Magico vs the world

My brother and I wandered into the Magico room at the show in LA last summer. We have been at this for a while. My brother used to set up Von Schweikert speakers at shows for Albert in the 90's. His ear is much better than mine. We both have had high quality systems, while not mega dollar, good solid systems. Anyway, we both had never heard Magico and were really interested in hearing them. At the show, the Magicos were presented by a nice reputable dealer from here in SoCal, so we thought this is going to be good!  They were not. We listened for a few minutes and looked at each other and said, 'lets get outta here' Sorry, but these speakers were the most over rated, non-musical, sterile sound, I, personally have ever heard. I figured that most of the folks who were in the room and liked them must not have a good ear. Meaning they would not know a good speaker if it bit them in the rear. I mean not borderline 'not great' but actually, 'really not good'. The cool part of that show was that Albert was there and my bro chatted with him, he had not seen him for 25 years. Plenty of good sound at that show, just not in the Magico room. 

@mikesawtell Which magicos did you hear?
I don't think its a matter of people not having a good ear more just a matter of taste. There are also so many variables... what were the electronics, what was the room like, what were they playing?
People with well trained ears love magico so I don't think its some issue of them appealing only to novice listeners. Actually the s5mk2 and m2 is on stereophile class A 2020 recommendations. And every pro reviewer and those who listen to magico that I've seen gush about them. Feelings like yours are relatively rare from what I've seen. But of course they may not to be your taste and I am not negatively criticizing you at all. This is subjective.

Not sure the model number of the speaker. Very expensive room however. The speakers I believe were around $20K per pair. It was the Magico room last summer, 'The Show' in LA. Rooms that impressed me were the ATC speakers from Europe, the Odyssey room, Joseph Audio room. Many rooms were set up poorly. The Magico room as I recall did not benefit from 2 additional very expensive sub woofers they had set up with it. I even asked why would you need 2 sub woofers with $20K speakers? I think the subs were around $5k for the pair. The sound was not at all musical to me. Maybe I heard a bad recording or the room was not set up properly but was not impressed. To each his own.

Well, I've listened to various Magicos, mainly the S1 MkIIs through to the S5s. I don't really think of the S3s or S5s as being cool or clinical, as some have implied, just very real - with the right matching equipment and lots of watts driving them. Superb soundstaging and imaging with, for the most part, great tonal balance and timbre. However, this doesn't apply to the S1 MkII: I tried a pair for a fortnight and hated them - crystal clear, but also sibilant, with a treble emphasis and limited bass. The S3s seem to be the Magico sweet spot, whereas the A3s are so so - good, but not spectacular - which tells you a lot about the technology in their more expensive speakers.

Interestingly, Wilson Benesch reveal many similar benefits, with their carbon fibre models at very high prices; and similar problems with their lesser models. However, even the Act needs the Torus bass emitter - so I would probably buy the Magico S3 MkII.

So, after years of experimentation with everything from Sonus Faber to Tannoys, I settled on a brand that gets very little exposure, but is big in terms of its 'bang for your buck' quotient: the Audio Solutions Figaro L - from a distant Lithuania. Superb cabin design, imaging as good as the front end allows, huge soundstage and bass, and tremendous finesse when required. Superb treble extension and control, a slight hint of warmth, but wonderful clarity and articulation of both instruments and voices. Great with jazz, classical music and rock. They are hardly heard of in most audio circles, but offer 95% of what the S5s offer for a fifth of the price. Not the absolute last degree of realism, but certainly more than nearly all of the speakers mentioned above, apart from Magico and Vivid (the Giyas). Note, the "Ls" are significantly larger and better than the "Ms", and they offer considerably more than the likes of Vandersteen, B&W, Kef, Wilson Audio, etc. They are also pretty efficient at 93db, so they love my 35 watt amp. 

Like Magico, they represent a new wave of innovative design, but at a quite different price point - at least with their Figaro series. 

For what its worth ................      

I have heard the Q7 with Dan D'Agostino M400 monoblocks and a crazy expensive dac.
I think that my PrimaLuna HP Integrated, Orchid dac and Tekton Design Double Impacts are 80% there, and has more natural sounding voices.It would be fun to compare the Tekton Ulfberht with the Q7

This was in a home, not at a show