Opportunity to buy Demo Magico M2?

OP,

You said a couple of important things. One you love the sound of the speakers you have and you were not moved by the Magico. Whether bass increases over 500 hours or not you really want to love the sound. You want an emotional connection… didn’t sound like you got it..

I have heard a number of Magico. They are amazing speakers. But, they are so fast that they really highlight any slight hardness or analytical nature in upstream electronics. My personal guess is they would require a top notch all tube system to appeal to me.

What about top of the line B&W? Sonus Faber. I would listen to those.

When auditioning try to just experience the music… it should grab your heart. If not, it may be a technically great speaker but doesn’t capture music like your subconscious wants to experience it.

Your test set is plenty big. You check all those out, you are really likely to find a compelling set of speakers and extremely unlikely to miss something that would be earth shatteringly better. 
 

if for some reason you are unmoved by all of those… then you will have learned a lot and be ready to look at radically different designs. 
 

That is a great list.

OP,

Thamks for your progress report. Sounds like you are doing a very thorough job. Hopefully zeroing in on your what is good for you. 
 

look forward to hearing more.

@twoleftears 

+1 Well put.

OP,

Sounds like you are making progress. I have heard a lot of Magico and Wilson systems. I have always been very impressed… but also, I do not want that. At the highest level you get incredible detail… and natural sound,.. to a point… but you can get loose too much natural organic comfortable sound. I have carefully climbed to higher levels of components and speakers to have a wonderfully forgiving and natural sounding system that exactly appeals to my sensibilities.

It really sounds like you know what you like, have a very discerning ear, and are able to hear the speakers that fulfill that niche. I guess the only question is about the electronics driving the speakers you have heard. Do you know them well enough to be able to take them out of the equation (and the venue) when you hear the speakers. My guess from your descriptions is probably yes… but assume you swap Rowland amp (and preamp) with an Audio Research tube amp and the character of all the speakers will change considerably. You are comfortable knowing how this would change the character? To be honest… I have forgotten the electrons you own.

Just saying that over the last fifteen years my goals in sounds changed. Speakers were the first change I made, followed by swapping most of my other components to raise my system several levels.

I’m just talking to see if something strikes you as relevant. You have a very good concept of what you want… which can be the hardest part.

OP, Good for you! Keep it up.