Magico S1

One thing I should mention about my audition of the S1 is that the deep bass was phenomenal. I played some pipe organ recordings with pedal tones in the 30 Hz range and it was very impressive for a 7" driver. However, I will say that the woofer was flapping like crazy to put out that kind of bass. Of 7 or 8 speakers I auditioned in the price range of $8k to $16k, the S1 had the best deep bass of them all.

Recently I was in the market for new speakers. I auditioned the S1 and was very puzzled by what I heard. First, I tried them with an E.A.R. tube amp and found the sound very dark and hollow with vague imaging. It was disappointing to the point where I believe something was seriously wrong. Next I heard them with a Spectral solid state amp and it was just the opposite--very bright sounding, almost too bright for my taste. Based on this experience, I would guess the speakers are extremely sensitive to the driving electronics.

What are the speakers you compared with at 8-15k price range?

In addition to the Magico S1, I auditioned the Thiel CS3.7, B&W 802D, Verity Leonore, Sonus Faber Cremona M, Thiel CS2.7, and Aerial Acoustics 7T. I ended up buying the Sonus Faber (the CS3.7 was second choice) because I felt its midrange best captured the warmth and "feel" of live music (classical in particular).