Whoa, Nelly - as much as I admire the Mini-Maggies, there are limits to a speaker system like that - I am currently leaning toward the
KEF Q300 or similar for the desktop and a more exotic set of Thai speakers for the living room. I merely raised that photo because I cant see how anyone is supposed to actually sit at that desk, yet that is exactly the configuration the designer intended the system for. Those hellbent on filling a room with sound really need to read this - several times ....
http://www.avguide.com/review/magnepan-s-mini-maggie-speaker-system-revisited-playback-53
Effectively, it comes down to this - are you happy to listen to 90% of your music seated at a desk or do you have a larger room and need serious bass thump ? If the answer is 'Door A' and you have 1500 USD, be my guest.
I also need to point out that these may not be the best speakers for those who are after
eye candy on their desk. To the Magnepan faithful, I expect that is the equivalent of a hanging offence, so I'll leave the beauty question to my fellow beholders.
I would add that I like the fact that these were designed to be genuine '
desktop' speakers, not standmounts masquerading as such. (<cough>KEF Q300</cough>)