was curious about that one. The sound I get from the Vidar 2 with the LRS has been sounding so nice though.

[@alainbesario6679]

@@drde4010 ok as to the adcom gfa 555 vs the vidar 2, adcom a bit grainer and less ckeaner than the vidar 2. The vidar 2 a great steal

[@DANVIIL]

The 1.7i needs way more power to drive, like 300+ wpc, optimally. The LRS+ looks tilted back to me.

[@davidslaney65]

My results have been exactly the opposite in my situation....I tried 6 high power high end amps with the specs. to say they will run the 1.7i and I was disappointed that only one was a possible consideration compared to my Accuphase class A and Tri-art amp.

[@CarlVanDoren61]

Sonics improve w each upgrade 😊

[@johto]

what are those dents i see on those speakers, those seem so randomly placed, is it on purpose or some damage, does it affect sound? edit: ok just watching your unboing and those can be seen on those already, is it normal / random cosmetic thing with these kind of speakers?

[@drde4010]

You mean the bottoms?

[@johto]

@@drde4010 those round "dents" in the surface, i see left one has 3 of them vertically, right one has one

[@johto]

@@drde4010 Ok, i found out that those are "tuning" stuff. It varies per speaker.

[@arupgowda]

LOL, OK!