Magico A5 or KEF blade 2?

What sound characteristics are most important to you?

next 10 years……..

that’s funny.

Looking for speaker that plays all kind of music since I listen to everything.

If 10 it is exaggerated. Let's say next 5 years lol.

Thanks 

MAGICP A5 better stage,dynamics and bass detail.

@riley804:

"that’s funny."

@mountainsong:

"lol" 

I guess there's an "inside joke", here but it's not clear to me what it might be. 

I've had my Silverlines for 15 years and have no complaints, especially now that  I've finally been able to afford an amp that provides them with enough power to do them justice.

I would say it depends upon the room. Blade and Blade 2 both need a wider room than the A5 to shine, and that's why KEF Reference series exists.

Have you heard either speaker? I bought the Blades and after a long line of headliners in this price range. The A5 has an impressive midrange, but the in room roll off starts at 5khz and my room’s not reflective enough to benefit from that.

Kehm the blades work well in most rooms you do not need  to wide a room b lade 2s wil work in a médium sized room they do not need to be placed especially far apart a good spread would be 8 yo 12 feet apart but they can go closer

The blades benefit from toe in

W3 have had blades on display for over 10 years

When driven properly they are amazing 

DAVE AND troy

AUDIO INTELLECT NJ

kef blade dealers 

My room is a wide open space living dining maybe 500 SQF.

I don't seat that far but they have all this space to breathe.

Much appreciated.

I had listened and owned Magico A1.

A3 at shows, A5 at a dealer.

The A5 are much better speakers. The built quality alone is enough to stop any comparison. Fortunately, it delivers the sound as well. Nothing below $50K touches it.

Tannoy Kensington for a lifetime.

I would think if you owned the other Magico speakers in the past they will sound the most natural to you if only familiarity. As to calling one better than another. I. Don’t engage in stone throwing.

I had owned KEF reference 1 and 3 both to my liking.

well there's one speaker that will be just as good or better than the A5 and that's the monitor audio platinum 500 and it's only about $34,000

@mountainsong 

You should listened to the A5 and the Blade, they are very different, you will know in a sec which one you like. Just make sure they are both setup properly. I don't see how any of the comments here can help you.  

My experience is that the soundstage and presentation differ rather dramatically between the KEF Blades and the Magicos.  The Magicos present a large but shallow image that is in front of you and is less immersive.  The Blades (like Other composite speakers; Vivid, Wilson Benesch, etc…) delivers a more immersive experience with a deeper soundstage.  

other things to note, I have a friend who had S5 MK2s and had move to M series.  Magico likes power.  The more power you can give them, the better they sound.  KEF doesn’t require tons of power.  Alternatively, this came up in another thread, there are some practical limitations in terms of output via that UniQ driver.  If you like to turn it up to 11, the Blades may not be the perfect choice.  This is not an issue at normal to reference levels, only beyond reference levels.  
 

Thank you. I won't play too loudly.

The power needs on magicos was a good point.

I have A1 with Luxman 595 and i feel i am underpowering thembut for near field very low vol in my apt do the job.

.

A5, 100%. If you are driving your A1 with the Luxman 595, you will have no issues with the A5 which is more efficient. Just upgraded from an A3. I am done for the next 10 years ;)

Neither. In that price range Usher has some outstanding but relatively unsung high-value speakers like the TD20 and TD10. Not only do they probably sound as good or better than the Magico or KEF, they’ll look much better doing it.  Also not too hard to drive.

https://soundapproach.com/usher-diamond-td-20-3-way-tower-speakers-pair.html

Another good option would be the Acoustic Zen Crescendo. FWIW, and best of luck.

I think the Rockport's sound much better than the Magico.  Magico sounded sterile and thee Rockports like an instrumeent.

Rockport are colored and soft, like a slightly better version of SF. Some like that kinda of sound, that is why you need to listen for yourself.  

I bought the blades. I previously had the kef R105/3 for 25 years, they were the first reference to use the uniq and I can assure everyone the uniq isn't spl limited. I'm pretty sure I ended up back with kef after trying focal, persona, usher be20 dmd's, revel salon 1 and 2's and a few others is because after 25 years with the r105/3's for whatever they did right or wrong they  trained my brain so when I tried to change brands something always seemed not quite right, IME depending how much time you've spent with your magico's the A5 will probably sound the most right to you in the long run. The Blades have a borderless soundstage with startling image placement and are really impressive, but if the tone isn't what you're used to I think you'll always be tweaking instead of enjoying. I have a couple great dealers that will let me try their floor demo's at home for a few days and when they don't have what i'm interested in I buy used here and listen as long as I need b4 reselling. Good luck

Steve