@james633 I think I remember your prior Thiel posts as James63 back in the day. Nice to see your posts again. I was into Thiel when you were shopping around for speakers back then, so I remember paying attention to your posts.
I was about to buy the A3 this month however, I am running into some room issues (maybe too small). I demoed the A3 with Mark Levinson 585 integrated and it was a fantastic match. It sounded like a much more expensive speaker with great detail, large sound stage and the speakers really disappeared. They also sounded very good at ALL volume levels that I tested at, from very low to semi-loud. The demo room was rather perfect so maybe the speaker does not sound this good in not so perfect rooms.
To that end my dealer has allowed me to demo these speakers for a few days at my home. I will do so sometime in early 2019. I have a feeling the A3 is going to be a little big for that small room but I will not know until I try.
If you have the space and the funds you may also want to check out the Magico S3MKII. In my opinion, it is better than the A3 but also bigger and more expensive. A KEF Blade (can get used at $15K) would be something I want to do over the A3 and S3MKII if I had even more space. I loved the Thiel CS 3.7 and like the Blade even more.
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Yyzsantabara,
Yes that was me and I remember our conversations. I contacted audiogon about fishing emails I was receiving from their site and they just closed my account with no discussion. That was their version of customer service....
I lost interest in the hobby there for a bit. I had my first kid, a new job and a new house (picked up other new hobbies too) and I am now just getting back into sitting down and really listening to music. I did dabble on headphones for a bit too (related to the new baby...)
I am not sure I will buy anything this time around. I am just kicking the tires at this point but have always admired magico from a distance. My front end and room never seemed good enough to chase the 30k+ speakers as it would be better spend on either of the prior.
But at $10k I would bit on these. I also play with the idea of buying something used and unheard like Vivid B1, any of the good kefs, or what ever. I like to gamble I guess lol. |
Congrats. In the last 2 years, I also had a kid, a new job (work from home) and I just moved into a new home last month. Since I work from home I am looking for a speaker to fit my small home office. I was checking out the A3 before I knew the room dimensions of my new space.
I have been guided by the wisdom of A’gon users to the following (I have a thread on small room speakers):
1) Harbeth SHL5+ (considering this because it is totally different from MY sound and good for long hours of listening)
2) TAD ME1 (2 dealers who carry both KEF REF1 and TAD ME1 say this is better, also good for long hours of listening)
I am going to demo these 2 next month and likely buy one of these so I can focus on music and work and not audio shopping.
One of the things I need is a system that will sound good at low volumes because I listen and work at odd hours when the baby is sleeping. The Magico A3 does this well, especially with Mark Levinson integrated. I am not sure if low volume goodness is a function of the speaker or the amp. This is a huge issue for me when I demo the 2 speakers I mentioned above. I cannot enjoy headphones as much as speakers and it is hard to hear the baby with phones on. |
I auditioned the A3’s at my local dealer last week. Maybe I was expecting to much, but I didn’t fall in love with them. It's was to bad because I was ready to buy. The soundstage, imaging, and placement of instruments were excellent. Unfortunately, the more I listened, I found the mids and highs a little harsh/edgy at times. The A3’s were connected to a Dan D’Agostino Progression amp which has 600w into 4 ohms, so plenty of power. We streamed Tidal through Roon using a Chord DAC (I didn’t catch the model) and the new Chord Hugo M Scaler. After listening to the A3’s we swapped them for the S1 MKII’s and they were much more refined and smooth. The S1’s MKII’s were excellent, but lacked the bass of the A3’s which is expected. The S1’s MKII’s were tempting but I knew I would end up missing the bass and I don’t want to add the sub. I also had a chance to listen to a pair of TAD E1’s and they were impressive, now discontinued so I could score an amazing deal. In the end I purchased the Sopra 2's.
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Interesting, I think that the Sopra tweeters are much coarser then the A3.
Did you listen to the Sopra on the same equipment? Roon always sound harsh and glossy to me. With such a transparent speaker like the A3 you would hear it clearly. I agree the S1 Mk2 are tempting...
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Unfortunately, I couldn’t audition the Sopra’s on the same equipment in the same room and we know that can make a difference. However, I use Tidal and Roon almost daily and we played tracks I’m very familiar with. Don’t get me wrong, the A3’s were good, they just didn’t win me over. I was ready to buy just based I what I had read. If I had 20K to spend I think I would have a tougher decision between the S3 MKII’s and Sopra 3’s. I will say they looked a lot better in person than they do online. |
I listened to them recently for about an hour at Rhapsody in NYC with an experienced audiophile friend who also does online reviews. Neither of us noted any harshness or edginess in the least. In fact we thought it to be one the smoothest, most transparent speakers we've heard in a long time. What makes them special is that they are able to impart an amazing amount of detail and clarity and sound smooth and extended. A very sophisticated sound. I'm very seriously considering them for my next speaker. |
It didn’t help that I listened to the S1 MKII’s after the A3’s and there was no comparison. Even the store owner who sat with me for almost 2 hours agreed the S1’s were much more refined. Granted the S1’s cost more, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. It was hard to go back to the A3’s after that. I wish they had something between the S1 and S3. Knowing myself, I would have bought the A3 and then been looking to upgrade to the the S series in the not so distance future, so probably best I didn’t buy. |
Seems like the main difference is the diamond coated beryllium tweeter vs the non coated beryllium tweeter. Hard to believe it would that much difference. |
Funny you should mention the tweeter. That’s exactly what the store owner pointed out. He also reminded me the S series uses an extruded aluminum cabinet and the A3 does not. I'm sure the crossovers are using different components as well. |
Dont know about that, but from what I heard with the A3 I could find no fault at all but of course in this game there is always something better. Best of luck with the S1mk2 if you decide to go that route.
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isn't the sopra 2 twice as much as the A3? Having had such bad luck buying speakers after being bowled over at the shop to having them fall on their face once home. I demoed the C60 in the same room with the same gear with Jamie helping me select tunes I was smitten with that speaker and he wouldn't let me pursue the purchase! That was feb 2018 and the A3 was due to come out soon and he told me if I was shopping in that range I really needed to wait til the A3 came out b4 I bought any speakers. |
Hey Steve, small world... Yes, to be fair the retail price of the Sopra's is 15K. I went into the demo super excited because I kept hearing the A3's punch well above there price, and unfortunately I just wasn't wow'd. I walked away underwhelmed, and that's okay because there are a lot of great options out there in the 10 - 15K range. Now if I had 22K, the Magico S3 MKII would be at the top of my list. Jamie's a good guy and I really wanted to give him the business. You should go listen to those TAD's he's selling off. They were impressive, 30K speaker for less than half the price... |
Without commenting on the sound, and focusing on buyers preferences, the A3 is outselling everything near its the price point of $9800. By a factor of 6 or 7 to one. We have had customers wait as long as 6 months to get a pair. And we have outsold the supply. Though the supply has begun to catch up and we can now deliver on most sales asap.
This is the buying public speaker with their dollars. |
I am a fan of A3 too. I'm selling my other gear to finance purchase. Seems the review at Soundstage Ultra mirrors what I heard with a short demo at dealers. The dealer was using Hegel 390. It's weird someone says treble was agressive! I never heard Sopra 2 so I can't comment but I did hear Kanta 2 and from quick listen speaker is leaner and not as coherent and lacks air compared to A3!
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For that price I would rather get the monitor audio Platinum 200 Gen 2 which look about a million times better and sound just as good or better. |
You should update the price on here they're no longer 9800 I believe they're like 12,000 US now. |
