Magico MXO State of the Art Analog Crossover announced

PGA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2013
81
37
248
Why do that, there are plenty digital options out there. An analog discreet active XO is rare these days (or any day).
There are excellent options for digital XOs, in particular those running on Roon or HQPlayer, but eventually you need to get back to analogue, and this requires a multichannel DAC. You cannot simply use several two channel DACs as they will not be in sync. There aren’t many great multichannel DACs. Also if you have analogue sources, you need an A to D if you’re going to use a digital XO.
 

PGA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2013
81
37
248
take the $48k plus your subwoofer budget, and up your speaker budget. get a twin tower integrated design. time and phase aligned from the get go. the only rub is a room wide enough to time align all the drivers. since the main tower properly rolls off, you are good to go. i know i am.

a month ago i did hear a pair of Magico S5 Mk2's with a Q-Sub, and it was really good. it was at a show and a very large room, and there were moments of bass non coherence, but only a few. i'm guessing that what i heard is the direction of Magico and relevant to this product. that set-up was likely using DSP to some degree.

no doubt sub integration is a challenge. and congrats to Magico for pushing the boundaries.
Mike, looking now at the photos, it seems Alon may have future plans to build out a 4 way analogue active crossover for his speakers. This would be great news and it would certainly help push boundaries by promoting active crossovers for high end audio. Although I’m personally not a fan of Magico, the company has a great brand and credibility. It’s a shame there aren’t more active speakers for home use. The engineering benefits have been known for decades.
 

PGA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2013
81
37
248
I tried, but running the main through the CR1 sucked the life out of the sound (I also tried the Pass active XO - a bit better, but still...) . I eventfully gave up on the entire sub idea because of that.
Setting up a Pass XVR1 (or any crossover) is part art, part science and part luck to get everything summing correctly. This is not easy to do without test equipment and deep knowledge of acoustics and crossover design. But for me it’s been worth the effort. It’s really too bad that these are discontinued and that dealers are neither focused nor have the skills necessary to guide customers on using active crossovers. By contrast, home theater dealers have been much more science based offering calibration to their high end customers. No one would think they could calibrate a high end projector without equipment and training. The same applies to audio but instead dealers focus their attention and our budget on things like hyper expensive cables.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Carlos269

PGA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2013
81
37
248
I'd settle for balanced. Anyone know if they plan on offering one?
One option that may work for you integrating a sub with the TADs is to implement a vertical biamp using separate amplifiers for the coax and woofers in the TAD. This way you can run the amp for the coax full range from your pre amp and the passive crossover in the TAD will filter out the bass starting at 250 hz, same as it does now. And then only the amplifier driving the woofer in the TAD would be connected to the HPF of whatever electronic crossover you decide on. The amplifiers that are driving the coax will see the full voltage of the deep bass, but they will not be generating any current or power for the deep bass. You just need to be sure the levels/gain of all the amplifiers match up. But there will be no “magic” lost from 250hz up. One big benefit of this set up is your electronic crossover will filter out the deep bass so the woofer in the TADs is not burdened with those lower frequencies. Also the amplifier driving the TAD woofers will not be see any voltage or current demands from the low bass that’s handled by you subs.
 

PGA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2013
81
37
248
Not sure if it is fully discreet (lots of opamps inside). Although it cleared up the sound, running the main through it was not to my liking.
Those integrated circuits you saw next to the jumper pins are resistor networks
 

HenryD

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2020
159
107
115
39
Regardless, it was not a good choice as a high-pass option. It dried out the sound, and overall, was not something I was willing to live with. It was not a question of setup, it actually measured beautifully.
 

PGA

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2013
81
37
248
It could also be that the synergies for an XVR1 are not favorable in your system. I’m using mine with TAD R1s and it sounds great. It was a bit dry when I had a Berkeley Reference 2 DAC, but now with a Meitner MA3 the XVR1 sounds great. Switching amps from Constellation Centaur mono to Benchmark also made the top end more natural.

Also, back when I had Q5s everything sounded dry. My room is well damped with RPG panels. The Q5 is a very dry speaker. I haven’t heard the newer Magico speakers but I understand they are better and less dry than the Q5 were.
 
Last edited:

HenryD

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2020
159
107
115
39
These trials were done on different speakers, before I had Magico.
For transparency, I believe a XO needs to be at least as good as the preamp you use, and that is/was not the case with the Pass or the JL. YMMV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: analogsa

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing