speaker upgrade from Magico A3
I'm hoping for some opinions and recommendations on a speaker upgrade. Thanks in advance for any helpful, non judgmental advice or recommendations.
Current system is : Aurender N200, T+A 200 DAC, T+A PA 3100 HV integrated, Magico A3 speakers, Pair REL S/510.
System is in a large room ( 30x35ft with 20 ft high pitched ceiling). Speakers 8ft apart 24" from front wall, subs next to speakers on outside. Very little to no opportunity for alternate positioning or room treatment.
Music prefs are 80% classical, 20% rock and techno.
I initially found the A3s to be lacking in base, so I added the subs which helped a lot. At times the A3s boarder on bright sounding to me, but not to my wife whose ears are better. I do fit into the category of "old man whose hearing is deteriorating." Just the same I would like to upgrade the speakers to something that would be an SQ upgrade and perhaps a better match to the room size. I can still appreciate musical nuances and although I may not have the ear I had 10 years ago, I am certain I could appreciate the upgraded SQ from a big jump in speakers. My ideal budget is roughly $20K but have the means to go higher if it meant amazing SQ.
If possible, I prefer to buy pre-owned, but have never purchased speakers out of state or had them shipped. I now have an opportunity for out of state pre-owned SF Amati Traditions for $19K or out of state dealer demo Magico A5s for $19.5K.
Local dealer has demo SF Serafino G2s for $23K which I could home demo if wanted or Amati G5s for $34K, also available for home demo.
I know Magico and SF are totally different. I have heard SFs several times at dealers (never at home) but my only Magico experience is current A3s. Is it weird to say I like both and not certain about which I prefer?
Intuition is telling me to go towards warmer and more musical which is why I've started to look at SFs. I live very close to The Music Room, but am not seeing any current speaker offerings that are calling to me, They have a pair of Dynaudio Confidence 50s for $20K, but it would cost me a 5% restocking fee and a PIA to home demo them. I can't seem to find much online info regarding them.
In case its relevant:
My previous system in this room (sold to finance something else) consisted of B&W 802 D3 with Macintosh MC462 ,Simaudio Moon 740P preamp and MSB discrete dac.. I found I was missing hifi music and started again with a small system, consisting of pre-owned Hegel H390 and the A3 speakers. I eventually added the Aurender and T+A Dac. A few weeks ago I had a local opportunity to trade the H390 for the T+A PA 3100 (plus cash), so I took it.
Oh I think that valuable info is very pertinent and would be very helpful/interesting to hear your thoughts and may well lead to some other good options to consider. |
I’m currently enjoying a T+A MP3000HV MK2 through a PA3100HV paired with Magico S5 and I think you’d be hard pushed to find better for the money. its a spectacular paring - the warmish and very musical PA3100HV is magical with the highly transparent and resolving Magico S5. Theres some amazing used deals for S5’s right in your budget. They’re quite spectacular. |
@rsf507 @soix -- Thanks. Compared to the A3s, the Serafinos seemed to have less midrange detail and also overall less focused (if that makes sense). I played a track that is overly bright on my system and it was still overly bright through the SFs. Vocals did seemed as good as the A3s, possible slightly better, but that may have been the room. I dont listen to many vocals so that wasn't something I cared about. @leeagc -- Thanks, I'm sure that is very true, however I'm finding that I am very reluctant to spend a lot of $$ on pre-owned speakers that I can't return. There are no pre-owned S5s at TMR or at any local dealers that I am aware of. |
Richard Vandersteen's speakers are polar opposites to Magico and worthy of consideration. Also Volti Audio which use waveguides/horns and sound full and lively. Their sensitivity is in the upper 90's dB/oct. You mention owning a pair of REL S/510 subwoofers. These unfortunately do not have variable phase adjustment, only phase flip which makes it difficult to integrate with your main speakers. Variable phase allows for positioning the subs where you would like them to be and not where their limited phase choice demands.
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