I would humbly suggest that anyone who hasn't actually heard Maggies refrain from commenting on their sound quality, because there is a distinct pattern here -- those who haven't ever heard the things are critical of them, while those who have actually heard them praise them. Not to put too fine a point on it, anyone who comments on the sound of something he's never heard is making a fool of himself.
Chalk me up as another person who doesn't exist then; an owner who is also critical of them. Look, it's obvious by your posts that you're deeply biased in favor of Magnepan. You've even
admitted in the past to some level of professional relationship with them. You shouldn't make up these strawmen that "hearing them means you'll praise them". Amir heard them, he didn't praise them. And this review is far from the only time he's heard them.
There's always a wide range of excuses put forward by defenders when you criticize Magnepans. Oh, your room isn't right, oh your placement isn't correct, they're only good with acoustic music, yeah the bass is a terrible mess but just ignore that and enjoy the soundstage.
I agree that they produce an interesting spatial quality to the sound, but the idea that this is inherently "natural" doesn't sit very well with me. Because it is a fixed effect, it's always the same no matter what type of music you're hearing. It's fairly appropriate for orchestral classical, but with a lot of types of music it isn't. The thing is, this method is far from the only method of improving soundstage effects. IMO, properly recorded surround classical does a much better job than any artificial stereo effect. And that's exactly what Magnepans produce. It's a sometimes-pleasant, sometimes-not artificial effect.
Is that effect worth the many issues? It clearly is for some, yes, and that's totally fine! I'm glad that people enjoy these speakers. I also enjoy them sometimes! Just not all the time. They are a very poor generalist speaker and that contributes to their other issues to make them pretty impractical.
Personally, this review makes me curious to see reviews of other dipoles, like MartinLogans and especially the Linkwitz LX-521. But also larger Magnepans too, though I don't know if it's possible to fit the 65" tall 1.7i in Amir's setup, let alone the 71" 3.7.