Magico Q7 . . . wow

"Wow $165k should be WOW!!"

You would think!

When I've heard Magico speakers, they have been running off very high end 6 digit systems.

They sounded very good as they of course should at their price, especially with lighter classical and jazz music.

I'm not convinced they are that special though nor represent a great value though and that there are not more cost effective ways to get similarly good sound for much less, especially for more rock/pop types of music that present different challenges for good sound.

The build quality is top notch however. No doubts about that.

"Big Maggie and ML CLX comes close except that they lack a bit of weight and growl that a good size grand piano possesses. "

This is one reason I went with OHM Walsh speakers from Magnepans and having auditioned both ML and Magnepan . The sound has similarities to electrostat or planars but the Walsh driver is dynamic. Pianos, drums, etc. sound more like real drums. Plus the single Walsh driver covers everything up to 7-8 khz or so no driver integration issues with dynamic woofers or subs. The top end uses a more traditional soft dome tweeter.

"there has to be somebody out there who plans to drive Q7s with a hyper expensive "custom made by a little man in the rural mountains of Japan who smelts the metal for the wire for his handwound transformers" tiny triode amps that put out 2 "glorious single ended class A tube" watts. "

That sounds cool! Gotta have that!

Magico Mini 2 was reference standard musical when I heard them play an orchestral string recording off VAC amp, VTL pre-amp, DCS source and high end Nordost wires. Very detailed smooth and musical all at once.

Performance with other kinds of music with large macrodynamic swings was still very good a speaker that size but not reference standard.

Of course the Magico's did not do this all by themselves. The stuff feeding them upstream were undoubtedly a big part of the "magic". OTher very good speakers might have done similarly well and perhaps even better in some regards like macrodynamics. Microdynamics/transients were benchmark standard though so I know they can do it.

I heard larger Magico also once at a show for comparison in a YG demo. I heard nothing that would warrant describing them as not musical. This was on a different system with SS amp I believe. The sound was much different than the Minis with the good tube gear. Both were very good but different. I suspect in general what is upstream will make a huge difference. Hard to categorize what good speakers sound like accurately without hearing them in multiple different scenarios. Speakers make no sound by themselves.

Assuming I could afford them (bad assumption currently with two kids still to go to college) before I would make a final judgement on their value/performance, I would have to hear them on some different systems.

I think even my modest Minimus 7s would have sounded fantastic (limited bass extension assumed of course) on the rigs I have heard the Magicos on.

I want to hear weasels in carnegie hall.

"rzzzzz"

Wow, best in the world!

I guess I would expect that for that kind of money, at least in most any room resembling anything normal.

I'd like to try a shootout between my OHM 5s and those. On paper, they would seem to do all the same things well. ONly <5% of the cost, and a fraction of the weight though. Could they compete? I'd like to find out.

"If I had a dollar for every reviewer that said they just heard the best [enter component] they ever heard, I would be a millionare."

Yes, one certainly risks their credibility with a statement like especially based on a limited audition!

My personal opinion is that in the case of most any room that most anyone might have in their home, there are many speakers out there that do everything very well that might be deemed "best" based mainly on personal preference.

When we start dealing with larger spaces like auditoriums, etc,then the game inherently changes. No longer can a single speaker be best most likely. The physics associated with scaling sound to larger areas dictates well designed multi speaker systems to do the job well, as is evident in many better quality commercial sound systems out there for public audition in various facilities around the world.

I will say though that in terms of pure build quality, Magico would seem to be on the cutting edge. The question is more about value and what it really takes practically to achieve top notch/upper echelon sound in most peoples rooms.

I noticed recently that a used pair of magico minis were going here for the same price as a pair of avantgarde trios. Just found that interesting.

Here's some info on Luxury Goods. Magicos qualify I would say. CLearly, so do "luxury cars".

It is what it is. Value is in the eye of the consumer.

I love my Toyota Avalon!

Can any other systems at a similar price point arguably compete with this one?

I can't even fathom how I would tell which of two SOTA systems sounded better. They should all sound like being there I would think? Maybe there would be enough differences to compare and contrast. But I would expect six of one, half dozen of another at that point. I guess aesthetics, features, fit into my room/home, etc. would all come into play .

If I were a rich man......

Nil,

I think you are right that subjectively there is probably no single SOTA sound.

Audiophile that are tuned into this kind of thing do not all like the same kind of sound obviously so preferences would vary with SOTA type systems as well as any others I suppose.

Would a tube/vinyl and a SS/digital guy ever agree on the best sound? I don't know the answer, but it is surely not a lock.

IF one assesses a system from more of a objective technology/engineering perspective, it is probably easier to identify SOTA in a more objective manner. I would always expect good sound to result that is SOTA in at least some regards if not the absolute bomb in all ways for all.