S3 MK3 (2023) Arrived

[exupgh12]

exupgh12, how were the room measurements done? I heard these S3s at AXPONA. I thought they sounded wonderful.

Apologies for the oversight. Earlier, I responded to Owen instead of addressing your question. The measurements were conducted by a friend who specializes in importing audio equipment and customizing audio rooms. He uses raw software for the measurements, and the cost was covered with a bottle of wine and a fine steak.

 

[exupgh12]

This one's easy. S3 2023>M3>M2>S3Mk2>A5>A3>A1. Jonathan Valin of TAS just reviewed it and says it's better than any Magico he's had and he's had the above M's both I believe. The new S3 is special indeed and probably the best speaker under $100k. The new model is a totally different animal so it's not really fair to compare to the S3mk2. It's far warmer and more extended on the bottom end than the S3Mk2 as well as being smoother and more coherent. It's far more forgiving and dynamic than the Ms. the new S3 makes the old one sound broken tbh. Anyway that's the short version. You must hear it for yourself to know on a good high power system.

Although I haven't read the TAS review of the new S3Mk3 (or is it 2023), I can attest that these speakers surpass others in their price range. Magico could have likely charged more for the new S3 given their quality.

My experience with the speakers leads me to ponder how impressive the next generation S5 will be. Personally, I find an enclosure that doesn't require periodic tension or care far more appealing than the beautiful M series enclosures.

 

[Townes]

Thank you all (@GSOphile @NekoAudio and @owen lawlor ) for your detailled feedback, really appreciated.

Yesterday I could demo the new S3 and compare with the A5. All in a quiet and pleasant listening atmospehre (acoustically very good room). I could listen to my own selection of tracks.
First I listened to the S3 2023 for significantly more than an hour. Then we switched to the A5... it didn't need many tracks (in fact hardly more than two) to be fully convinced that the new S3 is a significant improvement compared to the A5. Of course I listened also longer to the A5, just to be fair. The quality difference between the two speakers is so big, that the old S3 may easily fit in somewhere between the A5 and the new S3. The gap between old and new S3 remains surely large enough to make the S3 2023 my new "object of desire".
I already put up for sale my S3 on a Swiss and German site. Due to the fact that the old S3 is still a very good speaker, I won't let it go for a super low price. So this will need some patience.

After this demo I really agree to what you said:
- "It's far warmer and more extended on the bottom end than the S3Mk2 as well as being smoother "
- " It's not one of those things where you have to try to listen carefully for small differences"
- "Compared to the MkII's, they are clearer and more transparent across the spectrum", " you don't have to turn the volume way up to appreciate the quality"

Again: thanks all

 

[Protegimus]

Great to hear you’re pleased with the results, they are an impressive design and likely a big step forward.
I was wondering if you had to take particular measures to deal with the floor, given it appears to be a traditional ceramic tile - so very hard and reflective surface. A very effective, unobtrusive (and low cost) example would be mass loaded vinyl beneath the rug.
My experience is from optimising my own S5 Mk1, appreciate there are a lot of improvements over the years.

The new S3 model from Magico features a wave-guided Twitter, a departure from previous models.

This modification narrows the dispersion of the Twitter, impacting placement within the room, which is influenced by both room space and the listener's position.

Considering these constraints and after conducting room measurements (which turned out surprisingly better than anticipated), I achieved remarkable results.

Key factors contributing to the success:

1. The room exhibits minimal resonance.

2. The absence of a close rear wall behind my head eliminates sound bouncing issues.

3. Maintaining a 1-meter distance from side walls suits the directive nature of these speakers.

4. Addressing a dip between 80-120 range was feasible through acoustic treatment and positioning the speaker baffles approximately 1.2 meters from my front wall.

Having experienced and known various Magico setups (A, S, and M series), the sound quality produced by my setup is among the finest, and not less important, it's balanced and enjoyable to listen to.

 

[rau]

I have had my S3 2023 since last Oct at our 2 nd place and sad to say I've maybe had a chance to listen 8 hrs total . I did notice rightway they were superior by a large margin to the A5 . I picked up a digital DAC so I will be letting them play and get them broke in . I didn't feel comfortable not babysitting my tube DAC

 

[exupgh12]

Great to hear you’re pleased with the results, they are an impressive design and likely a big step forward.
I was wondering if you had to take particular measures to deal with the floor, given it appears to be a traditional ceramic tile - so very hard and reflective surface. A very effective, unobtrusive (and low cost) example would be mass loaded vinyl beneath the rug.
My experience is from optimising my own S5 Mk1, appreciate there are a lot of improvements over the years.

Hi,

The tiles in front of the speakers are covered with a thick and heavy rug. I haven't tried putting anything else beneath the rug itself.

Without the rug, listening to speakers wouldn't be pleasant due to the reflection.

 

[AVphile]

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll have the opportunity to listen to the new S3. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to listen to the A5 as well, although my local dealer has not assured me that will be possible due to the weight of each speaker -- which is a shame, as I am trying to decide between them.

Although I have my favorite demo tracks, I am interested in learning what tracks others on this site used to assess the capabilities of the S3 2023 -- and what those tracks identified as strong points or weaknesses of this speaker. (For example, in Chris Isaak's song "Wicked Game", there is a chorus that sings -- very softly -- This world is only gonna break your heart. With a really good system, those words are clear and distinct; with a lesser one, they are muddled.)

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

 

[rau]

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll have the opportunity to listen to the new S3. Hopefully, I'll have the chance to listen to the A5 as well, although my local dealer has not assured me that will be possible due to the weight of each speaker -- which is a shame, as I am trying to decide between them.

Although I have my favorite demo tracks, I am interested in learning what tracks others on this site used to assess the capabilities of the S3 2023 -- and what those tracks identified as strong points or weaknesses of this speaker. (For example, in Chris Isaak's song "Wicked Game", there is a chorus that sings -- very softly -- This world is only gonna break your heart. With a really good system, those words are clear and distinct; with a lesser one, they are muddled.)

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

If dealer has both speakers there should be no issue listening to both

 

[AVphile]

Yesterday afternoon, I spent two hours at my local Magico dealer listening to Magico 2023 S3 loudspeakers. The supportive equipment included a Luxman C-10X preamplifier, two Luxman M-10X power amplifiers (each in mono mode), a Luxman D-10X digital player and an Aurender N20 streamer/DAC. Interconnects were Transparent Opus (analog); speaker cables were Opus Speaker Cable. Power cords were all Omega and power distribution/conditioning was an Everest 8000. This was a high performance system, indeed!

The first thing I did was to establish the output of the Magico speakers using the Prosonus Studio Reference Disc, which has individual soundtracks producing specific tones from 16Hz to 10,000 Hz. Sitting about 10 feet away from the S3s and exactly between them, I used the Sonic Tools app on my iPhone 14. The overall frequency response of 16 Hz to 16000 Hz displayed had a mean output of 72 db. At 16 Hz, there wasn’t any output whatsoever, but at 32 Hz that tone was reproduced at 65 db. There was one fairly large rise starting at 50 Hz (72 db) reaching 80 db at 100 Hz and then down to 64 db at 500 Hz, then rising up again to 80 db at 1000 Hz and down again to 67 Hz at 4000 Hz, up to 75 db at 8000 Hz and back to 67 db at 10000 Hz. Most of these rises and dips were not particularly irksome except for the one at 1000 Hz, which is at the uppermost range of a trumpet (932 Hz). My suspicion is that most of these anomalies were due to the vast showroom in which the S3s were placed – almost as if they were in the center of a large open field.

The other overriding factor, for me, was the interaction between these Magico speakers and the Luxman amplifiers. To my ears (and I shall blame the amps), sometimes when the music peaked at 100 Hz or 1000 Hz the sound was harsh and a bit outright unpleasant – as if being subjected to noticeable distortion blaring.

Even given all that, I have still concluded that the S3 are fabulous speakers. Their imaging (between the speakers only due to their showroom placement) was extraordinary across the soundstage and to the front and rear, and their ability to reproduce everything in a recording – good and bad – was simply astonishing. The words of background singers were consistently intelligible. Snare drums sounded exactly like snare drums. Human voices were right on, neither mellow sounding nor bright; the voices in choruses were more clearly delineated that I have been accustomed to hearing. Listening to track after track of music I know well was very, very enjoyable.

I have a decent audio system; it is one I can listen to for hours on end without fatigue. For years, I have consistently ended a listening session at a friend’s or being demonstrated in a showroom and never returned home desirous of replacing my speakers or amplifiers with theirs. The Magico 2023 S3s are the first ones (priced under $50,000) for which I can say I prefer those to what I own. I was wow-ed!

 

[ecwl]

The first thing I did was to establish the output of the Magico speakers using the Prosonus Studio Reference Disc, which has individual soundtracks producing specific tones from 16Hz to 10,000 Hz. Sitting about 10 feet away from the S3s and exactly between them, I used the Sonic Tools app on my iPhone 14. The overall frequency response of 16 Hz to 16000 Hz displayed had a mean output of 72 db. At 16 Hz, there wasn’t any output whatsoever, but at 32 Hz that tone was reproduced at 65 db. There was one fairly large rise starting at 50 Hz (72 db) reaching 80 db at 100 Hz and then down to 64 db at 500 Hz, then rising up again to 80 db at 1000 Hz and down again to 67 Hz at 4000 Hz, up to 75 db at 8000 Hz and back to 67 db at 10000 Hz. Most of these rises and dips were not particularly irksome except for the one at 1000 Hz, which is at the uppermost range of a trumpet (932 Hz). My suspicion is that most of these anomalies were due to the vast showroom in which the S3s were placed – almost as if they were in the center of a large open field.

Sounds like there are some acoustic issues in the room causing a pretty odd frequency response. Most speakers are not designed to give such an up and down frequency response. Other Magico’s I’ve measured at my dealer also don’t give this kind of frequency response (A3, A5, M2).

But did you use C weighting for the SPL meter? Usually if I’m interested in frequency response, I just use the RTA/FFT function of an app and play pink noise on the disc so I can see the entire frequency response at the same time and to avoid the artifacts of A & C weighting when playing individual notes and using the SPL meter.

 

[exupgh12]

Yesterday afternoon, I spent two hours at my local Magico dealer listening to Magico 2023 S3 loudspeakers. The supportive equipment included a Luxman C-10X preamplifier, two Luxman M-10X power amplifiers (each in mono mode), a Luxman D-10X digital player and an Aurender N20 streamer/DAC. Interconnects were Transparent Opus (analog); speaker cables were Opus Speaker Cable. Power cords were all Omega and power distribution/conditioning was an Everest 8000. This was a high performance system, indeed!

The first thing I did was to establish the output of the Magico speakers using the Prosonus Studio Reference Disc, which has individual soundtracks producing specific tones from 16Hz to 10,000 Hz. Sitting about 10 feet away from the S3s and exactly between them, I used the Sonic Tools app on my iPhone 14. The overall frequency response of 16 Hz to 16000 Hz displayed had a mean output of 72 db. At 16 Hz, there wasn’t any output whatsoever, but at 32 Hz that tone was reproduced at 65 db. There was one fairly large rise starting at 50 Hz (72 db) reaching 80 db at 100 Hz and then down to 64 db at 500 Hz, then rising up again to 80 db at 1000 Hz and down again to 67 Hz at 4000 Hz, up to 75 db at 8000 Hz and back to 67 db at 10000 Hz. Most of these rises and dips were not particularly irksome except for the one at 1000 Hz, which is at the uppermost range of a trumpet (932 Hz). My suspicion is that most of these anomalies were due to the vast showroom in which the S3s were placed – almost as if they were in the center of a large open field.

The other overriding factor, for me, was the interaction between these Magico speakers and the Luxman amplifiers. To my ears (and I shall blame the amps), sometimes when the music peaked at 100 Hz or 1000 Hz the sound was harsh and a bit outright unpleasant – as if being subjected to noticeable distortion blaring.

Even given all that, I have still concluded that the S3 are fabulous speakers. Their imaging (between the speakers only due to their showroom placement) was extraordinary across the soundstage and to the front and rear, and their ability to reproduce everything in a recording – good and bad – was simply astonishing. The words of background singers were consistently intelligible. Snare drums sounded exactly like snare drums. Human voices were right on, neither mellow sounding nor bright; the voices in choruses were more clearly delineated that I have been accustomed to hearing. Listening to track after track of music I know well was very, very enjoyable.

I have a decent audio system; it is one I can listen to for hours on end without fatigue. For years, I have consistently ended a listening session at a friend’s or being demonstrated in a showroom and never returned home desirous of replacing my speakers or amplifiers with theirs. The Magico 2023 S3s are the first ones (priced under $50,000) for which I can say I prefer those to what I own. I was wow-ed!

Based on my experience with similar S3 2023 speakers and the Luxman preamplifier with two bridged amplifiers, the occasional harshness in the sound you mentioned likely stems from the interaction between the speakers and the room.

I've noticed similar issues in my own setup till i find the right place for the speakers; minor adjustments in speaker placement can drastically alter the sound quality. For instance, excessive toe-in can result in a sterile and harsh sound, while inadequate low-octave pressure can lead to an anemic sound. It's crucial to fine-tune the placement to achieve the desired balance and avoid these issues.

 

[NekoAudio]

Yeah, non-anechoic measurements, especially with a sustained sine wave instead of with windowed measurements, is going to have a lot of peaks and valleys. If you window the measurement, you'll get a better picture of the actual speaker output. But of course what you're going to hear is going to be a result of the room interactions.

 

[GSOphile]

Yesterday afternoon, I spent two hours at my local Magico dealer listening to Magico 2023 S3 loudspeakers. The supportive equipment included a Luxman C-10X preamplifier, two Luxman M-10X power amplifiers (each in mono mode), a Luxman D-10X digital player and an Aurender N20 streamer/DAC. Interconnects were Transparent Opus (analog); speaker cables were Opus Speaker Cable. Power cords were all Omega and power distribution/conditioning was an Everest 8000. This was a high performance system, indeed!

The first thing I did was to establish the output of the Magico speakers using the Prosonus Studio Reference Disc, which has individual soundtracks producing specific tones from 16Hz to 10,000 Hz. Sitting about 10 feet away from the S3s and exactly between them, I used the Sonic Tools app on my iPhone 14. The overall frequency response of 16 Hz to 16000 Hz displayed had a mean output of 72 db. At 16 Hz, there wasn’t any output whatsoever, but at 32 Hz that tone was reproduced at 65 db. There was one fairly large rise starting at 50 Hz (72 db) reaching 80 db at 100 Hz and then down to 64 db at 500 Hz, then rising up again to 80 db at 1000 Hz and down again to 67 Hz at 4000 Hz, up to 75 db at 8000 Hz and back to 67 db at 10000 Hz. Most of these rises and dips were not particularly irksome except for the one at 1000 Hz, which is at the uppermost range of a trumpet (932 Hz). My suspicion is that most of these anomalies were due to the vast showroom in which the S3s were placed – almost as if they were in the center of a large open field.

The other overriding factor, for me, was the interaction between these Magico speakers and the Luxman amplifiers. To my ears (and I shall blame the amps), sometimes when the music peaked at 100 Hz or 1000 Hz the sound was harsh and a bit outright unpleasant – as if being subjected to noticeable distortion blaring.

Even given all that, I have still concluded that the S3 are fabulous speakers. Their imaging (between the speakers only due to their showroom placement) was extraordinary across the soundstage and to the front and rear, and their ability to reproduce everything in a recording – good and bad – was simply astonishing. The words of background singers were consistently intelligible. Snare drums sounded exactly like snare drums. Human voices were right on, neither mellow sounding nor bright; the voices in choruses were more clearly delineated that I have been accustomed to hearing. Listening to track after track of music I know well was very, very enjoyable.

I have a decent audio system; it is one I can listen to for hours on end without fatigue. For years, I have consistently ended a listening session at a friend’s or being demonstrated in a showroom and never returned home desirous of replacing my speakers or amplifiers with theirs. The Magico 2023 S3s are the first ones (priced under $50,000) for which I can say I prefer those to what I own. I was wow-ed!

Interesting and very thorough. I've had my S3 2023's for about five months now - driven by an Esoteric K-01XD SACD player, Esoteric C01X solo preamp, and an M-10X amp. After reading your review, I was curious. So I've been listening to perhaps the world's best classical trumpet player, Hakan Hardenberger on the Philips CD: Famous Classical Trumpet Concertos. Glorious!! I expect these will be my last speakers.

 

[AVphile]

Sounds like there are some acoustic issues in the room causing a pretty odd frequency response. Most speakers are not designed to give such an up and down frequency response. Other Magico’s I’ve measured at my dealer also don’t give this kind of frequency response (A3, A5, M2).

But did you use C weighting for the SPL meter? Usually if I’m interested in frequency response, I just use the RTA/FFT function of an app and play pink noise on the disc so I can see the entire frequency response at the same time and to avoid the artifacts of A & C weighting when playing individual notes and using the SPL meter.

Great idea. Thank you. I hadn't thought of also running pink noise to see the entire frequency response at the same time. (Hopefully, the dealer didn't tear down the setup he had prepared for me.)

 

[AVphile]

Yeah, non-anechoic measurements, especially with a sustained sine wave instead of with windowed measurements, is going to have a lot of peaks and valleys. If you window the measurement, you'll get a better picture of the actual speaker output. But of course what you're going to hear is going to be a result of the room interactions.

I expect the variations in the frequency response are due to the room environment. I would love to see a measurements report by John Atkinson of Stereophile.

 

[XV-1]

I had a listen to the S3mk3 today at the HK dealer in Central.

To say I was impressed is an understatement. Luvely full rich bass that doesn't interfere with the mid-range and a detailed non agressive top end.

In the dealers nicely curated acoustically treated small room, honestly it was one of the best sounds I have heard. Longer listening, the full upper bass might have been a little too much.

Driven by D'Agostino progressive amps, Tara lab cables and hooked up with Entrec grounding, Tidal streaming.

I have never heard a pair of Wilson Sasha's sound this good. I would thend ro agree with a lot that has been written, the S3mk3 is the sweet spot in the Magico line up of performance/cost ratio.

Princes Sometimes it Snows in April sounded amazing with a beautiful soundstage and Prince singing just left of centre.
Bass and mid bass was impressively dynamic on Bob Moses - Tearing me Up.

Kudos goes to Lobo and the Asia Theatre Central store in setting up such a good sounding system/room.

 

[exupgh12]

I had a listen to the S3mk3 today at the HK dealer in Central.

To say I was impressed is an understatement. Luvely full rich bass that doesn't interfere with the mid-range and a detailed non agressive top end.

In the dealers nicely curated acoustically treated small room, honestly it was one of the best sounds I have heard. Longer listening, the full upper bass might have been a little too much.

Driven by D'Agostino progressive amps, Tara lab cables and hooked up with Entrec grounding, Tidal streaming.

I have never heard a pair of Wilson Sasha's sound this good. I would thend ro agree with a lot that has been written, the S3mk3 is the sweet spot in the Magico line up of performance/cost ratio.

Princes Sometimes it Snows in April sounded amazing with a beautiful soundstage and Prince singing just left of centre.
Bass and mid bass was impressively dynamic on Bob Moses - Tearing me Up.

Kudos goes to Lobo and the Asia Theatre Central store in setting up such a good sounding system/room.

Thank you for sharing your recent experience.

 

[owen lawlor]

I had a listen to the S3mk3 today at the HK dealer in Central.

To say I was impressed is an understatement. Luvely full rich bass that doesn't interfere with the mid-range and a detailed non agressive top end.

In the dealers nicely curated acoustically treated small room, honestly it was one of the best sounds I have heard. Longer listening, the full upper bass might have been a little too much.

Driven by D'Agostino progressive amps, Tara lab cables and hooked up with Entrec grounding, Tidal streaming.

I have never heard a pair of Wilson Sasha's sound this good. I would thend ro agree with a lot that has been written, the S3mk3 is the sweet spot in the Magico line up of performance/cost ratio.

Princes Sometimes it Snows in April sounded amazing with a beautiful soundstage and Prince singing just left of centre.
Bass and mid bass was impressively dynamic on Bob Moses - Tearing me Up.

Kudos goes to Lobo and the Asia Theatre Central store in setting up such a good sounding system/room.

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Interesting that they are not using the new S3 footers. Did they mention why? Wonder if that affects the LFs

 

[exupgh12]

Interesting that they are not using the new S3 footers. Did they mention why? Wonder if that affects the LFs

You've posed an intriguing question. It could be pertinent to consider that the speakers are positioned on carpet, where spikes theoretically might outperform rubber-footed ones.

As for the lower frequency range (bass), the S3Mk3 faces no challenges in filling and pressurizing my 50-square-meter space, which includes approximately 60% dedicated to the living room where the speakers are placed, with the rest comprising an open kitchen on the back of the living room, open dining room, and an adjacent area. In this context, factors such as speaker placement, room interaction, and your settings play a more significant role in bass performance than any choice of footer.

 

[XV-1]

Interesting that they are not using the new S3 footers. Did they mention why? Wonder if that affects the LFs

No idea. They were using the Magico footers under the front end components like preamp. He said they make a positive difference.