Jhills, I think you are correct. VAC phi and iq 200 amps were designed to control low impedance speakers including Kingsound electrostats and can drive Magnapans. Driving a 3 ohm speaker should be a breeze. The mentioned VAC amps are a great choice for most speakers except maybe the power hungry like B&Ws and Wilsons of MBLs where they sound best with large amps.
However, I have auditioned and heard Magico speakers over 15 times at shows and stores, from the Q1 to the Q5 and S3 to S7 and did not like any one of them. I heard them in all times of rooms with all types of equipment. The smaller ones couldn’t recreate an orchestra sound. Pinched and small sounding. The larger ones were just dead sounding, not musically involving. A Q5 sounded so bad that a single guitar recording sound like a ukelele. Sure, blame the recording, blame the ancillary equipment. These were all high end dealers. I’ve heard so many better sounding/musically involving speakers, why bother with Magicos, for the name brand? Give me a Harbeth 40 over any Magico. I prefer Von Schweikerts, older Legacy, Lumenwhites, Volti, Martens, or any number of other high end speakers. I want music, not just sound.
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I said I would rather own Harbeths than Magicos. They aren't for me either. I currently own Legacy Focus and Signature IIIs (2 systems). I am thinking of replacing the Focus with either Von Schweikert VR55 Active or Luminwhite Kyara. At least 10,000 Focus speakers were sold. Let's see if Magico even keeps the A3s around for more than 3 years and sells a 1000 pair. I doubt it. They come out with new and improved models continuously.
There's something wrong with that in high end speaker lines.
Wait, I bet there will be an A1 soon to capture the $5000-$7000 market. Then a new M line to completely eliminate the Q line. |
I never heard the A3 so I withold comment on it.
There are many deaf or deluded audiophiles who listen to sound and not music. My recent acquaintance who has a $850,000 audio system sounded awful (disjointed frequencies, blaring highs, muddled mids) from a pair of Avantgarde Trios with 3 pairs of Basshorns) due to some bad electronics (Ypsilon) and worse cabling (High Fidelity). We fixed the electronics and cabling for a 10th of the price. Now he has music playing in this room.
My friends are world famous remastering engineers and they share my sentiments concerning Magicos (and Steve Hoffman used the Focus for much of his DCC remastering work). If I hadn’t heard how uninteresting to just bad sounding Magicos are so often, I wouldn’t have made a comment. This applies to every other Magico speaker at a much higher prices, the Q1 to the S7 and Q5. So, if they finally made a palatable speaker for music, great.
My wife who has very critical hearing, nearly ran from the Walker room at the LAAS show after listening to Magico S5 with a VAC IQ 200. She liked the amp in other systems but disliked the speakers at the show (the worst was hearing Magico with Jadis equipment and a big pair of unknown SS amps making a guitar sound like a ukelele).
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ebm-Kevin Gray, Steve Hoffman, Robert Pincus-all agree. Kevin prefers Harbeths. They are more expert than you. There wouldn’t be any great reissued LPs or CDs without them. I am not an audio expert, but after hearing Magicos at four shows and two showrooms, I have a lot of information to tell me they are speakers that are missing the music to obtain a "sound." I've been in high end audio for three decades and am a amateur recording and mastering engineer for an orchestra, chamber group and several large choirs in Los Angeles. Some of my work is at USC and UCLA. I have excellent hearing.
I’ve heard many excellent speakers and they didn’t require megabuck equipment and cabling to sound great. Magicos apparently do and not just any equipment and cabling, but really special items. My wife chose the Von Schweikert/VAC/Kronos room as the one she prefers to all the others. That’s up there in price like the big Magicos I heard. I’d take Wilsons or B&Ws before I’d buy any of the Magicos I heard and those aren’t on my want list.
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For those who enjoy their Magico speakers, wonderful. My unfortunate acquaintance with many of their speakers has soured me on the brand as well as my friends. |
Kevin Gray uses them and Andreas Meyer uses big B&Ws at Sony studios where he has done fantastic work. I think Harbeths are constricted at the frequency extremes so I don’t want them. Von Schweikert speakers colored, yeah, right. The number one audio system at shows for the past three years has been his Ultra 11s as written up in Absolute Sound, Stereophile, Enjoy the Music, Positive Feedback and others, not Magicos. You are correct. I shouldn’t be here since I am not adding anything to Magico owner worshippers. But denigrating great remastering engineers whose tastes coincide with mine is dumb. Pleasant coloration in a speaker is less important to us then communication of the message-the music and Magico doesn’t do it for us. All those great recordings from the late 50s and early 60s were generally mastered on colored speakers and often (like most British recordings) were using Tannoys.
I want to hear back from Alexb76 who started this thread) for his second thoughts on rehearing the A3s. |
Sciencecop - I know all about the critics who are enamored with Magicos. You didn't have to waste your time proving it to me. However, why is it every time there is a new speaker, it's so superior to the last? That's what I don't like about most critics, they push the new and denigrate the old products.
I didn't twist any facts, there is a large group of audiophiles who dislike Magico speakers as there are many owners of Magico speakers who prefer them.
I gave Magico speakers a fair assessment based on many auditions of them (at least a dozen audio shows and two retail showrooms), occasionally using my own recordings (classical, jazz and Yello for pop). My friends likewise gave them fair auditions. That's why it's my opinion.
As to the A3s, maybe Magico changed their formula and made a speaker that sounds more like music playing to me. The thread started quite negatively didn't it? I waiting to hear back from the author and see what he thinks and why. I am not planning to purchase Magico speakers. I am planning on purchasing either a Von Schweikert VR55K or Lumenwhite Kyara. They both work together perfectly with a VAC IQ200.
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melbguyone Are you reporting me for starting opposite views from those who actually experienced Magico speakers and from other threads? We are not trolls. The thread was established by a negative view and you want similar views eradicated? I am on other threads where trolls tell us passive tweaks can cause fires and radiation dangers and who have no knowledge of the product and will never try the product. Those posts need to be removed, not opposite opinions based on experience with the products. |
I didn't know there was a previous thread on Magico A3s. Some posters also found the A3 not to their liking and dark sounding.
tutetibiimperes
199 posts
04-23-2018 10:34am
I don’t know if I’d agree about the similarities with the S5. I heard the
S5 in the Synergitic room and thought they were amazing. The A3 just
didn’t wow me.
It didn’t sound bad by any means, but compared to the Paradigm Personas and
Revel F228be it seemed a bit flatter and didn’t resolve detail as readily.
I’d go as far as to say it had a slightly ‘dark’ tonality.
Some of that could have been the various room setups, and you really can’t go
wrong with any of them. I could see someone having a preference for the
A3 if they prefer that darker sound signature.
mekong56
117 posts
04-25-2018 3:19pm
I was really excited to hear the A3 at AXPONA, and I was pretty
underwhelmed as some of the others here have stated. Could be the show
conditions, but I was not impressed with what I heard (I heard them on
Saturday). I would like to hear them again at a dealer.
firefightingrob30 posts04-21-2018 8:47amI heard the A3 at Axpona and didn't find them to be anything special outside of build quality. Their sound did not set them apart from the many other speakers in the price range, in fact there are many others that I prefer. I am a S5 Mk1 owner.
FWIW- the person sitting behind me was raving about how great they sounded while I was thinking, meh.
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ebm It is not only my opinion, but the opinion of several on a previous thread, this thread, many notable mastering engineers as well as current Magico owners. Note that Folkfreak hated the sound as demonstated at shows. I found them soulless even using VAC and Jadis gear. However, Folkfreak has managed to make his system sound warm, organic, open and melodic. I'm waiting to hear from the founder of this thread.
Melbguyone-You're new to audiogon. You have no idea what a forum train wreck is until you've read threads on Synergistic Research fuses and Total Contact. There one can find trolls who dismiss tweaks without hearing them and make up stories concerning dangers in using them as well as casting aspersions on sex, race and religion. I've done nothing other than voice my opinion.
I want to hear from as many users and hearers of Magico speakers as possible but on both threads on A3s two posters dominate.
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Pokey just poked another hole in your unambiguous delight in Magico speakers; in particular, the A3. Why don’t you tell him to leave this thread? I fully agree with him. Calling me a troll really burns me up so I will persist in answering your inane accusations. Stop pestering me and I will not respond. I haven't heard the A3 so I have no opinion concerning it. |
That is a very interesting coupling. The VTL pre and Krell amp are very neutral sounding equipment. The speaker is supposed to be neutral sounding as well. It would be interesting to hear. |
Has anyone heard Magico speakers sound great with VAC, VTL, Ayon, Conrad Johnson, BAT or Pass amps? Comments concerning how wonderful they sound have recently only documented only a few brands in the past week. |
Maybe that’s one reason Magico sounds bad most of the time. I heard them with several VAC amps and truly bad sounding with a Jadis amp. Many tube amps used to drive them instead of solid state. Maybe underpowered even for the smaller speakers, like B&Ws that crave power. |
