Magico S5 mk2

**Tom Z** · April 23, 2016, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by FlexibleAudio

Hey Tom another fun fact, I am on the record around here recently saying I want to play around with a couple of Magico Subs (with Nyal's help) to augment the bottom end of myBoat Anchors.

You only need one of these

http://magico.net/product/qsub.php

**Alpinist** · April 23, 2016, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your interesting views on tweeters. I'm just wondering if you've had the change to listen to the Magico S7 or S5 Mk2's modified diamond-coated BE tweeter? And if so, how did it rate against the other tweeters you mentioned?
Btw, slightly

, but from my auditions of various high end speakers over the years, this would be my list of the best tweeters i've ever heard -

1/ Acapella High Violin which uses a horn-loaded Ion tweeter with no mass. Incredibly fast with seemingly unlimited dynamics. It is the best tweeter i've ever heard, and blended well with the horn-loaded midrange. Thought it should be noted the High Violins had bass integration issues due to the incredibly fast tweeter & midrange.
2/ Crystal Arabesque which uses a custom version of the superb RAAL 140-15D ribbon tweeter. This tweeter sounds incredibly natural, smooth, fast and has wide bandwidth & excellent off-axis response. Gabi has also done a great job of integrating the RAAl tweeter with the custom Scan-Speak Illuminator bass/midrange drivers
3/ Magico S7's which use a MBD26 diamond-coated BE tweeter. Combined with the new 6" graphene-carbon Nanotube midrange & integrated midrange enclosure; the sound is completely seamless as Mike described, with excellent resolution, balance & sense of 'ease' which allows the music to flow. The S5 Mk2's MB7 diamond-coated BE tweeter should have similar performance.
4/ Infinity High Energy Emit which is a planar-magnetic ribbon tweeter. This newer tweeter was used in the classic Renaissance 80 & 90, IRS-Sigma, Omega & Epsilon models. Having heard my friend's Ren 90's, I was amazed how fast, smooth & resolving this tweeter was & how well it blended with the High Energy Emim midrange. In particular the Ren 90's had excellent off-axis performance & threw a wide, holographic soundstage.

Side note: I would expect the 28mm Diamond-coated BE tweeter used in the Magico M Project & Q7 MkII to be better than the S5 Mk2 & S7, and likely one of the best tweeters in the world, but I haven't heard those models.

Cheers,
Tom

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your tweeter post, your choices are very interesting and some of the speakers I've not had the opportunity to hear for myself, so it's great to get your opinion on them.

I had a 3 hour audition of the Magico S7 with Spectral gear and $50,000 of MIT cabling in a carefully set up listening room with at least 20 tube traps. Please keep in mind that this is just one person's opinion. The S7's new diamond-coated beryllium tweeter is a HUGE improvement over the S5 Mk1's beryllium tweeter in 1) Ease, 2) Transparency and 3) Resolution. On 75% of the music I auditioned, the tweeter blended seamlessly with the midrange and produced an accurate, transparent and musical presentation, which overall was highly enjoyable. However, on about 25% of the recordings, there was a hard edge to the treble, which made me notice the tweeter and detracted from my overall listening experience. Mike felt this could have been caused by the Spectral gear, which is entirely possible, but what I can tell you is that Overture has put tremendous care into designing this system and room. This, what I will call, unforgiving nature of the tweeters on these particular recordings, made the speakers a "no go" for me. Please...no tomatoes!!!

Best,
Ken

**Tom Z** · April 23, 2016, 10:32 PM

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your thoughts on your audition of the S7's & opinion on the diamond-coated BE tweeter. Spectral amps are super-fast, but paired with the wrong speakers can sound bright and analytical. I've heard a couple of Magico Dealers spruik that as a good combo, but i've got to say Spectral would be down near the bottom of my list of amps to match with Magico.

The new S5 Mk2's (like the S7) have even greater resolution than the S5 Mk1 and are a bit more neutral in tonal balance, so they benefit from warm, tube-like ss amps which match them for resolution, speed and bandwidth, but are a bit forgiving. And some tube amps pair well also. The best ss amps i've heard with Magico are Vitus and Soulution. I haven't heard Pass amps before, but I trust Mike's view on that. Whilst CAT, Absolare, CJ Art/Gat & Tenor in tube/tube-hybrid amps have proven synergy.

You're always looking for a good marriage between your loudspeakers, amps, front end, cables, ac power & room. The S5 Mk2's & S7's are already detail champs, they just need a little softness, warmth & tube-like liquidity to balance them out. For me, i've found that happy balance with Vitus.

Cheers,

**FlexibleAudio** · April 23, 2016, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your tweeter post, your choices are very interesting and some of the speakers I've not had the opportunity to hear for myself, so it's great to get your opinion on them.

I had a 3 hour audition of the Magico S7 with Spectral gear and $50,000 of MIT cabling in a carefully set up listening room with at least 20 bass traps. Please keep in mind that this is just one person's opinion. The S7's new diamond-coated beryllium tweeter is a HUGE improvement over the S5 Mk1's beryllium tweeter in 1) Ease, 2) Transparency and 3) Resolution. On 75% of the music I auditioned, the tweeter blended seamlessly with the midrange and produced an accurate, transparent and musical presentation, which overall was very enjoyable. However, on about 25% of the recordings, there was a hard edge to the treble, which made me notice the tweeter and detracted from my overall listening experience. Mike felt this could have been caused by the Spectral gear, which is entirely possible, but what I can tell you is that Overture has put tremendous care into designing this system and room. This, what I will call, unforgiving nature of the tweeters on these particular recordings, made the speakers a "no go" for me. Please...no tomatoes!!!

Best,
Ken

Similar to my experience with the S5 mkii but I really think this must be a peculiar high frequency sensitivity that some people have that others clearly don't. Not sure why that would be. Genetics, ear damage, brain damage, who knows what my malady may be; in fact, for me it could be all the three.

**Bruce** · April 23, 2016, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your thoughts on your audition of the S7's & opinion on the diamond-coated BE tweeter. Spectral amps are super-fast, but paired with the wrong speakers can sound bright and analytical. I've heard a couple of Magico Dealers spruik that as a good combo, but i've got to say Spectral would be down near the bottom of my list of amps to match with Magico.

Cheers,

Interesting --as I recall Magico used a Spectral Amp in one of their Demos at RMAF or Newport--I may have the photo of the room on my HD

Yes the sound was not the best with that combo

Bruce

**Alpinist** · April 23, 2016, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Hi Ken,

Thanks for your thoughts on your audition of the S7's & opinion on the diamond-coated BE tweeter. Spectral amps are super-fast, but paired with the wrong speakers can sound bright and analytical. I've heard a couple of Magico Dealers spruik that as a good combo, but i've got to say Spectral would be down near the bottom of my list of amps to match with Magico.

The new S5 Mk2's (like the S7) have even greater resolution than the S5 Mk1 and are a bit more neutral in tonal balance, so they benefit from warm, tube-like ss amps which match them for resolution, speed and bandwidth, but are a bit forgiving. And some tube amps pair well also. The best ss amps i've heard with Magico are Vitus and Soulution. I haven't heard Pass amps before, but I trust Mike's view on that. Whilst CAT, Absolare, CJ Art/Gat & Tenor in tube/tube-hybrid amps have proven synergy also.

You're always looking for a good marriage between your loudspeakers, amps, front end, cables & ac power. The S5 Mk2's & S7's are already detail champs, they just need a little softness, warmth & tube-like liquidity to balance them out. For me, i've found that happy balance with Vitus.

Cheers,

Hi Tom,

I totally agree with you about the amp matching. I think the amps you mentioned would provide more synergy with the S7 and produce a more forgiving treble and overall more enjoyable sound. IMHO, while the S7 tweeter is dramatically improved, I still believe there is some room for additional improvement. After all, nothing is perfect in this world! My guess is that with Alon's next tweeter iteration, even with Spectral gear, the treble will have no edge on 99% of the recordings. The funny thing was, all of my recordings sounded perfect on the S7. My listening room tends toward a brighter treble, so all of my top recordings are not at all bright in the treble. It was actually all the recordings the owner played for me that had the treble edge! But back to your point, with proper gear matching, this tendency I noted should be correctable.

Ken

**Alpinist** · April 23, 2016, 11:13 PM

Originally Posted by Bruce

Interesting --as I recall Magico used a Spectral Amp in one of their Demos at RMAF or Newport--I may have the photo of the room on my HD

Yes the sound was not the best with that combo

Bruce

Thanks Bruce for that info. I believe this is the reason that Alon showed the S5 Mk2 with CAT amps at Axpona. He was looking to produce a more organic sound to draw in a larger segment of the audiophile population, which prefers this sort of presentation.

Ken

**a.wayne** · April 23, 2016, 11:13 PM

Spectral is good snizzle , actually very good snizzle .....

**Tom Z** · April 23, 2016, 11:22 PM

Originally Posted by Bruce

Interesting --as I recall Magico used a Spectral Amp in one of their Demos at RMAF or Newport--I may have the photo of the room on my HD

Yes the sound was not the best with that combo

Bruce

Magico have had an interesting journey with their show demo's since the inception of the S series, going from Devialet, Spectral and Constellation to Soulution, Vitus & CAT.

**Tom Z** · April 23, 2016, 11:39 PM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Tom,

I totally agree with you about the amp matching. I think the amps you mentioned would provide more synergy with the S7 and produce a more forgiving treble and overall more enjoyable sound. IMHO, while the S7 tweeter is dramatically improved, I still believe there is some room for additional improvement. After all, nothing is perfect in this world! My guess is that with Alon's next tweeter iteration, even with Spectral gear, the treble will have no edge on 99% of the recordings. But back to your point, with proper gear matching, this tendency I noted should be correctable.

Ken

Ken, I think your observations are probably correct. The ultimate application of Magico's diamond-coated BE tweeter are the more comprehensive 28mm tweeters found in the M Pro and Q7 Mk2, but of course that would not be possible in the S series on the grounds of cost. Re; the next tweeter iteration, based on the product life of the S5 Mk1 which debuted 4 years ago, I don't think we're going to see a new tweeter variant in the S series anytime soon. I think my earlier ranking of the S7's tweeter is appropriate. There are better tweeters, but for the money, with this level of integration, it's damn good

.

**Alpinist** · April 24, 2016, 12:12 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Ken, I think your observations are probably correct. The ultimate application of Magico's diamond-coated BE tweeter is the more comprehensive 28mm tweeters found in the M Pro and Q7 Mk2, but of course that would not be possible in the S series on the grounds of cost. Re; the next tweeter iteration, based on the product life of the S5 Mk1 which debuted 4 years ago, I don't think we're going to see a new tweeter variant in the S series anytime soon. I think my earlier ranking of the S7's tweeter is appropriate. There are better tweeters, but for the money, with this level of integration, it's damn good

.

Big +1. It is a damn good tweeter and the S7 is a damn good speaker. I was impressed as heck with them. I admire Alon's pursuit of audio perfection. He is relentless and he's winning the war!

Best,
Ken

**Bruce** · April 24, 2016, 12:18 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Magico have had an interesting journey with their show demo's since the inception of the S series, going from Devialet, Spectral and Constellation to Soulution, Vitus & CAT.

Don't forget Boulder-- early CES

Bruce

**Tom Z** · April 24, 2016, 01:01 AM

Bruce, my friend David used to own a Boulder 1060 a few years ago, though unfortunately I didn't get to hear that setup. He said it sounded natural, but was pretty much dead neutral in tonal balance, so he ran an Ayon tube pre upstream to add some tube virtues. Hence I wouldn't describe the older 1000 series & Magico as natural bedfellows (unless paired with a tubed linestage).

OTOH a mutual friend recently bought the awesome Boulder 3060 & Boulder 2120 dac. He told me they sound very organic and have a tube-like liquidity, as well as having awesome power & resolution. The 2100 series are supposed to be similarly musical creations, though scaled down obviously. So yes it would be fun sitting down to an audition with Boulder's topline amps, though not cheap!

**Elberoth** · April 24, 2016, 02:28 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Here is the S5 Mk2 in M-cast Bronze! I bet Adam will be drooling

**Elberoth** · April 24, 2016, 02:29 AM

...

**Elberoth** · April 24, 2016, 02:41 AM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your tweeter post, your choices are very interesting and some of the speakers I've not had the opportunity to hear for myself, so it's great to get your opinion on them.

I had a 3 hour audition of the Magico S7 with Spectral gear and $50,000 of MIT cabling in a carefully set up listening room with at least 20 tube traps. Please keep in mind that this is just one person's opinion. The S7's new diamond-coated beryllium tweeter is a HUGE improvement over the S5 Mk1's beryllium tweeter in 1) Ease, 2) Transparency and 3) Resolution. On 75% of the music I auditioned, the tweeter blended seamlessly with the midrange and produced an accurate, transparent and musical presentation, which overall was highly enjoyable. However, on about 25% of the recordings, there was a hard edge to the treble, which made me notice the tweeter and detracted from my overall listening experience. Mike felt this could have been caused by the Spectral gear, which is entirely possible, but what I can tell you is that Overture has put tremendous care into designing this system and room. This, what I will call, unforgiving nature of the tweeters on these particular recordings, made the speakers a "no go" for me. Please...no tomatoes!!!

Best,
Ken

I have never liked any of the Magico S / Spectral combinations I've heard. They sounded either spectacular (on Reference Recordings) or really bad (on anything else). I even brought home the Spectral SS30 mk 2 / 260 combo with all Spectral cabling, and din't like it at all. DarTZeel and esp. MSB sounded much, MUCH better.

MSB, like the Vitus, is also a good match, as their amps are a bit on the warm side.

**Tom Z** · April 24, 2016, 03:17 AM

Originally Posted by Elberoth

DarTZeel and esp. MSB sounded much, MUCH better.

MSB, like the Vitus, is also a good match, as their amps are a bit on the warm side.

+ 1

**Tom Z** · April 24, 2016, 08:43 PM

Well folks, the S5 MkII web page has officially gone live on Magico LLC's website!

http://magico.net/product/s5mkii.php And you Sharkies heard it first

Here are some of the stunning images..

**joeinid** · April 24, 2016, 09:22 PM

Wow! Beautiful.

**BlueFox** · April 24, 2016, 09:48 PM

I noticed they lowered the max power from 1200 watts down to 1000 watts.

**Tom Z** · April 24, 2016, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by BlueFox

I noticed they lowered the max power from 1200 watts down to 1000 watts.

Lol, yeah I noticed that too

. Another interesting spec is the S5 Mk2's dig down lower in the sub-bass region to 20Hz like the S7, which matches the Rockport Cygnus and goes lower than the Vandersteen Model 7 MkII (22Hz).

Surprisingly, the S5 Mk2 is 1db less efficient than the old S5's according to Magico's website. I also confirmed with Magico the published specs are correct. According to Alon, the S7's new drivers allowed the x-over to be simplified, which in turn resulted in a 1db gain in efficiency. However the gain in efficiency hasn't translated to the S5 Mk2's, possibly due to their smaller cabinet volume, and 1 less 10" bass driver? I know Martin Colloms measured the S5's sensitivity @88db, so the best case scenario is the S5 Mk2's measure the same in an independant lab test under the same conditions. Worst case scenario is they measure 1db less than the S5 MK1's. But we won't know until and if Martin Colloms gets his hand on a pair of S5 Mk2's.

**CharlesL** · April 24, 2016, 11:10 PM

Originally Posted by BlueFox

I noticed they lowered the max power from 1200 watts down to 1000 watts.

Bud, that's probably your fault, or contribution rather ?

**Mike** · April 24, 2016, 11:23 PM

**JDLaudio** · April 25, 2016, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

You are killing me with that color.

**Elberoth** · April 25, 2016, 01:29 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Well folks, the S5 MkII web page has officially gone live on Magico LLC's website!

http://magico.net/product/s5mkii.php And you Sharkies heard it first

Here are some of the stunning images..

I wonder if that is just the pic, or the vertical rods that hold the horizontal crates are missing ?

They used to tension the structure in vertical direction. Here you can see the first one beeing fitted:

**Tom Z** · April 25, 2016, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by JDLaudio

You are killing me with that color.

Pearl white is a really nice color, though you need the right room colors/decor for it. I'm not sure, but I think M-coat Titanium & Piano black, and M-cast pewter & bronze might be safer colors for re-sale. But Pearl white would probably have better WAF

.

**Tom Z** · April 25, 2016, 01:42 AM

Originally Posted by Elberoth

I wonder if that is just the pic, or the vertical bars that hold the horizontal crates are missing ?

They used to tension the structure in vertical direction. Here you can see the first one beeing fitted:

The pic on Magico's web page appears to be a computer-generated image. With that said, the midrange enclosure would not allow several of the vertical tensioning rods to be placed in the upper section, though it's not clear from the rendering if and where vertical rods would be placed. We may have to wait until Magico publish some new factory pics, or the next factory tour. But the heavier top and bottom plates would certainly improve structural rigidity.

**Alpinist** · April 25, 2016, 09:17 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Z

Lol, yeah I noticed that too

. Another interesting spec is the S5 Mk2's dig down lower in the sub-bass region to 20Hz like the S7, which matches the Rockport Cygnus and goes lower than the Vandersteen Model 7 MkII (22Hz).

Surprisingly, the S5 Mk2 is 1db less efficient than the old S5's. According to Alon, the S7's new drivers allowed the x-over to be simplified, which in turn resulted in a 1db gain in efficiency. However that may not translate to the S5 Mk2's due to their smaller cabinet volume, and 1 less 10" bass driver. I know Martin Colloms measured the S5's sensitivity @88db, so perhaps there is no change from the old model?

I might check with Magico & report back.

Hi Tom,

The Vandersteen 7 MkII can produce significant bass all the way down to 20 Hz. With 400 watt per channel powered dual 12 inch subwoofers, 11-band equalization, attenuation and Q adjustment (to add warmth in the low frequency range, if desired), they will shake a listening room like an earthquake when listening to pipe organ music. Trust me, I've heard it!

Best,
Ken

**Tom Z** · April 25, 2016, 09:38 AM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Tom,

The Vandersteen 7 MkII can produce significant bass all the way down to 20 Hz. With 400 watt per channel powered dual 12 inch subwoofers, 11-band equalization, attenuation and Q adjustment (to add warmth in the low frequency range, if desired), they will shake a listening room like an earthquake when listening to pipe organ music. Trust me, I've heard it!

Best,
Ken

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the clarification, and my bad. I was just going off the specs on Vandersteen's website. I just mentioned that by way of comparision. Yes, those active 12" bass drivers should produce deep. prodigious bass. As for the tweaky EQ, personally I don't like stuffing around with that stuff. Heck, my system is pretty humble by these standards, so I try to keep it simple. But different horses for different courses they say

. Now we'll just have to wait and see if the S5 Mk2 can do the same trick!

Cheers,
Tom.

**Alpinist** · April 25, 2016, 10:04 AM

Hi Tom,

No worries. The setup of the Vandersteen 7 MkII is quite involved. The dealer comes in and measures the amp impedance, sets high-pass filter adjustments and runs 11 test tones to set the subwoofer equalizer. Attenuation can be adjusted by the listener to increase or decrease the amount of overall bass and the Q can also be adjusted by the listener to alter the frequency response curve in the bass to increase or decrease warmth. All this adjustability enables the listener to customize bass for his listening room and listening preferences.

In my experience with the S7, with its three 10 inch woofers, it produces prodigious amounts of bass that is extremely low in distortion and not only goes extremely deep but delivers a visceral impact to the listener (i.e. A REAL GUT PUNCH!). Some of the best bass I've ever heard actually.

Ken

**Tom Z** · April 25, 2016, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Tom,

In my experience with the S7, with its three 10 inch woofers, it produces prodigious amounts of bass that is extremely low in distortion and not only goes extremely deep but delivers a visceral impact to the listener (i.e. A REAL GUT PUNCH!). Some of the best bass I've ever heard actually.

Ken

Here is an S7 bass driver (very similar to the S5 Mk2) lined up next to an S5 Mk1 bass unit!

**Elberoth** · April 25, 2016, 02:14 PM

Does the S5 mk 2 use the same bass drivers as the S7 ?

Thay supposedly have been uprated too.

**Tom Z** · April 25, 2016, 02:42 PM

Originally Posted by Elberoth

Does the S5 mk 2 use the same bass drivers as the S7 ?

Thay supposedly have been uprated too.

According to Magico's website the part number for the S5 Mk2's 10" bass unit is MAG10508. However the part number for the S7 has not been published to my knowledge, so i'm not 100% sure. Though based on Magico's description of using "distilled elements of our most recent and ground breaking engineering accomplishments which are found in the S7" in the S5 Mk2 & the visual similarity of each bass unit, I would say they are very similar transducers, only tuned for each model.

**Face** · April 25, 2016, 04:34 PM

I see the new driver is related to this beast: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.co...1001-04-4-ohm/

Meanwhile, the old woofer is related to Scanspeak's Discovery range(but on steroids). https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.co...-woofer-8-ohm/

**Tom Z** · April 25, 2016, 04:56 PM

Originally Posted by Face

I see the new driver is related to this beast: https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.co...1001-04-4-ohm/

Meanwhile, the old woofer is related to Scanspeak's Discovery range(but on steroids). https://www.madisoundspeakerstore.co...-woofer-8-ohm/

My understanding is the S5 Mk2 & S7's 10" bass drivers are based on Q series technology which, aside from the cone are designed and built in-house, whereas the S5 Mk1 drivers were build by a group of partners (refer post - Magico S5 Review).

**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 09:10 AM

They're here!

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**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 09:15 AM

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**bthomas9** · June 8, 2016, 09:17 AM

Nobody likes a show off

. CONGRATS MY FRIEND!! The all black setup is stunning!!

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**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 09:37 AM

Haha!

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**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 09:41 AM

I just cannot get over how easy Magico's are to setup and integrate into a room. After nightmares with some previous speakers, these are an absolute dream. I think Khin was mentioning something similar with his S3's. I just plop them down a couple of feet from the wall, toe them in facing the ears of the listener, and go. I feel like a bad placement gives you 9/10, tweak a little and get 10/10. Hire Jim Smith and get 11/10.

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**Rhapsody** · June 8, 2016, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

I just cannot get over how easy Magico's are to setup and integrate into a room. After nightmares with some previous speakers, these are an absolute dream. I think Khin was mentioning something similar with his S3's. I just plop them down a couple of feet from the wall, toe them in facing the ears of the listener, and go. I feel like a bad placement gives you 9/10, tweak a little and get 10/10. Hire Jim Smith and get 11/10.

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Or spike them (changes sound dramatically), get 500 hours on them, and move them 6'-8' out into the room and get magic

If logistics allow of course.

And Mike congrats on the set up....looks delicious!

**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by Rhapsody

Or spike them (changes sound dramatically), get 500 hours on them, and move them 6'-8' out into the room and get magic

If logistics allow of course.

For sure! I have my helper coming over next week to help me spike them. I plan on playing them 12+ hours a day. I'm hosting a large gathering in late October of local audiophiles (we have about 120 members in the club) - so I have a few months.

Oh, and Bob, this Vitus stuff is the bomb! I'm already thinking Vitus phono...bad Mike, bad! Must resist. Must.

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**Rhapsody** · June 8, 2016, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

For sure! I have my helper coming over next week to help me spike them. I plan on playing them 12+ hours a day. I'm hosting a large gathering in late October of local audiophiles (we have about 120 members in the club) - so I have a few months.

Oh, and Bob, this Vitus stuff is the bomb! I'm already thinking Vitus phono...bad Mike, bad! Must resist. Must.

Yes, no hurry on spiking them until they have hours on them anyway, as you know. I love them with the wheels on, so easy to deal with, wish they sounded the same, but unfortunately they don't.

Your club will be in for a real treat with that Vitus/Magico combo......don't resist....it will be good for you and for biz

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Yes, no hurry on spiking them until they have hours on them anyway as you know. I love them with the wheels on, so easy to deal with, wish they sounded the same, but unfortunately they don't.

Your club will be in for a real treat with that Vitus/Magico combo......don't resist....it will be good for you and for biz

**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 10:03 AM

The other thing, as I'm sure you've found with the Absolare and Kondo (and we also heard with CAT), tube gear gives them a different presentation. There's certainly no "best". Different virtues of the tube gear vs SS on Magico. My VAC gear on the Magico's sounds amazing and organic. The Vitus is sweet and dynamic. Both are great. The Siltech is also a terrific match.

**Rhapsody** · June 8, 2016, 10:08 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

The other thing, as I'm sure you've found with the Absolare and Kondo (and we also heard with CAT), tube gear gives them a different presentation. There's certainly no "best". Different virtues of the tube gear vs SS on Magico. My VAC gear on the Magico's sounds amazing and organic. The Vitus is sweet and dynamic. Both are great. The Siltech is also a terrific match.

Yep, exactly, any of the new Magicos work with either good tubes or good SS, hassle free from "abnormalities" and it's basically personal preference. If possible it's nice to have both the SS and the tubes to switch off occasionally for different moods/seasons etc.

For some reason I have REALLY become enamored with the S7's. I think it's my fairly big space (700 sq. ft), the S7's scale is off the charts....especially with 15ips tapes.

**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by Rhapsody

Yep, exactly, any of the new Magicos work with either good tubes or good SS, hassle free from "abnormalities" and it's basically personal preference. If possible it's nice to have both the SS and the tubes to switch off occasionally for different moods/seasons etc.

For some reason I have REALLY become enamored with the S7's. I think it's my fairly big space (700 sq. ft), the S7's scale is off the charts....especially with 15ips tapes.

Yes, the S7's are excellent. At Howard's place (in Tampa) they just fill his entire room. If you've got a big room, S7's!! For most average sized rooms - S5 mk2 or .... M3's!! I think the M3 is going to be incredible. I drooled over the M Pro's. I think the M3's will give us a real good taste of the M Pro's.

**Rhapsody** · June 8, 2016, 10:19 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

Yes, the S7's are excellent. At Howard's place (in Tampa) they just fill his entire room. If you've got a big room, S7's!! For most average sized rooms - S5 mk2 or .... M3's!! I think the M3 is going to be incredible. I drooled over the M Pro's. I think the M3's will give us a real good taste of the M Pro's.

And after we "digest" the M3's....then the M????'s

Life is good

**Mike** · June 8, 2016, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by Rhapsody

And after we "digest" the M3's....then the M????'s

Life is good

oh my yes!

**Boggy** · June 8, 2016, 11:02 AM

Hi Mike. I tried to back read the thread but can't seem to find the model of the Vitus amp hooked up to your new S5 mk2. Is it the new SS-103? Can 50 watts of Class A really drive Magico's S Series even at fairly loud levels? TIA!

**kzhtoo** · June 8, 2016, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Mike

I just cannot get over how easy Magico's are to setup and integrate into a room. After nightmares with some previous speakers, these are an absolute dream. I think Khin was mentioning something similar with his S3's. I just plop them down a couple of feet from the wall, toe them in facing the ears of the listener, and go. I feel like a bad placement gives you 9/10, tweak a little and get 10/10. Hire Jim Smith and get 11/10.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yep. It's a breeze to set up. The hardest part is moving the S3s from my garage to the listening room (no wheels on S3s) as the crate they came with is too big to fit the door. Both S3s came in one big crate.

Mike, S5 mk2 + Vitus class A must be heavenly. Love the black m-coat. Congrats, again!

BTW I ordered Jim Smith book and dvd.

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