Magico compared to Tannoy

I am mijostyn's friend who picked up the Magico S7s yesterday.  Obviously I haven't settled in with them yet, but right out of the box I was blown away. I fired up the Dead's Dick's Picks Vol 29 5/19/77 from the Fox Theater, Atlanta, and as soon as I heard the opening banter on Track 1, it brought tears to my eyes, as I thought I was sitting at the sound board. As a veteran of 200+ Grateful Dead shows, this was the first time I felt like I was actually back at the show as opposed to simply listening to a recording. Miniature image? Hahaha, 300lbs of aluminum enclosed speaker with 3 10" woofers and a JL Fathom  f133 sub per side was anything but. They move a lot of freaking air! And at 4 1/2 feet tall they present a realistic sound stage. Sorry, I haven't heard Tannoys in about 50 years, so can't compare.

@mijostyn, the Dead used 48 McIntosh MC-2300 amps in their Wall of Sound, and AFAIK they never blew one. They would, however, routinely blow drivers, invariably the sound crew would replace a woofer or 2 during intermission in the Wall of Sound era, usually due to Phil's lightning bolts. As far as imaging goes, no one has ever explained how a planar speaker the size of a wall is supposed to faithfully reproduce the sound of a cymbal which emanates from basically a point source. The reason line array drivers came into being was to be able to fill the entire large arena with sound. The Dead always sounded their best in a smaller venue like a 2-4,000 seat theater. Even then, the sound was incomparable if you sat close enough to hear the musicians own amps and the drums unamplified. Even after the Wall of Sound, Jerry and Phil continued to use MC-2300s as their own personal amps.

@fred60, yes, I have an Oppo UDP-205 so HDCD supported.  Fine with me if the Dead keep releasing in HDCD :).  I subscribe to Dave's Picks, so I'll have to go home and check out #29. Whatever you do, hang on to that Europe '72 box set, it's getting to be worth $$$!

 Not to mention that if Mac amps are so hot why are you so chasing down a pair of JC 1+'s?

Simple, my old Watt/Puppies have an efficiency of 93 dB, the S7s are rated at 89 dB. Just trying to get some headroom back. The JC1+'s appear to give the most bang for the buck. I'm afraid a pair of Boulder 3050s is a bit out of my league :)

@fred60, somehow the lack of HDCD on the 205 escaped me. I do have, though, a 105 that I'm using in my workout room, so I'll A/B them