Magico compared to Tannoy

gammaman, not to mention the JC 1+ is a better sounding amp than the Boulder. Boulder wastes a lot of money in fancy CNCed chassis and building them in America. The parts used in the JC 1+ are just as good if not better. It has a basic chassis and face plate that Parasound uses in several units saving money. Parasound is a brilliant company expert at making fantastic products at a reasonable price. The JC 3 phono stage is another prime example. You will not believe the difference when you fire up the JC 1s for the first time. 

Gammaman, everybody blows drivers. The article I read said the Dead gave up on the wall of sound because it was a PITA to set up and move and "it was too expensive to keep replacing broken McIntosh amplifiers." 
With glass panels and meters Macs are not built for commercial use regardless of their performance in residential systems.
Now, how do large ESLs reproduce a cymbal? Simple. Everyone knows that a driver that is larger than the wavelength of the sound it is reproducing will begin beaming and it will start beaming in it's largest dimension. Thus a 1/4" ribbon 5 feet tall will disperse beautifully to the side but above and below you get nothing. An ESL that is 8 feet tall and 36 inches wide will beam down to about 450 Hz laterally An down to 150 Hz vertically. So as far as frequencies above 450Hz are concerned you are only listening to that very small part of the diaphragm directly in front and at the level of your ear. The lower the frequency the more of the diaphragm you are listening to. So, a large ESL will reproduce pinpoint high frequency sounds and a huge kettle drum. Now since the entire 3 X 8 foot diaphragm weights less than the voice coil of your loudspeaker's tweeter, has almost the same acoustic impedance as air, is controlled by the electrical signal down to the level of the molecule and has distortion levels more than a magnitude lower than any dynamic drive, not to mention that it is a full range driver and there is no crossover in the midrange or treble means that what you hear is far closer to reality than any dynamic speaker. Not to mention that if Mac amps are so hot why are you so chasing down a pair of JC 1+'s? 

Gammaman, finally got you to say something! Welcome.

The size if the image has nothing to do with the height of the speaker. That is a visual trick. Close your eyes and the image is no bigger than the Watt/Puppy's not that the S7's are not better but the bulk of the sound is coming from the tweeter and midrange driver just like the Watt/Puppies. They should be at ear level by the way. They are still point source speakers. If you put both sets of speakers in exactly the same position and height the image will be exactly the same size. This is not to say that the image of the S7 is not superior. I suspect it is. To get a front row image you need a Line Source, just like the Dead used at their later concerts after the Wall of Sound became to much of a PITA to move around. From what I read (being a John Curl fan) McIntosh amps were blowing up left and right. (That was a dig folks, he uses Mac amps but he is eyeballing JC 1+'s so there may be help for him yet.)

Anyway, can't wait to hear them. We will set up my Dayton Omni Mic and see how they do. I do not recall. Does your preamp have EQ capabilities?

I have a friend that just bought Magico S7s so I will find out soon. He replaced his Wilson Watt/Puppies with them. He has them on either side of a large screen. Big screen, miniature image, interesting combination.
He is driving them with McIntosh gear and Lyndorf's Room Perfect. I'll get over there with my measurement mic and see what it is really doing. Fun!