On the 12th Day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

jfrech

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Sep 3, 2012
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Thanks, guys. Btw, my dealer offered to pick up the piano movers cost and he's going to voice them in a couple weeks so I'm in good hands.

Good dealers are just good. Not everyone value's this ....
 

PeterA

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Dec 6, 2011
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Now I'm going to rant here. Not just Magico but all speaker manufacturers and dealers. Why is it up to the consumer to move these damn things and set them up? Several on this forum (me included) have had to either hire piano movers or a bunch of guys to move and set up speakers that are >300lbs. There's no excuse for this when you sink $50k and upwards for something that looks so good.

Bruce, I don't think your rant applies to this situation.
 
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PeterA

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Hey if Peter loves em, I am sure I would to...I've heard Peter's system is it is extraordinary !

Congrats Madfloyd !!

I certainly do love these speakers. They are a real achievement and it will be fun to see further reports as the fortunate few take delivery of the very limited 50 pairs.

Thanks John for the kind words. Madfloyd is quite familiar with my system though I can not say for sure that it had any influence on his recent switch to Magico. I do know, however, that he bought his first Pass Labs amplifier after hearing my system.:)
 

Bruce B

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Apr 25, 2010
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www.pugetsoundstudios.com
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PeterA

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Just had to take another shot...huh? Carry on Peter...... :confused:

Bruce, I agree with your rant, but I apologize for bringing up a specific example to support the point you were trying to make about poor dealer service. I should not have mentioned Madfloyd's former speaker brand by name in a Magico Owners Circle forum where the tone should really be nothing but positive. I did not mean for anyone to take it personally.

Madfloyd has shown better restraint and rarely discussed his experience in public forums.

I did not mention the dealer and I will edit my post to eliminate any reference to a specific manufacturer.
 

BlueFox

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Nov 8, 2013
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Pity the poor person in the future who buys a used pair. I bought a hand truck to move my S5s from the garage to the living room. I bet the M project would crush the hand truck. :)
 

Frank750

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Jul 8, 2011
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Bruce, I agree with your rant, but I apologize for bringing up a specific example to support the point you were trying to make about poor dealer service. I should not have mentioned Madfloyd's former speaker brand by name in a Magico Owners Circle forum where the tone should really be nothing but positive. I did not mean for anyone to take it personally.

Madfloyd has shown better restraint and rarely discussed his experience in public forums.

I did not mention the dealer and I will edit my post to eliminate any reference to a specific manufacturer.

I don't understand Peter. Why not call out Wilson and especially the dealer for not doing what they're specifically being paid to do. Why else is the dealer in the chain if they can't even go to Mad Floyd's house and properly set up a $70k pair of speakers per Wilson's own company edict?
 

cannata

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Jan 30, 2014
510
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Now I'm going to rant here. Not just Magico but all speaker manufacturers and dealers. Why is it up to the consumer to move these damn things and set them up? Several on this forum (me included) have had to either hire piano movers or a bunch of guys to move and set up speakers that are >300lbs. There's no excuse for this when you sink $50k and upwards for something that looks so good.

We are celebrating Madfloyd amazing new toy, we did just fine without any ranting :rolleyes:
 

PeterA

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We are celebrating Madfloyd amazing new toy, we did just fine without any ranting :rolleyes:

Yes indeed. That rant was completely without merit and wholly inappropriate for this thread. My response hit a nerve so I deleted it to keep the thread on track.

Frank, I agree with you, but that is for another thread in another forum.

As the weeks go by, I hope this thread discusses how these amazing speakers continue to improve and how, IMO, they represent an example of the best that is currently available.
 

MadFloyd

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May 30, 2010
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As of the time of this post, the M's have about 115 hours on them. They are definitely changing. Music is flowing with less 'pinch' (a word I use to describe the impression of the sound being restricted).

Surfing around my digital library I listened to some opera (not something I would normally listen to). It's an older recording but the sense of space, clarity and seeming lack of any sort of artifacts made it quite enjoyable. The vocalists move around often and it was very convincing.
maria callas.jpg

I've been listening to some classical titles, such as:
folder.jpg
Reiner sound.jpg

I was reminded of a listening session with Lloyd (LL21) at Goodwin's where we heard the wonderful Rockport Altairs. Very open & effortless with great sense of space and scale. Julian Bream's nylon string guitar is so clean and maintains a believable size while the orchestra is appropriately large.

It's probably no surprise to anyone that Magico does classical really really well.

Here's another title I listened to. The detail, delicacy and speed off the bass was just incredible.
folder.jpg
 

microstrip

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May 30, 2010
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MadFloyd,

Do you already have an idea of how the sensitivity of the M-Project's compare to the S5's one? Asked in numbers, how many points do you have to decrease the volume of the XP30 to get an equivalent loudness of what you had with the S5?
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
14,411
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As of the time of this post, the M's have about 115 hours on them. They are definitely changing. Music is flowing with less 'pinch' (a word I use to describe the impression of the sound being restricted).

Surfing around my digital library I listened to some opera (not something I would normally listen to). It's an older recording but the sense of space, clarity and seeming lack of any sort of artifacts made it quite enjoyable. The vocalists move around often and it was very convincing...

...I've been listening to some classical titles...I was reminded of a listening session with Lloyd (LL21) at Goodwin's where we heard the wonderful Rockport Altairs. Very open & effortless with great sense of space and scale. Julian Bream's nylon string guitar is so clean and maintains a believable size while the orchestra is appropriately large.

It's probably no surprise to anyone that Magico does classical really really well...

I remember that listening session well, MadFloyd...a great time. And if you've got that at home (or dare i say even better!), wow, that is truly fantastic. Enjoy the classical!
 

MadFloyd

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May 30, 2010
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MadFloyd,

Do you already have an idea of how the sensitivity of the M-Project's compare to the S5's one? Asked in numbers, how many points do you have to decrease the volume of the XP30 to get an equivalent loudness of what you had with the S5?

Probably 2-3 points.
 

Alpinist

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Jun 17, 2014
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MadFloyd

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Ian,

Any updates?

I hope I don't torture you with this cannata, but the speakers are, um, amazing.

Here's what I wrote yesterday morning on another forum:

I'm happy to report that I'm starting to hear some great changes.

The tweeter has progressed quite a lot. This new tweeter is one of the big features of the M Project and we're likely to see it in future products, whether they be revisions of the Q or otherwise. It blends so seamlessly with the midrange. It did this from day one, but there was a little zing that was detectable at times. Now it's very rare to notice that at all and I suspect it will disappear altogether as the speaker continues to break in.

Up until recently I didn't like the sound of the speakers when played loud (loud for me is anything above 88db or so). It felt forced, a little congested, somewhat forward and bright. Almost like you were turning up the treble and not the bass. I experienced something similar with my S5's - the sound didn't stay linear as the volume went up, but that perception totally went away over time. Now the M's are much more robust sounding. The midrange is VERY full and beautiful. I'm now noticing that many problematic recordings that came across with some glare on the S5's (that I thought was in the recordings) sound perfectly clean and glare-free. The same thing happened when I switched from Wilson Alexias to the S5's. Every degree of distortion removal is a Good Thing.

On Thursday night I was listening to my digital server so I could go through my test playlist and played Ode To Billy Joe by Patricia Barber. This is a pretty sparse recording but I was stunned by how good it sounds. Surfing around my playlist I was thrilled with how many tracks sounded. The next morning I listened again - wondering if i would feel the same way and after about 10 minutes of sampling various tracks I stood up and shouted "YEEEAAHHH BAAAABY!!!!!". OK, I didn't actually do that, but in my mind I did.

I do feel that I don't have what I would call 'explosive dynamics'. The presentation is incredibly clean with a beautiful sized soundstage, but there were tracks where the dynamics would blow me (and others) away on the Alexias that don't sound nearly as impressive on the M's. Wilsons are known for dynamics of course and while I don't think Magico is a slouch in any way, I don't know if this will improve over time or not - I'll have to wait and see.

Tonight Peter Ayer is coming back to listen. He heard the speakers out of the box, cold and on casters a week and a half ago (a week ago this past Tuesday but I lost a day of break-in this week). I also have another audiophile friend coming down so it will be fun to get their impressions.


-------------------------------------------------

Here's my thoughts as of today:

I have 250 hours on them so far.

Yesterday I had two audiophile friends over. By the end of the night we were shocked to realize that we had listened for 9 hours... with zero fatigue. At this point the speakers no longer sound analytical in any way - they are very warm sounding and the tweeter disappears. One of my friends pointed out that this is the first time the three of us had been in my house and nobody even suggested tweaking something - that it was hard to find a fault in anything.

Both said it was the best speakers they've ever heard. One said it has renewed his faith in the high-end audiophile industry, citing that too often in his opinion you simply don't get what you pay for. He arrived very skeptical but didn't leave that way.

The evening culminated in us listening to Stravinsky's Firebird (Reference Recordings version) on vinyl. Wow.
 

cannata

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2014
510
64
263
Italy
I hope I don't torture you with this cannata, but the speakers are, um, amazing.

Here's what I wrote yesterday morning on another forum:

I'm happy to report that I'm starting to hear some great changes.

The tweeter has progressed quite a lot. This new tweeter is one of the big features of the M Project and we're likely to see it in future products, whether they be revisions of the Q or otherwise. It blends so seamlessly with the midrange. It did this from day one, but there was a little zing that was detectable at times. Now it's very rare to notice that at all and I suspect it will disappear altogether as the speaker continues to break in.

Up until recently I didn't like the sound of the speakers when played loud (loud for me is anything above 88db or so). It felt forced, a little congested, somewhat forward and bright. Almost like you were turning up the treble and not the bass. I experienced something similar with my S5's - the sound didn't stay linear as the volume went up, but that perception totally went away over time. Now the M's are much more robust sounding. The midrange is VERY full and beautiful. I'm now noticing that many problematic recordings that came across with some glare on the S5's (that I thought was in the recordings) sound perfectly clean and glare-free. The same thing happened when I switched from Wilson Alexias to the S5's. Every degree of distortion removal is a Good Thing.

On Thursday night I was listening to my digital server so I could go through my test playlist and played Ode To Billy Joe by Patricia Barber. This is a pretty sparse recording but I was stunned by how good it sounds. Surfing around my playlist I was thrilled with how many tracks sounded. The next morning I listened again - wondering if i would feel the same way and after about 10 minutes of sampling various tracks I stood up and shouted "YEEEAAHHH BAAAABY!!!!!". OK, I didn't actually do that, but in my mind I did.

I do feel that I don't have what I would call 'explosive dynamics'. The presentation is incredibly clean with a beautiful sized soundstage, but there were tracks where the dynamics would blow me (and others) away on the Alexias that don't sound nearly as impressive on the M's. Wilsons are known for dynamics of course and while I don't think Magico is a slouch in any way, I don't know if this will improve over time or not - I'll have to wait and see.

Tonight Peter Ayer is coming back to listen. He heard the speakers out of the box, cold and on casters a week and a half ago (a week ago this past Tuesday but I lost a day of break-in this week). I also have another audiophile friend coming down so it will be fun to get their impressions.


-------------------------------------------------

Here's my thoughts as of today:

I have 250 hours on them so far.

Yesterday I had two audiophile friends over. By the end of the night we were shocked to realize that we had listened for 9 hours... with zero fatigue. At this point the speakers no longer sound analytical in any way - they are very warm sounding and the tweeter disappears. One of my friends pointed out that this is the first time the three of us had been in my house and nobody even suggested tweaking something - that it was hard to find a fault in anything.

Both said it was the best speakers they've ever heard. One said it has renewed his faith in the high-end audiophile industry, citing that too often in his opinion you simply don't get what you pay for. He arrived very skeptical but didn't leave that way.

The evening culminated in us listening to Stravinsky's Firebird (Reference Recordings version) on vinyl. Wow.

This is great news, but yes, I am in pain )-:
I guess we all have to wait and see if we can get in on this on a different price level
Magico has been able before to supply much of the magic at lower price points. Fingers cross…
 

Alpinist

Well-Known Member
Jun 17, 2014
530
143
280
USA
Thanks for the update Ian !!!!!

Best,
Ken
 

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