AXPONA 2025

[Jeff Fritz]

Thank you Ron. Here are the facts. I resigned publicly from my position with SoundStage! effective May 1, 2023. On that date I ceased to be a reviewer. Here is the announcement on the SoundStage! Ultra site:

Farewell, SoundStage!

On my LinkedIn (easily accessible) I posted the following, on May 1, 2024 (my anniversary date with Magico).

On May 1, 2023, I joined Magico, LLC, as Brand Ambassador. What a year it has been.

The company welcomed me in with open arms. Alon Wolf, Peter Mackay, Dave Shackleton, Yair Tammam, and the entire staff gave me a home at the fantastic organization they built. I've had nothing but good days with Magico, supporting and promoting people and products I genuinely believe in. I have even more admiration for Magico speakers today than I did a year ago. Kind of like an employee at a restaurant that loves to eat the food after seeing what goes on in the kitchen.

Complacent, I am not. I've simply got past the initial learning curve of a new job. I now have tools and a skillset I lacked a year ago, and that is going to make Year Two more rewarding and successful than my rookie season.

I can't wait to see what is in store. Ready to rock'n'roll at Magico.

I left one job for another. It was all disclosed openly. I hope this clears up any confusion.

Thanks,
Jeff

Here is my LinkedIn post from May 1, 2023. It shows the Magico press release posted on that date. All very public.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Rexp]

I will be there Friday only for our seminar on immersive audio. Should be fun.

Who do you work for, out of interest?

 

[Rexp]

Not many good sounding videos from this show it seems, this isn't bad (iPhone 16):

 

[Joe Whip]

Who do you work for, out of interest?

I write for AudiophileStyle.com and while I do some equipment reviews write mostly about jazz and immersive audio., basically Atmos music.

 

[Rexp]

MFs video (looks like he's using a DJI mic) sounds good until he enters PS audio's room which I assume is playing digital ...

 

[Stevet]

I went to a Magico room at RMAF in 2010. They had a playlist and would not deviate from it. Requests from the audience were flatly denied.

Same thing at Axpona this year. I asked and was politely told that they could not play any requests.

 

[Al M.]

Not many good sounding videos from this show it seems, this isn't bad (iPhone 16):

Just a few snippets of sound each a few seconds long already make my ears hurt. Most of it sounds uncomfortably "whitish" and/or metallic if you ask me.

 

[Rexp]

Just a few snippets of sound each a few seconds long already make my ears hurt. Most of it sounds uncomfortably "whitish" and/or metallic if you ask me.

Oh really, what device are you listening on?
I find it a typical iPhone recording, slightly boosted in the mid which makes things sound more similar than they actually are. But overall some rooms sound pleasant and some unpleasant so I only look into the equipment in the pleasant rooms for potential audition. Of course what recording they're playing,, particularly on digital playback, determines the sound so need to bare that in mind.

 

[Al M.]

Oh really, what device are you listening on?
I find it a typical iPhone recording, slightly boosted in the mid which makes things sound more similar than they actually are. But overall some rooms sound pleasant and some unpleasant so I only look into the equipment in the pleasant rooms for potential audition. Of course what recording they're playing,, particularly on digital playback, determines the sound so need to bare that in mind.

I use a laptop with headphones. Normal recordings on YouTube, of studio albums or live performances, usually sound pleasant on this playback.

The sounds on this show video remind me of T.H.E. Show in Southern California last year. After a day of bright, shrill, hard, metallic sounds from those systems my ears were physically hurting and exhausted. I was avoidIng the really loud rooms or was in there for a very short time, but still.

This shouldn't necessarily have to do with digital source or not. Some of the bad sounding systems had a vinyl or tape source.

There were exceptions of systems with very good or even excellent sound, from either analog or digital sources.

 

[hopkins]

I write for AudiophileStyle.com and while I do some equipment reviews write mostly about jazz and immersive audio., basically Atmos music.

You should check this out!

Beyond Surround Sound: Meet the Audio System That Recreates Reality

The Ambisonics algorithm generates immersive virtual soundscapes by utilizing a dome-shaped array of loudspeakers. Surround-sound systems can enhance a multimedia experience, but imagine a speaker setup capable of fully recreating a three-dimensional sound environment. Enter the AudioDome — no

scitechdaily.com

 

[Rexp]

I use a laptop with headphones. Normal recordings on YouTube, of studio albums or live performances, usually sound pleasant on this playback.

The sounds on this show video remind me of T.H.E. Show in Southern California last year. After a day of bright, shrill, hard, metallic sounds from those systems my ears were physically hurting and exhausted. I was avoidIng the really loud rooms or was in there for a very short time, but still.

This shouldn't necessarily have to do with digital source or not. Some of the bad sounding systems had a vinyl or tape source.

There were exceptions of systems with very good or even excellent sound, from either analog or digital sources.

I have HP and Lenovo laptops plus a macbook air, the laptops are pretty good as long as you disable sound enhancements in settings and use battery, The mac is poor sounding. These youtube vids can sound totally different depending on device used.
Edit, also need to disable Stable Volume in YouTube vid settings.

 

[Porsche]

if you guys can tell how a system sounds thru a computer, well........

 

[Ron Resnick]

Please enjoy my interview at AXPONA 2025 with Alon Wolf, the Founder and CEO of Magico, about the M9 loudspeaker. The M9 is exhibited as part of an approximately $2.3 million audio system.

Alon discusses Magico's sonic philosophy, the design priorities and the technical details of the M9, and the pros and cons of different loudspeaker designs.

This interview is like a loudspeaker design seminar by Alon!

Please kindly "like" this video, and subscribe to the WhatsBestForum YouTube channel!

 

[Amir]

Please enjoy my interview at AXPONA 2025 with Alon Wolf, the Founder and CEO of Magico, about the M9 loudspeaker. The M9 is exhibited as part of an approximately $2.3 million audio system.

Alon discusses Magico's sonic philosophy, the design priorities and the technical details of the M9, and the pros and cons of different loudspeaker designs.

This interview is like a loudspeaker design seminar by Alon!

Please kindly "like" this video, and subscribe to the WhatsBestForum YouTube channel!

I see (in the video) The main purpose of magico design is lowering distortion or having best measurements.

I think most modern speaker designers should also care about dynamics and overal balance.

Less dynamics less musical experience

For many years amplifier designers used negative feedback to lower the distortion but it was not the right way

 

[Al M.]

if you guys can tell how a system sounds thru a computer, well........

I can't. I was just saying what it reminded of, so I would not be surprised if I would here the same types of problems in person.

Usually systems sound better in person than on video (surprise). On the other hand, videos can also conceal and "round off" problems that you would hear in person.

 

[Al M.]

I have HP and Lenovo laptops plus a macbook air, the laptops are pretty good as long as you disable sound enhancements in settings and use battery, The mac is poor sounding. These youtube vids can sound totally different depending on device used.
Edit, also need to disable Stable Volume in YouTube vid settings.

As I said, normal YouTube recordings usually sound pleasant, so I have no reason to believe that my laptop specifically introduces problems with iPhone system videos.

 

[HenryD]

I see (in the video) The main purpose of magico design is lowering distortion or having best measurements.

I think most modern speaker designers should also care about dynamics and overal balance.

Less dynamics less musical experience

For many years amplifier designers used negative feedback to lower the distortion but it was not the right way

Are you saying that low distortion/best measurements and dynamics/balance are mutually exclusive?

 

[Amir]

Are you saying that low distortion/best measurements and dynamics/balance are mutually exclusive?

I just say the listening experience is more important than measurements

 

[HenryD]

And why would a good listening experience, whatever that means, would not coincide with a good measured loudspeaker?

 

[PeterA]

And why would a good listening experience, whatever that means, would not coincide with a good measured loudspeaker?

In my opinion, good measurements are necessary but not sufficient for the best listening experience. There are a lot of well measuring products, but we don’t all gravitate to the same ones with the best measurements. It seems that there is something more involved beyond great measurements.