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My findings on Magico V2.....what now?

Hi guys, I've finally managed to make a 250km trip to audition the Magico V2. The V2's were driven by Soulution 740 preamp and 710 power amp (each costing $40k and highly acclaimed by JV of TAS). The source used was a Soulution 745 disc player. So...the sound was G-R-E-A-T...but I sat there in the auditioning chair like a rock. To my surprise, I found myself unmoved and unstirred. By the 4th CD, I started to get bored. I felt almost none of the wonderful emotions I got when I auditioned the Avantgarde Uno G2 driven by Audio Note Meishu SET amp.

Should this experience be conclusive and enough for me to make my decision? Should I explore the V2 with other amps, say, the Pass XA100.5? As great as the Soulution combo is, they sounded sterile to me. And unfortunately the Magico dealer carries only a couple of brands for amps so I can't make any A/B comparison.
jtein

Showing 5 responses by jtein

jtein OP
36 posts
 
The Soulution equipment is definitely run-in. So is the V2, for sure.

Yep Bvdiman, that's the dealer. It's the only dealer carrying Magico in Malaysia. I didn't try them with other cable makes. Guess I was overawed by the whole set-up (the cables, power cords, power conditioner which is also made by him) so I dared not ask for the thing to be altered.

I guess the only way to know is to listen to more speakers of different makes.
jtein OP
36 posts
 
I sure have a lot of work to do....probably even more than you guys in the US. Because each dealer in my country carries only 3 or 4 makes so it's virtually impossible for me to audition electronics and speakers head-to-head. For example, now I want to listen to Thiel CS3.7, I'll have to visit a different dealer from the Magico dealer, which means I'll have to listen to the Thiel with a different set of electronics. Should I want to audition some Sonus Faber speakers, it's yet another dealer with yet another set of electronics. It's as good as buying blind. What the heck!
jtein OP
36 posts
 
Nolitan, I did bring my own set of favourite CDs to audition the Magicos. I just couldn't get into the music, even with my favourite CDs! It sounded totally uninvolving. For example, I couldn't hear the timbre and character of the piano played by Theolonius Monk (Live At The IT Club) which I did with the Avantgarde/AudioNote set-up. Guess it's time to move on. Which is a shame, because I really liked the way the Magicos look and the engineering that's gone into it.
jtein OP
36 posts
 
Hehe....now I know that if I want to start a thread that would elicit lots of responses, all I have to do is either praise a Magico product sky-high or say something not so favorable about it!

I'm not trying to knock on Magico (#1 in Ebm's eyes). Like I said, I love the way they look and the awesome engineering that's gone into it. Before the audition, I was hoping they would end up in my living room. But after listening to them, there's no way that I can part with $18k for what I've heard. And by the way, the V2's that I auditioned were fully run-in. So were the Soulution stuff.

Anyways, does the Thiel CS3.7 share the same sonic characterictics as the V2? Thinking of auditioning them.
jtein OP
36 posts
 
Rtn1, what amp do you partner your Thiels with? I don't necessarily have to go for SET amps/preamps. I'm thinking of Pass XA.5 series or the Parasound JC1/JC2.
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