[ryno]

For the last 10 years I've had MG12's. I've gone from no subs, a par of 10 inch DIY sealed subs with a Marchand xover, and most recently, since I went with balanced cables, the MG12's full range with the subs filling underneath. A couple months ago I sold the 12's and got the 1.7's. Improvements everywhere, except they activate the bass nodes stronger than the 12's. The 40hz peak isn't so bad, it gives extension to where I might be able to get by without subs. The 70hz peak, on the other hand, is at least 10db higher than everything else and very distracting. Maybe smaller panels are better for my room. Everything I can come up with to keep the 1.7's has a downside, but maybe one of the downside would be worth it? 
Full system EQ like the DSpeaker dual core, I've read the whole thread.
I could use a Marchand balanced PLLXO, but its only 12db/octave, might not be enough to lower the 70hz peak. 
I could give up balanced lines and use a 24db active Xover. 
Any comments or opinions?
Ryan

[SteveFord]

19x19x12 certainly isn't too small a room.
What do you get without any subs? 

[ryno]

The room is 29 feet deep, with the dining room, 12 feet wide, 9 feet high. The speakers are on the short wall, 3 feet out, with my chair 8 feet away. Audio only gets a third of the room. The strong 70hz peak is with no subs. The MG12's had a small peak at 70, not nearly as bad as the 1.7's.

[SteveFord]

Try them another foot out from the wall and experiment with toe-in.
It only takes a little bit to increase or decrease the bass quite a bit with the .7 series.
If that doesn't work for you, one way to attack the problem is at the preamp.

[Chuckdog2005]

Too much bass? 1.7's? Well this ain't something I read everyday.

I'm all digital, mostly flac. I found my planar nirvana when I mated them with the right DAC for my taste. My experience with Maggies is limited to the 1.7's. Their sweet spot is quite dependent on their and the listener's surroundings. Once found, they're very satisfying to me.

No resistors, equalization, or other processing required. When the mood strikes, I do have a couple of 12" sealed subs to add weight.

[MGbert]

I'm sure Josh358 will jump in at some point, but until he does     you may want to try bringing them out 5 feet from the wall behind them.  There is a phenomenon called the Allison Effect where the distance from the center of the woofer to a room boundary governs a "suckout" of the bass.  Since your 1.7's are energetic at around 70 Hz, the distance where 70 Hz is reduced by Mr. Allison's effect is... 58 inches from the wall!  At least by my calculations.  A whole lot more detail can be found here: 

http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/speakers/messages/29/294574.html

FWIW, I can attest to the effect in my room.  I've measured the response of my Gunned MMGs, and there is a bass suckout in the 80-90 Hz range, which corresponds to my roughly 46 inch spacing from the wall behind them.

Oh, the other big reason to bring them out 5 feet is to delay the first reflections from the wall behind the 1.7's to approx 10 milliseconds, which is the point that the human ear can distinguish these as reflections vice comb filtering.  The result is definitely a cleaner sound.  So why don't I practice what I preach?  Because I use what I've dubbed First Reflection Traps (FRTs) to manage the early reflections.  But that is the subject of a whole 'nother thread... 

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=107064.0

...which I need to update with a far less intrusive variant I stumbled upon.  But first I want other Planar Circle folks to hear the results (you know who you are)   

MGbert

The room is 29 feet deep, with the dining room, 12 feet wide, 9 feet high. The speakers are on the short wall, 3 feet out, with my chair 8 feet away. Audio only gets a third of the room. The strong 70hz peak is with no subs. The MG12's had a small peak at 70, not nearly as bad as the 1.7's.

[josh358]

Agree with all the advice. Placement of both listener and speakers can make a huge difference, including toe-in, so the first step is experimentation.

I gather from the measurements I've seen that the 1.7's bass is pretty flat, even on the lean side, depending on the room. But a larger planar woofer will all other things being equal produce more and deeper bass. The thing is, if you have a bad 70 Hz room mode, there's no way you can get things right just by putting in a speaker with less bass output, because you'd be bringing down the other bass frequencies to tame the peak.

However, from my perspective, you're actually in a good position in that too much bass can be fixed easily, while too little can't be! If position doesn't solve the problem, bass trapping would be the next best option, though that's often impractical aesthetically. But equalization will work well for a single listening position, so that's the way I'd go if EQ is out. Actually, I recommend both of these things for *any* setup, since bass is never smooth even in the best room and they can improve it dramatically. Certainly, it's what I plan to do here, since Tympanis make too much bass for a small room like mine. If you're digital, the options are great, but if analog, you can still do it, either with an equalizer or a custom notch filter.

[ryno]

Thanks for all the ideas. Pulling the speakers out, even to 5', didn't do much. Toe in, on the other hand, did quite a bit. It's pretty extreme, half way between parallel and perpendicular to the front wall. The sound stage is still good, feels like the music is further away. Since I'm pretty close to near field, it could get a little forward sometimes, this seems to help that as well. It gives me hope, I'll play around with position a little bit more. I'll have to move around my room treatments a bit as well. MGbert, I remember your trap thread, I use GIK diffusers on my front wall reflections. With the angle my speakers are now I'd like to move them on the side wall next to the corner traps and maybe try a version of your front wall traps. Thanks again

[guest61169]

I wonder if raising them up a bit (temporarily can try it on some milk crates or something) would help?

[klao]

Consulting with guys in the Acoustic Circle section might be helpful too, perhaps?

Cheers.

[Davey]

There is always electronic equalization.   

Physical positioning can only do so much as there are always trade-offs.  There are trade-offs with equalization as well, but it is a much more pro-active effort/solution that will always yield tangible results.

Cheers,

Dave.