Magico changes tonality (again)...

[PeterA]

me too... only problem is it would be very expensive to build!

Then, how about the curved aluminum side panels of the S with the curved front baffle of the Q with the new, ultra low distortion drivers of the M Project? I'm sure this would still be expensive, but they've got all the tooling and construction capabilities in house.

I know I sound like a broken record, but Magico, and a few other companies, to be fair, do keep pushing technology forward, and high-end audio seems to be benefitting.

 

[WDW]

I completely agree with this. I prefer the Q to the S, especially the Q3. The M Pro is just in another class, but closer in overall sound and character to the Q. "Relaxed Q" is a great description of the M Project. I'd love to see the M Project scaled to the size of the Q3 or even the Mini 2 with the curved carbon sides and the curved front aluminum baffle.

Wish that Magico would offer the Mark II upgrade for the Q3 as they've done for the Q7 as I doubt I will ever get close to a pair of M Project.
Love my Q3's and have, ironically, found the S series to have "too" much bass. Yes, an M Project Mini would be ideal for the apartment dweller. When I downsize from a detached dwelling to condo that would be my first choice.

 

[rhyno]

Interesting theory, but I don't entirely buy it.

I wasn't totally happy with my S5's because of what I perceived to be a bass problem. I had noted that when I turned up the volume that the tonal balance changed and that the treble got louder than the bass (i.e. it wasn't linear). I wondered if this was normal for a sealed cabinet

having gone from rockport merak / sheritans to magico S3s i found the exact same thing...rising treble w/ volume (ie bass didn't keep up). had to add 2 JL F110s to the rig (left S3s running full range, subs come up from bottom and roll off before 80hz), which is just splendid and addressed the problem.

still doesn't have the 'kick' of wilsons, but what does. and what magico does well, they do very very well...

 

[cannata]

having gone from rockport merak / sheritans to magico S3s i found the exact same thing...rising treble w/ volume (ie bass didn't keep up). had to add 2 JL F110s to the rig (left S3s running full range, subs come up from bottom and roll off before 80hz), which is just splendid and addressed the problem.

still doesn't have the 'kick' of wilsons, but what does. and what magico does well, they do very very well...

It is not the speakers, it is your amplification/power arrangement. In fact, as you increase volume, the bass will be more pronounced (See Fletcher Munchen curve). Most likely your amp is running out of steam, as it is more difficult to drive a sealed box alignment, as it is less efficient, and it goes lower. As for the “Wilson kick” I must say I don’t miss it a bit, not even on the most “amplified” rock albums, as the price you pay in fidelity losses is too great.

 

[LL21]

I completely agree with this. I prefer the Q to the S, especially the Q3. The M Pro is just in another class, but closer in overall sound and character to the Q. "Relaxed Q" is a great description of the M Project....

Agree.

 

[MadFloyd]

It is not the speakers, it is your amplification/power arrangement. In fact, as you increase volume, the bass will be more pronounced (See Fletcher Munchen curve). Most likely your amp is running out of steam, as it is more difficult to drive a sealed box alignment, as it is less efficient, and it goes lower. As for the “Wilson kick” I must say I don’t miss it a bit, not even on the most “amplified” rock albums, as the price you pay in fidelity losses is too great.

Amplifier running out of steam was indeed the case for me with my S5's and M-Pros; not so much because the speakers were hard to drive but I had my amplifiers starved for power (electrical issue).

Now when I turn up the volume the bass becomes more pronounced (as it should vis a vis Fletcher Munchen curve).

 

[asiufy]

Wish that Magico would offer the Mark II upgrade for the Q3 as they've done for the Q7 as I doubt I will ever get close to a pair of M Project.
Love my Q3's and have, ironically, found the S series to have "too" much bass. Yes, an M Project Mini would be ideal for the apartment dweller. When I downsize from a detached dwelling to condo that would be my first choice.

WDW,

The Q3 is a fantastic speaker, and probably my favourite of the Magico line up, considering only the "buyable" items, so no Q7II or M Pro
I do love mine very much, it's like a clear window into all the gear behind it. I was just listening to mine, driven by a Levinson 532H!
If you're looking for a "Q3 mk2", may I suggest you audition the YG Haileys? IMHO, they do everything the Q3 does so well (transparency, utter lack of distortion), but with a little more grunt, more "meat on the bones".

cheers,
alex

 

[MadFloyd]

WDW,

The Q3 is a fantastic speaker, and probably my favourite of the Magico line up, considering only the "buyable" items, so no Q7II or M Pro
I do love mine very much, it's like a clear window into all the gear behind it. I was just listening to mine, driven by a Levinson 532H!
If you're looking for a "Q3 mk2", may I suggest you audition the YG Haileys? IMHO, they do everything the Q3 does so well (transparency, utter lack of distortion), but with a little more grunt, more "meat on the bones".

cheers,
alex

I know if I were in the market for a Magico-esq speaker today I would definitely audition the YG's. I love my M-Pros but at shows the YG's are always the best.

 

[Orb]

I know if I were in the market for a Magico-esq speaker today I would definitely audition the YG's. I love my M-Pros but at shows the YG's are always the best.

More interesting would be long term listening (fatigue-satisfaction) and those that have switched from one to the other.
I find Magico range (a fair few anyway) very easy to listen to long term.
Cheers
Orb

 

[Barry2013]

I have not heard the Haileys yet but I have experienced no listening fatigue whatsoever with the previous Carmel 1s and now the Kipod Signature passives.
In fact quite the reverse and when it gets to 1am I have quite often to discipline myself to go to bed.

 

[Orb]

I can appreciate that Barry and I am not suggesting either suffer fatigue in general, my point is those that have had both in their homes as an owner; the benefit here is they will have an interesting perspective on both from a long term view and listening behaviour differences when owning them.
I find it interesting as they are more alike than say other brands most would have as a reference point.

Cheers
Orb

 

[cannata]

I can appreciate that Barry and I am not suggesting either suffer fatigue in general, my point is those that have had both in their homes as an owner; the benefit here is they will have an interesting perspective on both from a long term view and listening behaviour differences when owning them.
I find it interesting as they are more alike than say other brands most would have as a reference point.

Cheers
Orb

I think it depends how loud you play them, the YG don’t do well at high volume, and that is fatiguing. I don’t really think that the 2 brands are much alike. True, they are both sealed and made out of Aluminum, but that is where it ends.

 

[rhyno]

It is not the speakers, it is your amplification/power arrangement.

in a 15*11 room, i doubt both my (former) boulder 1060 and my (now) Arc Ref 150se ran out of power. this is the way the speakers were voiced / the sound of a sealed box's bass. magicos do many wonderful things, but all gear is flawed. this is where it is for magico, IMO.

 

[cannata]

in a 15*11 room, i doubt both my (former) boulder 1060 and my (now) Arc Ref 150se ran out of power. this is the way the speakers were voiced / the sound of a sealed box's bass. magicos do many wonderful things, but all gear is flawed. this is where it is for magico, IMO.

Well, opinions aside, what you are describing is not what I, nor other Magico owners typically experience.

 

[asiufy]

Orb,

I agree with you. As long as you find appropriate gear (and not only amplification, as Magicos will show any deficiencies downstream).
The Q3, the model I'm more familiar with, that I've owned for many years. And now, of course, I have YG and I sell them too. I've followed the introduction of the recent models, and I'm very familiar with them. So you can say I'm deeply familiar with both brands.
I can *safely* say cannata is flat out wrong, at least when it comes to YG's current products. All 3 products in the current YG lineup play loud, with no distortion/no fatigue. At a recent event we had in our store, we cranked a BD of Thielemann conducting Beethoven 9. Very good recording, no compression, playing straight off the BD, with the MSB UMT transport. I'll dare say we reached concert level volumes in our large room, with YG Sonja 1.3 and D'Agostino monoblocs. Not only there was no fatigue whatsoever (we played the entire piece, from start to finish), but instead of being repulsed by the loud volume, the entire store drifted towards the big room when the 4th movement began. And even at the crazy high volumes, we could still talk to (and understand) each other. That's what a very low distortion speaker does.
One person in attendance, who owns big Wilson speakers (and who actually brought that particular BD disc to audition the YGs), remarked that he could never reach that kind of overall performance, at the volumes we were playing.
And our room has next to no acoustic treatment, so we were really listening to the room+speakers.
IMHO, with this level of speakers, and these two brands in particular, you'll only get fatigue if you partner them with unsuitable gear. The speakers are not inherently fatiguing, unlike some others.


cheers,
alex

 

[Barry2013]

I can appreciate that Barry and I am not suggesting either suffer fatigue in general, my point is those that have had both in their homes as an owner; the benefit here is they will have an interesting perspective on both from a long term view and listening behaviour differences when owning them.
I find it interesting as they are more alike than say other brands most would have as a reference point.

Cheers
Orb

Thanks Orb.
I wasn't seeking to be partisan about Magico which are clearly very good speakers and only posting my experience of the YGs.
Even with the modestly powered Vitus SIA 025 I can get as much loudness as I need. The Carmel 1s understandably lacked the scale I wanted and the Kipod Signatures with their 9" woofers have solved that
I also like their looks in silver - more interesting and distinctive than many other brands - but obviously people have different tastes and I have no problem with that.
Cheers,
Barry

 

[Orb]

Thanks Alex for that write-up, great to know.
Yeah sorry Barry I should had made it clearer that I appreciated your post was not a critique but your experience with YG.

Regards what you both say, those variables definitely contribute to whether listeners like either products, and we all know both brands seem to have a high/low rating depending upon the listener or setup.
Cheers
Orb

 

[asiufy]

Yes, both are very diviside brands/products My guess to the reasons why is simply because they are exponentially more transparent/less distorting than the competition, and they let through what the downstream components sound like. Since speakers are normally the most visible and obvious components in a setup, that's where the blame will lie most of the time, whether you like the sound or you don't.

At this level, a simple cartridge change, or power cable, can make or break the entire system, and I've seen/heard it happen!


alex

 

[Barry2013]

Thanks Alex.
That makes sense to me.