Pictures at an Ehibition
- Thread starter Gregadd
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Which model flat looking speaker is this?
Does that say McIntosh at the bottom?
Does that say McIntosh at the bottom?
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Flat speaker..jpg
Greg,
thanks for the pictures...just requested more on the other thread, before seeing this thread - sorry. one question (weird one); in all the pictures of the demo model from CES, Portugal and press releases, i was surprised how meager the feet post looked for a near 400 lbs speaker. in your pictures, i cannot tell but the speakers appear to have a beefier set of feet. did you have a chance to observe if that is the case?
thanks brian
thanks for the pictures...just requested more on the other thread, before seeing this thread - sorry. one question (weird one); in all the pictures of the demo model from CES, Portugal and press releases, i was surprised how meager the feet post looked for a near 400 lbs speaker. in your pictures, i cannot tell but the speakers appear to have a beefier set of feet. did you have a chance to observe if that is the case?
thanks brian
Ah, man. I got all excited when I saw the title of this thread. I thought it was going to be a discussion about Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Pictures At An Exhibition:
It is actually a parody on a Piece of classical music. I'm glad it caught your attention.Ah, man. I got all excited when I saw the title of this thread. I thought it was going to be a discussion about Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Pictures At An Exhibition:
No I did not. There was virtually no lighting. Any light you see came from my flash. The Q5 is up on the website now. i suggest you ask them.
Review of MAdico Q5
On May 1, 2010 I took the drive up I- 95 from DC to Wilmington, Delaware to Overture Audio (www.overtureav.com). I had not been there since Terry did a preview of the ML Statement e2 with Basis Ovation turntable, and Spectral electronics. That was on a weekday evening and Gayle Sanders himself was present. That was probably as close as I’ll ever come to experiencing a life like musical presentation by a stereo reproduction system.
Like the absolute sound review of Magico M5, I really don’t want a dynamic speaker. My feeling is that they reason they are so expensive is the construction of an inert cabinet is extremely expensive. While cabinet resonances have been conquered, each box has a
coloration that can be tamed but not eliminated. It seems to me the solution is to just do away with the box. Of course boxes, planars, and open baffles all have problems that are well documented.
Alon Wolf handled my loaded questions about building yet another expensive box speaker. Its potentially problematic impedance curve (3.1 ohms @12khz); and building to a price point like a well educated gentleman. None of these factors affected the sound I heard.
The presentation was digital only. He used the top of the line Spectral electronics. Two amps were used, one for each channel. Let me take this opportunity to say that Spectral remains one of the most underrated bargains in audio. No it’s not the least expensive, but it rivals the best at many times the price. I think if it were tube based, it would have much more mass appeal.
Back to the Magico Q5. It is somewhat unfair for me to evaluate this speaker. My ears are tuned to electrostatics. While many manufacturers claim there speakers are electrostatic like, the difference is as plain as butter and margarines. It’s similar t to comparing the Williams sisters. They both are champion tennis players, but their game is completely different.
The Q5 is a four way design. That of course makes a high quality crossover design essential. It also gives the CLS another advantage. (No crossover) It consists of three
Pick your poison.
Terry, Overtures owner has managed to survive 17 years. No small achievement in this field. He has a large store in a strip mall off a main boulevard. He is a music loving gentleman. His events are catered and he has a large staff of salesman. You get the feeling you are free to just come in and listen. I have done this a long time ago, but am unaware of the current situation...
The event was well attended. The session preceding mine was SRO.
The Q5 is a four way design. That of course makes a high quality crossover design essential. It also gives the CLS another advantage. (No crossover) It consists of three woofers. One for mid-bass the other for deep bass, A midrange driver and beryllium tweeter is utilized. Alon does not think much of diamond or ribbon tweeters. The cabinet consists of a floor standing anodized aluminum box it leaves a small forward facing foot print, but is deep and relatively tall. It should fit unobtrusively in most rooms. It weighs four hundred pounds apiece. That’s actual weight. You don’t want it to fall on your or try to move it alone. At this price your dealer should set it up for you. Its' weight should make it difficult to tip over.
The manufacturer says the speaker is 6 ohms and benefits but does not require lots of power. Terry operated the volume control, so I don’t know how loud the speakers would play. It was clear Terry was tired. I STROMGLY RECOMMEND THAT TERRY INVITE ME BACK FOR AN EXTENDED LISTENING SESSION. I really could not make a serious evaluation in what amounted to maybe 40 minutes of actual music. As luck would have it, Terry played a Shirley Horn song that I have heard a hundred times. I was therefore able to make a sharp comparison between the CLS and Q5.
As Alon pointed out. A planar speaker is heavily room dependent. The manufacture has no idea what the actual room response will be. He claims that all the energy emerges from front of the speaker. Consequently results are more predictable.
Let me get to the point. I think this could be your last speaker. At 54 grand it should be. I have not heard all speakers but I retract my previous claim that all speakers need subs. Bass is deep and solid. It might benefit from being relieved of deep baas duties. It does handle deep bass effortlessly. A suppose you could strain it with organ music. Few speakers can handle that. This is high praise indeed. The Q5 is to male voices what ML CLS is to female voices/!
Imaging is everything one would expect from a point source. The speakers were placed very wide apart. I suspect that was done to accommodate the large number of listeners in the room. If they were closer together and I was in the sweet spot I think imaging would have been dead on.
Dynamics were handled effortlessly. You had to pay close attention because the speaker was simply devoid of any hi- fi fireworks. Listening fatigue was non-existent. Terry has an extremely well damped room. I detected no reflections. While there are obvious benefits to this, it can rob a speaker of some of its liveliness. I think it could benefit form a slightly brighter room.
That’s it. The speaker did nothing wrong.
On May 1, 2010 I took the drive up I- 95 from DC to Wilmington, Delaware to Overture Audio (www.overtureav.com). I had not been there since Terry did a preview of the ML Statement e2 with Basis Ovation turntable, and Spectral electronics. That was on a weekday evening and Gayle Sanders himself was present. That was probably as close as I’ll ever come to experiencing a life like musical presentation by a stereo reproduction system.
Like the absolute sound review of Magico M5, I really don’t want a dynamic speaker. My feeling is that they reason they are so expensive is the construction of an inert cabinet is extremely expensive. While cabinet resonances have been conquered, each box has a
coloration that can be tamed but not eliminated. It seems to me the solution is to just do away with the box. Of course boxes, planars, and open baffles all have problems that are well documented.
Alon Wolf handled my loaded questions about building yet another expensive box speaker. Its potentially problematic impedance curve (3.1 ohms @12khz); and building to a price point like a well educated gentleman. None of these factors affected the sound I heard.
The presentation was digital only. He used the top of the line Spectral electronics. Two amps were used, one for each channel. Let me take this opportunity to say that Spectral remains one of the most underrated bargains in audio. No it’s not the least expensive, but it rivals the best at many times the price. I think if it were tube based, it would have much more mass appeal.
Back to the Magico Q5. It is somewhat unfair for me to evaluate this speaker. My ears are tuned to electrostatics. While many manufacturers claim there speakers are electrostatic like, the difference is as plain as butter and margarines. It’s similar t to comparing the Williams sisters. They both are champion tennis players, but their game is completely different.
The Q5 is a four way design. That of course makes a high quality crossover design essential. It also gives the CLS another advantage. (No crossover) It consists of three
Pick your poison.
Terry, Overtures owner has managed to survive 17 years. No small achievement in this field. He has a large store in a strip mall off a main boulevard. He is a music loving gentleman. His events are catered and he has a large staff of salesman. You get the feeling you are free to just come in and listen. I have done this a long time ago, but am unaware of the current situation...
The event was well attended. The session preceding mine was SRO.
The Q5 is a four way design. That of course makes a high quality crossover design essential. It also gives the CLS another advantage. (No crossover) It consists of three woofers. One for mid-bass the other for deep bass, A midrange driver and beryllium tweeter is utilized. Alon does not think much of diamond or ribbon tweeters. The cabinet consists of a floor standing anodized aluminum box it leaves a small forward facing foot print, but is deep and relatively tall. It should fit unobtrusively in most rooms. It weighs four hundred pounds apiece. That’s actual weight. You don’t want it to fall on your or try to move it alone. At this price your dealer should set it up for you. Its' weight should make it difficult to tip over.
The manufacturer says the speaker is 6 ohms and benefits but does not require lots of power. Terry operated the volume control, so I don’t know how loud the speakers would play. It was clear Terry was tired. I STROMGLY RECOMMEND THAT TERRY INVITE ME BACK FOR AN EXTENDED LISTENING SESSION. I really could not make a serious evaluation in what amounted to maybe 40 minutes of actual music. As luck would have it, Terry played a Shirley Horn song that I have heard a hundred times. I was therefore able to make a sharp comparison between the CLS and Q5.
As Alon pointed out. A planar speaker is heavily room dependent. The manufacture has no idea what the actual room response will be. He claims that all the energy emerges from front of the speaker. Consequently results are more predictable.
Let me get to the point. I think this could be your last speaker. At 54 grand it should be. I have not heard all speakers but I retract my previous claim that all speakers need subs. Bass is deep and solid. It might benefit from being relieved of deep baas duties. It does handle deep bass effortlessly. A suppose you could strain it with organ music. Few speakers can handle that. This is high praise indeed. The Q5 is to male voices what ML CLS is to female voices/!
Imaging is everything one would expect from a point source. The speakers were placed very wide apart. I suspect that was done to accommodate the large number of listeners in the room. If they were closer together and I was in the sweet spot I think imaging would have been dead on.
Dynamics were handled effortlessly. You had to pay close attention because the speaker was simply devoid of any hi- fi fireworks. Listening fatigue was non-existent. Terry has an extremely well damped room. I detected no reflections. While there are obvious benefits to this, it can rob a speaker of some of its liveliness. I think it could benefit form a slightly brighter room.
That’s it. The speaker did nothing wrong.
Thanks for the interesting write up Greg. Wish I could have made the trip down
Myles i do believe the Q5 will be Overtures flagship for awhile. If you get a chance take a listen. They had ARC in that room and a Basis Ovation turntable.
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Steve, thanks for getting this forum up and running, so we can have a nice place to discuss events like this. i have been surprised that AVGuide has had no follow up to the event even though they made a big deal about RH attending the event
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