Magico Ultimate 3

[audioarcher]

More power to you if it's in your budget.

What is the impedance of these speakers? Two way active might be the way to go. Tube amps for the horn sections and room eq and SS or class d amps for the bass sections. This would give you the ability to fine tune the bass but also get the musicality in the mids and highs. Lots of options with these speakers.

 

[stereo]

More power to you if it's in your budget.

What is the impedance of these speakers? Two way active might be the way to go. Tube amps for the horn sections and room eq and SS or class d amps for the bass sections. This would give you the ability to fine tune the bass but also get the musicality in the mids and highs. Lots of options with these speakers.

depends of drivers. the 3 ALE motors are 16 Ohm. The 12" driver for the large horn is still in design phase, don't know the impedance.
I like tubes, but I want very low noise. At 110dB sensitivity, the slightest amp noise becomes disturbing. I may end up with my own custom made amps, who knows... there are a lot of SS amps I like, but how they sound on a 87dB speaker doesn't tell how they will sound on a 110dB Ultimate. Depends of the quality of the first Watt....

The sub has an internal D-class amp, 4000W.

If you go with a two ways, you need to go for a full active crossover. If the sub is active and the rest has an analog EQ, you can never integrate properly the bass with the rest of speaker, as the active bass module introduces a time delay... Also, with an analog crossover, you by definition introduce phase shifts: a full active system gives you much more flexibility, but of course it is difficult to set up right. It means also that you need a very high quality digital XO.

 

[jazdoc]

depends of drivers. the 3 ALE motors are 16 Ohm. The 12" driver for the large horn is still in design phase, don't know the impedance.
I like tubes, but I want very low noise. At 110dB sensitivity, the slightest amp noise becomes disturbing. I may end up with my own custom made amps, who knows... there are a lot of SS amps I like, but how they sound on a 87dB speaker doesn't tell how they will sound on a 110dB Ultimate. Depends of the quality of the first Watt....

The sub has an internal D-class amp, 4000W.

If you go with a two ways, you need to go for a full active crossover. If the sub is active and the rest has an analog EQ, you can never integrate properly the bass with the rest of speaker, as the active bass module introduces a time delay... Also, with an analog crossover, you by definition introduce phase shifts: a full active system gives you much more flexibility, but of course it is difficult to set up right. It means also that you need a very high quality digital XO.

You may want to contact Jeffrey Jackson at Experience Music...custom build tube amps for horn systems are his speciality.

 

[rockitman]

Stereo,

Did you happen to mention the source components you use in your system ? Inquiring minds want to know...

 

[stereo]

Stereo,

Did you happen to mention the source components you use in your system ? Inquiring minds want to know...

The only source I plan to use is an Audeeva Conbrio music server with 3TB of storage. I will still keep my APL NWO-Master as SACD source, but for normal CD or Hi-res file everything is on my server.
I may add a vinyl set up in the future, but most probably I will encode vinyl in hi-res files and play from server (it is an active system, so everything goes digital anyway)

 

[Roysen]

I you like tubes and are thinking about a custom built amplifier I would suggest you contact Paul Weitzel of Tube Research Labs. He builds great tube amplifiers and he has been working with Alon in the past. Alon has a pair of his mono amplifiers and one of his preamplifiers at home. Paul can build custom amps for the Ultimate. I am sure Alon would agree on the recomendation.

 

[andromedaaudio]

indeed,i bet stereo could start charging money for visitors

What a gorgeous speaker! Stereo, can you describe the newest version of the Ultimate?

View attachment 10989

 

[stereo]

indeed,i bet stereo could start charging money for visitors

It will be my pleasure to invite people for a listening session! audio should be about sharing

 

[stereo]

A few more info on the Conbrio source I will be using, both for music server and as active crossover for the Ultimate:
The Conbrio mk2 features a multiway digital crossover with discrete 64bit-precision audio paths for each of the different drivers/outputs. The crossover is completely integrated into Conbrio’s real-time audio pipeline and optionally supports additional DSP features including driver linearization, room correction, cross-talk cancellation. As with all of Conbrio’s audio playback pipeline, the crossover component is marshaled by the same clock as that feeds the DACs, taking into consideration the processing delay in the DSP and the latency of the DACs to achieve perfect time and phase alignment in a closed-loop feedback process that also measures temperature and humidity in the listening room. Conbrio is remotely controlled by an iPad over a dedicated WiFi network with minimal transmission power. A planned future upgrade will include standard 2ch digital inputs so that Conbrio can be used as a crossover for upstream sources (SACD player, turntable going through an ADC) in addition to functioning as a music server.
The Conbrio MK2 is not really a commercial product. More of a 3-boxes 150lbs "commercial prototype" which has been developed and optimized by Matan Arazi to work with the Ultimate speakers. I have heard a lot of the existing servers on the market and I find the Conbrio as vastly superior to any other digital sources (CD players, servers) I've heard so far.

 

[LL21]

...on the Conbrio source I will be using, both for music server and as active crossover for the Ultimate:
...The Conbrio MK2 is not really a commercial product. More of a 3-boxes 150lbs "commercial prototype" which has been developed and optimized by Matan Arazi to work with the Ultimate speakers. I have heard a lot of the existing servers on the market and I find the Conbrio as vastly superior to any other digital sources (CD players, servers) I've heard so far.

wow...that sounds quite cool. What have you compared it with...and how much is it? (understanding the price is not necessarily a set commercial price, but probably more something you negotiated directly...) Any 'rough indication' would be appreciated!

 

[LL21]

By the way Stereo, is this the server you are using which Jeff Fritz wrote about...but which was not commercially available?

http://www.ultraaudio.com/index.php...i-on-music-servers&catid=31:general&Itemid=46

 

[stereo]

By the way Stereo, is this the server you are using which Jeff Fritz wrote about...but which was not commercially available?

http://www.ultraaudio.com/index.php...i-on-music-servers&catid=31:general&Itemid=46

It is the MK2 version of this server. Significant development are being done right now, as I highlighted above

 

[LL21]

It is the MK2 version of this server. Significant development are being done right now, as I highlighted above

Fantastic...thanks and enjoy! That sounds like a truly world class system that is also customized for you. What a great thing. Congrats.

 

[stereo]

Since it is not a commercial product, the first hurdle has been to convince Matan Arazi to develop one for me, with my required customization. A lot of new SW and HW development. Keep in mind it is a hobby for him, not a job. Base price (without customization) is in line with what has been posted on WBF previously. I have compared it to Soulution, Constellation, Aurender, Weiss... and my own CD source, which performs among the best I ever heard- but not as good as the Conbrio.

 

[Bruce B]

I was in the military and when someone says "military-grade", it's not something to be proud of!

 

[LL21]

Since it is not a commercial product, the first hurdle has been to convince Matan Arazi to develop one for me, with my required customization. A lot of new SW and HW development. Keep in mind it is a hobby for him, not a job. Base price (without customization) is in line with what has been posted on WBF previously. I have compared it to Soulution, Constellation, Aurender, Weiss... and my own CD source, which performs among the best I ever heard- but not as good as the Conbrio.

impressive...enjoy!

 

[stereo]

I was in the military and when someone says "military-grade", it's not something to be proud of!

Yeah... private first class Brown probably didn't have real exposure of what military grade means ;-)
Maybe you would have a different opinion if you would have done your military service in the unit 8200 like Matan:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/israel-military-unit-ventures-biz-cx_gk_0208israel.html

I work in semiconductor industry and consumer electronic. This gives me a lot of respect for what military grade can mean in term of much stricter requirements.

 

[Bruce B]

Yeah... private first class Brown probably didn't have real exposure of what military grade means ;-).

LOL.... good one!! I only dealt with life or death situations... no real biggie!

 

[andromedaaudio]

some more pics http://theawesomer.com/magico-ultimate-ii-speakers/23891/
can you tell some more about the design , what kind of compression drivers do they use,custom or is it goto or other stuff

http://www.goto-unit.com/4.html


here some good pics of goto compression drivers very expensive stuff http://audio-life.nl/usermedia/files/Goto-info.pdf

 

[JackD201]

Drivers are by ALE. I've heard these in the personal horn system of Victor Sierra of Sierra-Brooks. They are extremely good drivers. Extremely pricey too I've heard. IIRC some can go for as much as $15,000 each. I haven't heard any GOTOs. Super-sized horn systems are rare and most I've seen use JBL or A-L.