S7 on order

DeYoung

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Feb 20, 2019
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Hello everyone, This is my first post to your fine forum and I'm glad to be here.

Just placed an order this past weekend for S7's in red M-Coat with the M-Pod upgrade.Took me all of 8 hours to come to the conclusion that I had to have them after a spectacular demo and listening session over very strong coffee ( i think they spiked it with something) and major audiophile bonding with some really nice guys at Hanson AV. A finer group of devoted audiophile's you would ever want to meet, and deal with, than the nice people I met today and as i walked out to my car after a long day still buzzing from the experience, I realized that I had just made one of the best decisions of my long audiophile life. I Should have them in about 7-8 weeks.
I am very happy not only about the spectacular listening session and the purchase, but more so about making friends with really some nice people.

FYI.. The equipment I demoed the S7 with was nothing short of reference quality. The amps were Boulder 1160 Class A mono's, Boulder 1110 Pre-amp,
Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable with a Universal arm and Goldfinger cartridge. A full loom of Nordost ODIN cables. Not sure of the PC's (probably Nordost ) or rack system but it had some carbon fiber elements to it and there was a streaming server (didn't catch the brand) w/wireless controller.

No wonder I was blown away!
 
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Folsom

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Oct 25, 2015
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Fun. My experience is they like an SS amp, so even the smaller Boulders would work.
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
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Congrats. I had a weird experience with Hanson years ago - I inquired about a used pair of Q3s and they copied Irv Gross (back then still with Magico), kinda insinuating that I was trying to beat the system by not buying from a local dealer...
 

Bodhi

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Apr 20, 2014
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Congratulations Dave on your purchase of the S7's & welcome to the forum! It's good to hear you got great service from the folks at Hanson AV. My friend owns S7's driven by VItus Signature series & Masterpiece series amps, and they are spectactular as you described. The S7's will certainly give you that wall of sound & are very coherent sounding. I own the S5 Mk2's and plan to add S Pods. I agree the M Pods are a good investment for the S7's.

You've assembled an impressive system, with excellent attention to detail with a/c power, isolation, grounding & room acoustics. Well done! A couple of questions...Will you be driving the S7's with your A-75? If so, you might find it sounds a bit lean compared to the Boulders you auditioned. The A-250 or M-6200 mono's would be a better match, or atleast the P-7300. Also, I'm curious to ask how the Akiko Audio Corelli PLC performs in your system? What do you have it connected to?
 
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DeYoung

VIP/Donor
Feb 20, 2019
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KY
Hi Bodhi,
Thank you for you very kind words!
I have had several discussions with Peter Mackay of Magico about driving and controlling the S7 sufficiently to get the best qualities from them and he has assured me that with my room (25x15x8) and music tastes (classical/jazz at moderate levels ) it will be a good match. The A-75 has the power (120w @4ohm) and is capable of putting out over 480w @ 1ohm with music content. Accuphase specs very conservatively and according to their rep, the A-75 is a" Powerhouse" and poses no problem for the S7. Also the A-75 has a damping factor of over 1000 making tight control of the S7 a non issue as well.
The Akiko Corelli is a parallel conditioner that plugs in to any unused outlet on the same circuit as your system. I find that the results have been very good. It seems to have lowered the noise floor and helped to cleanup the presentation. I find that especially noticeable on redbook CD which can have lots of rough spots. I can have listening sessions that last much longer without the dreaded fatigue setting in. I'm pleased with it.
 
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Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Hello everyone, This is my first post to your fine forum and I'm glad to be here.

Just placed an order this past weekend for S7's in red M-Coat with the M-Pod upgrade.Took me all of 8 hours to come to the conclusion that I had to have them after a spectacular demo and listening session over very strong coffee ( i think they spiked it with something) and major audiophile bonding with some really nice guys at Hanson AV. A finer group of devoted audiophile's you would ever want to meet, and deal with, than the nice people I met today and as i walked out to my car after a long day still buzzing from the experience, I realized that I had just made one of the best decisions of my long audiophile life. I Should have them in about 7-8 weeks.
I am very happy not only about the spectacular listening session and the purchase, but more so about making friends with really some nice people.

FYI.. The equipment I demoed the S7 with was nothing short of reference quality. The amps were Boulder 1160 Class A mono's, Boulder 1110 Pre-amp,
Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable with a Universal arm and Goldfinger cartridge. A full loom of Nordost ODIN cables. Not sure of the PC's (probably Nordost ) or rack system but it had some carbon fiber elements to it and there was a streaming server (didn't catch the brand) w/wireless controller.

No wonder I was blown away!

Welcome to WBF, DeYoung!

Congratulations on the new speakers!
 

Bodhi

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2014
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Hi Bodhi,
Thank you for you very kind words!
I have had several discussions with Peter Mackay of Magico about driving and controlling the S7 sufficiently to get the best qualities from them and he has assured me that with my room (25x15x8) and music tastes (classical/jazz at moderate levels ) it will be a good match. The A-75 has the power (120w @4ohm) and is capable of putting out over 480w @ 1ohm with music content. Accuphase specs very conservatively and according to their rep, the A-75 is a" Powerhouse" and poses no problem for the S7. Also the A-75 has a damping factor of over 1000 making tight control of the S7 a non issue as well.
The Akiko Corelli is a parallel conditioner that plugs in to any unused outlet on the same circuit as your system. I find that the results have been very good. It seems to have lowered the noise floor and helped to cleanup the presentation. I find that especially noticeable on redbook CD which can have lots of rough spots. I can have listening sessions that last much longer without the dreaded fatigue setting in. I'm pleased with it.
YW Dave. Fair enough. The S7's in practice have similar efficiency to the S5 Mk2, hence fairly tough loading. My concern was based on the previous model (A-70) driving my S5 Mk2's in a medium size room. However I note the A-75 has greater total capacitance, and a correspondingly higher damping factor. Based on your small-medium size room, I'd concur with Peter Mackay's advice that the A-75 should be fine (very nice fellow btw).

Thanks for your f'back re: the Akiko Corelli. Interesting, I like their products. I don't know that i'd double up on power conditioners. If anything, I may upgrade to the future model replacement for the Gigawatt PC-3 SE Evo+, and seperately address grounding. Looking forward to an update when your new speakers arrive :cool:.
 
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DeYoung

VIP/Donor
Feb 20, 2019
68
59
155
KY
Bohdi...Thank you for being reasonable and looking at the facts. I've been a bit frustrated in my attempts to convince the so-called experts on other forums that the so-called issue of the suitable compatibility between the A-75 and the S7 is non- existent based on all the facts,council and advise I managed to accumulate long before i made my purchase.
Btw as far as grounding... I've had good results using the Synergistic Research active ground block. You may wish to look into something along those lines. I think Nordost makes a similar star grounding product. Good luck.
 
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DeYoung

VIP/Donor
Feb 20, 2019
68
59
155
KY
Welcome to WBF, DeYoung!

Congratulations on the new speakers!
Thanks, Ron... I think your forum has the nicest presentation, format and layout and the highest degree of user friendliness than any other audio forum I've experienced. Glad to be here.
 
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Bodhi

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Apr 20, 2014
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Bohdi...Thank you for being reasonable and looking at the facts. I've been a bit frustrated in my attempts to convince the so-called experts on other forums that the so-called issue of the suitable compatibility between the A-75 and the S7 is non- existent based on all the facts,council and advise I managed to accumulate long before i made my purchase.
Btw as far as grounding... I've had good results using the Synergistic Research active ground block. You may wish to look into something along those lines. I think Nordost makes a similar star grounding product. Good luck.
No worries, I know for a fact other forums run troll factories. You don't get that sort of rubbish here.

Re: grounding, I have to say at this point philisophically I prefer passive grounding conditioners like Entreq, Akiko and even Tripoint. I can see the SR product is well thought out using SOTA materials, though you just have to be careful not to follow the rabbit down the rabbit hole with that manufacturer, as it can be a slippery slope. That said, did you compare the SR AGB with any other grounding conditioners such as the Akiko Castello? Sorry about the threadjack!
 
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DeYoung

VIP/Donor
Feb 20, 2019
68
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155
KY
No problem.. threadjack away!
I became interested in the SR AGB because i had already fallen down that rabbit hole you mentioned! Tried lots of the SR room correction tweaks to some degree of success. I eventually removed most of them. I did my homework,however about the SR AGB and read the very positive reviews, asked on forums,etc. I had looked at other passive devices,some of which you mentioned but needed the extra connection points the SR AGB offered. That basically convinced me to give it a try. It has made a difference. Not night and day but has definitely contributed to a lowering of the noise floor along with the Corelli. I looked at the Castello but being basically satisfied that i had sufficiently dealt with system grounding, didn't pursue it. If its like most Akiko products it's probably worth trying. I think I'll be trying the Phono Booster next.
 
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Bodhi

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Apr 20, 2014
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Lol, yes and that rabbit hole runs deep! But yes obviously the Akiko Audio Castello grounding conditioner only offers 3 grounding connections, which as you said ruled it out. Though in my case, 3 grounding points is all I need for now. So I'm excited to give the Castello a try. It should work synergistically with my E-tuning Gold MkII, and it's just plain good value.
 
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a.dent

Well-Known Member
Nov 11, 2011
21
2
388
Perth, Australia
Congratulations on choosing the S7s. I've spent considerable time listening to a mate's pair powered by Accuphase A-200s. I think Accuphase and Magico S speakers are well matched.
I have S5s matched to an A-70 power amp. My previous amp was a Vitus RI-100. While the Vitus/Magico pairing was "magic" the A-70 is a serious step up in sound quality. Bass is much better controlled and is in no way "lean". It's just so beautifully balanced and natural.
I think you'll love your new S7s with the A-75.
 
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Bodhi

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Apr 20, 2014
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Congratulations on choosing the S7s. I've spent considerable time listening to a mate's pair powered by Accuphase A-200s. I think Accuphase and Magico S speakers are well matched.
I have S5s matched to an A-70 power amp. My previous amp was a Vitus RI-100. While the Vitus/Magico pairing was "magic" the A-70 is a serious step up in sound quality. Bass is much better controlled and is in no way "lean". It's just so beautifully balanced and natural.
I think you'll love your new S7s with the A-75.
Yeah Tasso's system. He has a beautilful setup & loves the Magico/Accuphase combo! I've heard the A-70 and C-2850 paired with inneficient Dynaudio C4's and a pair of Harbeth M40.2's. The Accuphase amps were happier on the Harbeth's. That said, my earlier concern about the A-75 driving the S7's was mainly based on f'back I received from one of the most respected reviewers in the world who has reviewed the A70, and is familiar with Magico. His advice was "The Accuphase A70 is very nice amp, but I believe with Magicos it will be too lean. Vitus will drive them better". I accept that is just one reviewer's opinion though.

With the above said, I'm not trying to rain on yours or the OP's parade. Fyi, we did a 3-way shootout on the Harbeth M40.2's with Pass Labs and Luxman, and the Accuphase combo won. It was a very enjoyable sound.

Re: the Vitus RI-100, that amp was too bottom-up, lacked a little musicality and perhaps due to its tonal imbalance, was also dark sounding to my ears. It was a good, but not great amp. The new RI-101 however is in a different league & is terrific...the Signature series better again. And i'm sure there is a similar step up in sound from the A-70/C-2850 to the A-75/C-3850. Vive la difference as the French would say!
 
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XV-1

Well-Known Member
May 24, 2010
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Sydney
Congratulations on choosing the S7s. I've spent considerable time listening to a mate's pair powered by Accuphase A-200s. I think Accuphase and Magico S speakers are well matched.
I have S5s matched to an A-70 power amp. My previous amp was a Vitus RI-100. While the Vitus/Magico pairing was "magic" the A-70 is a serious step up in sound quality. Bass is much better controlled and is in no way "lean". It's just so beautifully balanced and natural.
I think you'll love your new S7s with the A-75.

Great to hear someone giving advice based on actually hearing and owning gear.
This holds a lot more credence than advice based on hearsay.
 
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Bodhi

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Apr 20, 2014
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Great to hear someone giving advice based on actually hearing and owning gear.
This holds a lot more credence than advice based on hearsay.
That's ironic considering that I own Magico S5 Mk2's, and previously owned S5 Mk1's. My friend owns S7's which I have a lot of ear time on, and i've heard most Magico models dating back to the V series on multiple occasions. I spent a full day a-b comparing the Accuphase A-70/C-2850 vs the Luxman M900u/C900u and Pass XA250.8/XP-20 amps on two different systems - sufficent to properly evaluate their sound and how they work on inneficient and efficient speakers. I further cited advice from respected reviewer Wojciech Pacu?a who has reviewed the A-70, and is familiar with Magico speakers. My comments were framed from those points of reference, and based on my 30 years experience as an audiophile.

With the above said, I accepted Peter Mackay's advice that based on the OP's room size, musical tastes and listening levels, the A-75/C-3850 combo would be a good match. I was fair and balanced in my comments, so I don't know what you're glitch is? Maybe you're so used to trolling me after all these years that's it's become habitual behavior?
 
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DeYoung

VIP/Donor
Feb 20, 2019
68
59
155
KY
S7's are in the house and making beautiful music with the Accuphase gear.
Right out of the crates I'm very impressed. I can only wonder what having 200-300 hrs on them will bring.

IMG_1102.JPG
 

leyenda

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Mar 2, 2011
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Very nice room! I love the diagonal setting, helps a lot with the bass. What was your previous speakers and how does the S7 compares? Thanks and enjoy.
 

a.dent

Well-Known Member
Nov 11, 2011
21
2
388
Perth, Australia
@DeYoung.
Well done. Your system looks amazing.
You'll find your new S7s will take hundreds of hours to sound their best. I think my S5s are still improving after almost 5 years and about 2500 hours.
The synergy with the Accuphase gear is wonderful.
Enjoy.

Here's a photo of my spartan and budget (compared to your) system.

IMG_1247.jpg
 
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