Magico Comparison

"Engineering-wise, if you have to go to that much effort to suppress cabinet sound, then why not get rid of the cabinet altogether?"

Cabinets are generally needed for good full range bass in a larger room. Downside is if/when unwanted resonance occurs.

I think its a good question how much cabinet rigidity is needed and how to get it most cost effectively. Obviously, larger cabinets are more prone to unwanted resonance issues. Magico likes aluminum cabinets these days I believe. The result is quite an impressive piece of engineering. But metal tends to ring like a bell so perhaps that changes the equation in terms of what is needed to provide SOTA performance overall.

Consider new KEF ls50 monitors for comparison. Most say these are the cats meow in terms of design and build quality. But they are small and sell for $1500 list. Is anything more needed for a smaller room that these might be suited for? Could this design be scaled up effectively for somewhat larger rooms? How cost effectively compared to Magico? I suppose the answer is the KEF Blade that sells for $30000 or so I believe, half the price of Magico. If the two are comparable at all, that would mean something.

Just some food for thought.

Mapman, I dined on that thought at the recent NYC Audio show. I heard the small Kef 1s50? for $1500. I heard the Kef blade for $30K. I heard a mid level Kef floorstanding speaker. And I heard the Kef sponsored "live" show with electric/amplified guitar, bass, drums and vocalist.

I prefer my Magico based system to each of those four Kef demonstrations, even the "live" event - respective of cost. But that is just me. Kef is developing an interesting concentric driver. TAD has another. It just did not sound convincing to me in those show conditions.

Magico goes to a lot of effort to reduce cabinet resonances. I think the reason they don't get rid of the cabinet all together is because this is how they want to present bass reproduction in their close-to-inert, sealed cabinets. Magico bass does sound different from some that of some other brands that have no cabinets, ported cabinets and purposefully resonant cabinets.

Peterayer,

I'm sure KEF and Magico do not sound the same, so preference will always be a consideration.

But in terms of overall performance, how did the KEF Blades compare to Magico? What was similar and what was different?

Thanks.

Mapman, I can't answer that question directly. I can only compare the
experience of
listening to the Blade system at that show and to my system at home. Well,
based on two completely different settings, systems and music, I did not find
the Blade system as engaging as my system built around the Magico Mini 2. It
sounded more diffuse, less image specific and less grounded.
Timbre was not as natural. It was not as dynamic and there was less
presence.

In terms of similarities, I would say that both the Blade and the Magico
speakers that I have heard are both very coherent. Kef has developed that
coincident driver and the side firing woofers send that energy away where it
spreads out and is heard as reflection. My Mini 2 and the Q3, Q5 and Q7, and
the V2 and M5 are all
very coherent. I did not find the V3 to have this coherence. Perhaps because
the bass drivers are far removed from the mid and tweeter or the demo was
just too nearfield so the drivers didn't integrate well.

The Blade did sound slightly bigger and was very slightly more extended. I
didn't notice many similarities. In short, it did not sound as convincing and I
lost interest in the music. I know that the Blades have many fans and that
they have been well reviewed. I'm sure in a carefully set up home
environment with the right equipment, they could sound very good. I also
know that Magico is not for everyone.

Whether this was a result of the room, the set up, the other equipment, I can
not say. Nor are my comments a direct comparison between the Mini 2 and
the Blades, there are just too many variables involved. My earlier post was in
reference to the three systems which had Kef speakers in them, and what I
thought of the sound in general and in those settings, nothing more. I was
happy to put my LPs back on and to listen to my system when I returned
home.