Magicos are chesty


admit it.

E
erik_squires

Showing 2 responses by shadorne

@helomech

I love the sound of polypropylene cones. My first higher end speaker was Energy Pro 22 with a poly mid-woofer woven onto a rubber surround.

That said, my experience is that polypropylene cones almost always sound more rolled off in the 1 to 3 KHz range and more lively around 200 to 300 Hz (a more “chesty” sound). This gives them a “warm” characteristic versus pulp/paper which has a more lively sound. Both can sound good.

In the case of Magico, from internal pictures it seems they use a large internal washbasin size plastic cabinet around the midrange. Ostensibly to limit the backwave from the woofer influencing the mid range. I suspect this plastic tub could add a warm chesty coloration - vinyl shower or vinyl bath tub will give vocals that kind coloration should you be inclined to sing in the bathroom.
My guess is you are hearing the sound of the polypropylene plastic bucket that houses the midrange.

Polypropylene cones always had a chesty sound - as if the vocalist had a bit of a cold. It was apparent in many of those designs of the 80’s - BBC speakers and Mission 770 etc. Very popular back then as you punch the cone out of a sheet of polypropylene very cheaply.

The problem is that polypropylene is non-fibrous and tends to store rather than dissipate acoustic energy so it vibrates characteristically - not a good material either for a speaker cone or cabinet for a speaker cone.

You can observe this effect with any plastic bucket when you start filling it with water - the frequency is lower mid range.

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