Rockport's or Magico's

Dracule1, that's great that you found a speaker that fits your discerning tastes at a fraction of the price of others that you listened with. There is probably a better way to get that across than with the snide, self-congratulating remarks you chose. Then in classic good taste you leave your own choice for people to guess at--Boston Acoustics?

Everyone has strong feelings about speaker choice and many opinions differ as strongly as the various designers that created them. We are all fortunate that there are enough lines left to give us all choices at so many price points.

Comments about the performance of speakers in shops describe only that set up, naturally. I heard the Magicos and Rockports at Goodwins as well --hooked up with Boulder electronics. I have also heard speakers from those lines at many dealers, at Jeff Fritz's place mentioned above and in peoples homes. In each system they sounded vastly different. For instance the same floor standing Magico's with Boulder at Goodwins, I would not have recognized sound-wise at the Munich show with Spectral and a Music Server. Are we getting the importance of context?

This is like the Maggie lover that hates Wilson etc...

Both speakers are chameleon-like and both have their charms, strengths and specific presentations that define them. Diversity and choice. These are wonderful trademarks of high end that we should embrace and promote.

If you have a point to make, couch it in superlatives about the speaker you chose and how it compares favorably with the Magico's, Rockports etc. based on your (context here) evaluations. Teach someone a new trick rather than the usual "I heard ABC speakers at DEF dealers and they _sucked_ compared to my new ...... at a fraction of the...., Are you keeping your new Bose Wave System a secret? :-P The same goes for the tired old magazine rips. Are you writing from a script?

Everyone has a favorite speaker because we listen for different cues in music that trip our switch. Both the Magico's and Rockports have great musical triggers given the right system. Both lines offer diversity in choice and have survived brutal commercial market tests to become and remain successful at dealers. That's more than can be said for some of the "out of nowhere" designs that get pub and sell direct based on audiogon reviews.

The best advice for the OP considering one or the other design is to buy the ticket and hear both in similar set ups. Goodwins out East would be a good spot. First hand listening is the only way to judge speakers at this level.

>>>" I didn't want to sound like I was schilling these speakers. I have no financial ties to RSA."<<<

That is admirable, however making the statement that you found a pair of speakers at a fraction of the price of the Magico/Rockports that you prefer and then not naming them seems to _beg the question_... Once asked.. the ready answer appears.

Those RSAD speakers must be very good. A $13k, spec'd -10db at 30hz stand mount design that best's established floor standing full range loudspeaker designs is certainly ground breaking...

To each his own. However, short-changing two established full range designs in the interests of promoting your own less expensive off-market choice with almost no context is not all that convincing.

Those custom made, upgrade option RSAD designs are not at any US dealer I've been to nor have I read, seen or heard of them off-line. There is a line of reasonable questions one can follow from that but we'll leave it there.

If the alternatives are being entertained and sometimes informed by the HE Audio press or making purchase decisions based on some of the context-less infomercials that get posted here then the choice is a pretty simple one.

Magazines, imperfect as they may be serve a vital purpose in maintaining what is left of our many purchase options and choices in this high-end hobby. As usual, ymmv. That there are still Rockports, Magico's and a host of others including RSAD for us to choose from is a _great thing_.

No lecture's. Just a different POV since yours came across as a tad one-sided. Enjoy the RSAD's. No doubt they are great performers for the money and appear to be a good value. You seem a little worked up. We're just sharing different opinions and we're both entitled to them.

I know, there should only be one or two class A product selections per category that loosely follow your own listening preferences and its all an ad-conspiracy, I get it. :o)

>>>" I didn't want to sound like I was schilling these speakers. I have no financial ties to RSA."<<<

That is admirable, however making the statement that you found a pair of speakers at a fraction of the price of the Magico/Rockports that you prefer and then not naming them seems to _beg the question_... Once asked.. the ready answer appears.

Those RSAD speakers must be very good. A $13k, spec'd -10db at 30hz stand mount design that best's established floor standing full range loudspeaker designs is certainly ground breaking...

To each his own. However, short-changing two established full range designs in the interests of promoting your own less expensive off-market choice with almost no context is not all that convincing.

Those custom made, upgrade option RSAD designs are not at any US dealer I've been to nor have I read, seen or heard of them off-line. There is a line of reasonable questions one can follow from that but we'll leave it there.

If the alternatives are being entertained and sometimes informed by the HE Audio press or making purchase decisions based on some of the context-less infomercials that get posted here then the choice is a pretty simple one.

Magazines, imperfect as they may be serve a vital purpose in maintaining what is left of our many purchase options and choices in this high-end hobby. As usual, ymmv. That there are still Rockports, Magico's and a host of others including RSAD for us to choose from is a _great thing_.

Drac, I never judged your choice or characterized the Sason's LF response as a negative. Nor did I judge the Sason's other than to say they were likely a well made speaker design based on positive comments, including yours.

I never mentioned Wilson speakers, so there seems no point in dragging them in as another pin cushion for you to spike. You really do have quite the chip on your shoulder.

Had I ever seen the Sason's or knew where they were demoing I'd love to hear them. Maybe at the next RMAF. They look like a good speaker design. You found a great deal. Good for you.

So go listen and experience music's calming influence.

BTW, kudos to Baby Bear and Koegz. I had not seen their descriptions and sound comments above, before now. Really well explicated and not a hint of edge or narcissism. Both make great points about the speakers differences and defining character. Well done.

Obviously you took great personal offense to my comments above and are still struggling with that. My apologies if you took anything as a personal attack.

Since I have great respect for the talent and commitment of Andy Payor and Alon Wolf and feel that neither speaker is overpriced given their material and performance value, I took issue with your comments...

>>"Go figure-the most enjoyable and rewarding speakers are not these megabuck speakers stereophool and the crapsolute sound are drooling over."<<

I didn't know the thread was about naming a personal favorite or "taking sides". I was unaware the OP's question had anything to do with magazines, the value of their opinion, the relationship between ads and reviews or the fact that you purchased a $13k speaker that you preferred over the models being asked about.

My opinion of the two speaker lines is that I have heard both enough to know I could live very happily with either the M5's or Arrakis (the models I heard most recently)-- though I might choose my electronics differently depending on which I ended up with.. With the seemingly unlimited dynamics and wide-open bandwidth of the M5's I might stay with my ARC front end and Berning Quad Z amps. Were I to live with the Antares or Arrakis I might consider the Solid State Luxman, Griffin or (Hybrid) Lamm mono's and DCS or Esoteric separates at the front end. Of course I am only dreaming....

I tend to be more conservative about tossing definitive opinions around regarding electronics or speakers that I have not yet had in my home. That has nothing to do with protecting anyone, just a personal choice.

Regards,

Grant

Tis is a pretty good example of how differently we all listen and how different our priorities are regarding the intricate cues in music that draw us in. There are many aspects to any one speaker systems performance and design but infinitely more diverse and delicate are the differences in the way we all listen for that connection to music and the aspects of sound that bring a recording to life.

Aesthetics is still another chapter. We are all fortunate to have so many choices and different ways of appreciating music through excellent systems. Two great speaker systems, no "right" answer.