Obviously the technology has limitations, but they are voiced for sure. The crossover for the old 1.6 it had a bit of a "smiley face" EQ built in because of the way the crossover points were arranged (low pass and high pass sections were quite far apart freq wise). In room at the listening position, 8 feet or more away, they measured relatively flat, though, no doubt due to a combination of dispersion quirks and room support. The new ones seem to be voiced flatter and have less high treble emphasis but tend to have a bigger bass hump (in room).
I loved my 1.6's for around 15 years, the longest I've ever kept a speaker. On recordings they worked with, they were magic. But they didn't work with all recordings and I found that even adding a pair of subs couldn't add the mid and upper bass impact that they lack (because the subs only added sub-bass support)...
The characteristics that seem to be common to magnetic planars are: larger than life imaging, a certain leanness that makes everything sound quick and snappy, a tiny sweet spot, low efficiency, and lack of physical impact. They're also allergic to being close to walls; it makes them very bright sounding.
