Randall, you got your knickers in such a super tight twist that I feel your pain - attacking me personally, calling me hateful, etc. Don’t worry, I won’t attack you personally or call you names. But I will do my best to explain a few things to you.
The way we define a problem or frame a question shapes how we and our fellow hobbyists understand things, answer threads, and act. The audio media elites seem to lecture us that emotional response to gear is meaningless, worthless, and that it doesn't matter. Correct imaging and soundstage and transparency are paramount. All these lackey reviewers seem to be in love with Magico, calling them 'best', but missing the big picture – Magico speakers lack to convey the emotion of a musical performance. I just care about good sound for its own sake because gear that sounds like music makes my life a bit better. I'm not hating on Magico at all. I’m just reframing the issue. I’m just calling a spade a spade. This is a completely different value proposition than what is commonly written about in the main stream, elite audio press. I could care less about magico. I don’t care if they thrive or go out if business. In a free society, if it’s not them, it will be Revel or Tad or dCS or Bryston or Esoteric or someone new that will come along to do the same emotionally-dead thing they do. There is a market for that and someone will step up fill that market niche. Yet despite their emotionally challenged presentation, Magico is sucking up too much air. And their main PR guy, Valin, happens to be in a position of great power and influence. His TAS bosses (Martin, Harley) have abdicated their leadership posts, so he is free to work for his interests. And he sure is good at that. He keeps the Magico speakers as long as he wants. Wolf flies him out to San Fran, wines him, dines him, puts him up, etc. In return, he is great at bringing up Magico at any chance he gets. He is a very good hit man and he has gotten really aggressive lately - taking the air out of the comparably priced Nola's product launch at RMAF (needs a cabinet redesign, per his blog). He has also given the much more real sounding Scaenas a very lukewarm review recently. Scaena is “too big for his room”, while the huge Magicos are just fine, thanks to the tuning forks in his room. Well, Scaena phones were definitely not be ringing as much as they should have with new speaker orders this holiday season. Neither did Nola’s. What the Magico lackeys don’t tell you though, Randall, while I do, is that Magico lacks a soul while Nola and Scaena light the human spirit on fire.
Let me also address some of your other points, Randall… First, let me clue you in on some facts of life. Not all babies are cute. Some cook great tasting meatloaf, but when others cook meatloaf, it tastes like sawdust. Most dinner guests are too polite to tell you the unvarnished truth. “How's the meatloaf?” “Fine”, they say. “Delicious” if they care about you or think it will make you happy. How many people volunteer they are having a lousy day? It’s human nature to put a bright face on a crappy situation. But the “Fine” response is a joke. There's no value in it. Fine is a 4 letter word. So it's useless to ask most people what they think. Most are too gutless to tell you what they really think. I, on the other hand, have no problems telling folks what I think.
And you also blame the internet for my comments, Randall. Yes, Randall , it is the Internet! It allows us to bring diverse points of view together. On the one hand you love magico for its technological advancement, yet you are upset by another technical marvel, the internet. This comment about the internet just reeks of the arrogance of the main stream audio media. You had no problem saying that Wilson sucks in the other thread. Go ahead, disparage bloggers and online critics. Thanks to the net, voices like mine can counterbalance the propaganda from the audio media elites. I happen to have a lot of experience with gear and a lot of self confidence behind my opinions. With voices like mine, definitions of good sound and bad sound have become democratized, and myths have been busted. And yes, I feel more qualified to judge the sound than a salesman or marketing rep for magico who is masquerading as a “neutral reviewer”. I'm a critic, but unlike you or your colleagues in the elite media, I am not beholden to anyone. I am not looking for Wolf to send me free speakers, buy my advertising, fly me out to his place and take me to expensive San Francisco restaurants, etc. So I feel free to speak my mind.
And what's with the personal attacks, Randall? It's my hobby just as much as it’s your hobby. And if I feel like reacting to something I see, I will not hesitate. Isn't this the purpose of this discussion forum? The question is why are you acting like a PR man rather than a content creator and an analyst? Just a small hint - Valin and others will get the q7 to rave about way before you will. This is not a personal attack. It’s just reality, based on a simple concept of “status” from sociology and economics of who can sell more gear for Wolf.
And of course there is subjectivity, Randall… One man’s dream house is another man’s eyesore; ones mans beautiful prairie garden is another man’s patch of weeds. Yes, there is no consensus on one way to obtain pleasure. Beauty begins with a universal human need, buts manifests itself heterogeneously, subjectively, and is constantly changing. Our response to beauty is hard wired and governed by circuits in the brain. This differs from individual to individual, of course. But the main stream reviewers, it seems to me, have forgotten what the audio hobby is about. They are like plastic surgeons at a gentleman’s club - looking for imperfections rather than letting go of their left brain and just enjoying the view. So they push us toward functional accuracy and scientific perfection, calling these emotionally dead products like magico ‘best’, while ignoring the fact that for those of us who really love music, the purpose of the gear is to make life enjoyable and that emotional response to music dictates the speaker choice. Of course, what most audio reviewers who are calling Magico “best” and “product of the year”, “speaker of the year” neglect to mention that it's best on meeting audiophile terminology, while lacking a soul. Yet many of the audio media elites are pushing this Magico drek on us with constant speaker / product of the year awards and Best pronouncements.
But in reality Magico is not ‘Best’ at all...Great speakers effect human beings in ways that are immediate, perceptual, and emotional. When people are able to concentrate wholeheartedly on an activity, they lose awareness of peripheral problems and distractions. The state of complete absorption is called Flow by psychologists. During Flow, our experience of time and self is altered. We become lost in the most positive of senses. Psychology studies show that people are most happy in a state of Flow. So I look for gear that is designed to make that optimal experience easier to achieve. Magico, on the other hand, tells and instructs rather than delights. It's a cognitive and analytical experience while listening to the Magico speaker, rather than complete absorption during the experience followed by the analytical reflection after the experience. Since it seems like we are operating on different planes of audio gear experiences, let me provide you with another analogy: to me and other music lovers, listening to a Magico is kind of like watching an engrossing movie, and just as you are being be drawn in, some jerk is constantly playing with the movie projector. In essence, magico is emotionally dead to someone who cares less about audiophilia, but loves music.
You and Magico’s supporters in the elite audio media seem to get excited about wolf's stiffness of enclosure and his crossovers, while I get excited about a speakers ability to convey emotions. To each his own! You can take this most expensive magico and compare it to a $35 k Sonus Faber and the SF will win. It will better magico not because of a supposedly stiff material and super-duper resolution, but because it creates an enjoyable and pleasurable experience. Gear like that brings music lovers joy. In comparison, magico is emotionally dead.
Just read how dull and dispassionate valin's reviews have gotten in the last few years. The reason is simple. Unless you are more into physics than the art of music, how can you get excited about transparency, the crossover, and the size and soundstage, while ignoring the musical whole? Valin’s dull and dispassionate reviews reflect what he is hearing in Magico. Instead, if you don’t know what I am talking about, read Bruninger's recent MBL review in TAS for a nice contrast of what the audio hobby is about for music lovers.
So Randall, many people in this hobby work 60 hours + per week, have families with small kids and busy lives. When they have a chance to turn on their system for 60 minutes a day, they would love to get lost in the music and forget about the gear – and forget about everything else in their life. I hope I am making clear that for many of us, this hobby should bring heightened meaning and pleasure to the substance if our lives, or there is no need for it.
