As a long term owner of planar dipoles (in my case Quad's) - I would support the many comments about placement...
You have to make sure that the rear sound off the panels, by the time it hits your ears, has enough delay added so your brain identifies it as "reflected" and seperates it from "direct sound" - that way you get good imaging and great soundstage.... imaging from direct sound, and soundstage from reflected sound.
Soundstage will obviously be affected by the room in terms of how much of that reflected sound is absorbed and how it is delivered.
Secondly - Maggies have a reputation for needing an amp that provides plenty of current - this is NOT a power issue, but a current issue... and also an issue of how an amp misbehaves when it runs out of current.
I have an Integra AVR (DRX 3.4) which is rated for 100W @ 8ohm - but has a small power supply - which means it does not cope well at all with speakers having impedance dips (for my speakers that is 1.6 ohm!) - the result, is it drives the speakers OK in terms of SPL, but the imaging and staging collapse.
Adding external power amps, that have more than ample current & power even into a 1 ohm load, completely restored the Imaging and Staging.
The point to be made here, is that although the primary driver of imaging and staging will be panel placement and room, depending on how your amp "misbehaves" when it runs out of current in its power supply (but is still well within the amp stages performance envelope - so not strictly speaking "clipping") - it may impact quite dramatically on staging and imaging.
I purchased a pair of used Crown XLS2500, these are primarily marketed into the professional band / pa market.... - they cost me only US$250 each - and the difference was quite dramatic compared to the AVR's internal amps.
Comparing those Crowns with my Quad 606 (vintage late 80's, current dumping design) - the Quad is much less powerful (like 1/3rd the output power of the Crown) - but it too is stable into a 2 ohm load, and can put out a good quality 90W into 2 ohm. (which in 8ohm equivalence is only circa 20W!)
But in real listening terms at the SPL's I use, and into my room, peak levels (using a 20db headroom measure) are reached easily with only 16W @ 8ohm.... (roughly 64W @ 2ohm).
The Quad and the Crown sounded sufficiently similar, that I doubt I could identify them in a blind test.
The AVR running on its own without either the Quad or Crown connected to drive the speakers, is immediately identifiable - sufficiently obvious (in a negative sense!) that there is no need to consider blind testing!
There are numerous used amps of recent and older vintage out there that are capable of putting out decent current, and are rated to drive 2 ohm loads - those can generally be purchased at a reasonable price - and typically, you can "move them on" if you don't like them, with little or no loss (and sometimes a slight gain!).
Crown have a long history of high powered amps that can put out heaps of current - especially if you are in North America - there are bargains to be had. - Watch for fan noise on certain models.
The XLS's that I have, the fans have never been audible - I am not sure whether it is simply that the fans are very quiet, or that I use them at such a low load factor (compared to their massive rated output) - that they never spin up. - Like I said, I purchased an XLS2500, 10 years ago, used, for US$250... (make sure you look on pro/pa/band forums, not audiophile ones!) - there are good deals out there.
Quad amps are a bit harder to find in North America, easily found in the UK, variable around the rest of the world.... any of the later models, will work great.... 606, 707, 909...
Rated at around 130 to 140W into 8 ohm, but they are very stable, and still have some "puff" even into 2ohm or 1 ohm loads. - I have not checked current market pricing on these.
There are lots of other options.... and often, top brands of 20 to 30 years ago, get forgotten, and their used pricing becomes very attractive.
