Magico S3 mk2 vs Dynaudio Contour 60

To bring the discussion back to the original subject :), I gave the S3 mk2s an extended listen today and after that listened to the Dynaudio Contour 60s again. The previous listens were the other way around. I am now fully converted to the sealed box sound and in particular the amazing coherency of the S3s. I found that the bottom end on the Dynaudios was in fact too big and overly prominent for me when comparing against the S3s. So I have done a full 180! I still plan to listen to the Wilsons and the Genesis G5s but the S3s are the clear benchmark for me now. I also think that I could get even better sound from the S3s if I upgraded my Devialet expert pro 220 (a medium-term possibility). The Soulution gear I tried seemed to produce a richer/fuller sound compared to my Devialet.

AJR
 
AJR said:
To bring the discussion back to the original subject :), I gave the S3 mk2s an extended listen today and after that listened to the Dynaudio Contour 60s again. The previous listens were the other way around. I am now fully converted to the sealed box sound and in particular the amazing coherency of the S3s. I found that the bottom end on the Dynaudios was in fact too big and overly prominent for me when comparing against the S3s. So I have done a full 180! I still plan to listen to the Wilsons and the Genesis G5s but the S3s are the clear benchmark for me now. I also think that I could get even better sound from the S3s if I upgraded my Devialet expert pro 220 (a medium-term possibility). The Soulution gear I tried seemed to produce a richer/fuller sound compared to my Devialet.

AJR
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AJR, happy to hear you were able to take the time to audition different alternatives in a bit more detail. For me the purpose of responding to the thread has been to support you on your journey.

While I'm of course pleased to hear that the S3 mk2s are your current favorite, I would still encourage you to audition the Wilsons and other alternatives as well. I am not the kind of Magico owner who thinks everything else is not good and should be totally disregarded. It's just that in my room, with my equipment and for the music I enjoy they do a fantastic job. I am hearing the same things you are referring to, great detail and clarity in the bass, very good coherence and detailed yet not sharp highs.

Also, as you refer to electronics, it definitely makes sense to think about the entire chain when buying your transducers. When I bought my first Magicos (S1 mk1) I was auditioning them with a Dartzeel CTH-8550 against WA Sophia 3s. Latter was actually the combo with the better synergy, as the Sophias were a lighter load for the amp. At the end I nevertheless concluded I preferred the S1s with a punchier amp.


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AJR said:
I gave the S3 mk2s an extended listen today and after that listened to the Dynaudio Contour 60s again. The previous listens were the other way around. I am now fully converted to the sealed box sound and in particular the amazing coherency of the S3s.
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You realise Kuoppis just had an orgasm?! :roflmao:
 
AJR, I think I'm as big of a bass head as you are. I have Magico S3 mk1 with JL F113v2 sub (I know S-sub is better but you will be surprised how much JL sealed design integrate well with S3s sealed bass). I too was in your position about 4 years ago flipping speakers left and right, from dynaudio, Focal, paradigm, Totem, etc., looking for that electronic bass. Once I got S3s set up in my room, I knew I found it. Magico sealed bass is the answer. I could also never be able to integrate sub well in my room with other speakers until the S3s.

One other thing is, as good as devialet is I don't see many people using it long term with Magico speakers. IME only with the class A amp and Siltech cabling (both power and signal) the total sound becomes musical, grain free and gives me hours after hours of fatigue free listening. I do have Ayre KX-R pre and I'd like to think it also plays a big part. With the new diamond coated tweeter on S3mk2, you might be less sensitive to amp and cable pairing, but nonetheless careful system matching is needed for any Magico speakers. Once it clicks, you just want more Magico speakers and nothing else (Kuoppis can attest to that).
Anyway, just thought I share my experience in this topic.

I did have a long audition session with Yvette and thought they were very enjoyable (Sabrina not so much). I didn't get to play bass heavy music then, so I'm not sure about electronic music. But from what I heard, the ported bass signature is there that are shared by many manufacturers.

Good luck. Regardless of what you end up choosing the speakers on the list are all world class and I'm confident you will be happy with it.
 
kzhtoo said:
AJR, I think I'm as big of a bass head as you are. I have Magico S3 mk1 with JL F113v2 sub (I know S-sub is better but you will be surprised how much JL sealed design integrate well with S3s sealed bass). I too was in your position about 4 years ago flipping speakers left and right, from dynaudio, Focal, paradigm, Totem, etc., looking for that electronic bass. Once I got S3s set up in my room, I knew I found it. Magico sealed bass is the answer. I could also never be able to integrate sub well in my room with other speakers until the S3s.

One other thing is, as good as devialet is I don't see many people using it long term with Magico speakers. IME only with the class A amp and Siltech cabling (both power and signal) the total sound becomes musical, grain free and gives me hours after hours of fatigue free listening. I do have Ayre KX-R pre and I'd like to think it also plays a big part. With the new diamond coated tweeter on S3mk2, you might be less sensitive to amp and cable pairing, but nonetheless careful system matching is needed for any Magico speakers. Once it clicks, you just want more Magico speakers and nothing else (Kuoppis can attest to that).
Anyway, just thought I share my experience in this topic.

I did have a long audition session with Yvette and thought they were very enjoyable (Sabrina not so much). I didn't get to play bass heavy music then, so I'm not sure about electronic music. But from what I heard, the ported bass signature is there that are shared by many manufacturers.

Good luck. Regardless of what you end up choosing the speakers on the list are all world class and I'm confident you will be happy with it.
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A terrific post.


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I also listened to the S7s. Holy crap. Amazing. Point was to use as a reference to guess what the S5 mk2s would sound like (dealer doesn't have them). No clear conclusions. I do wonder (further to my earlier post re: S3 mk2s plus S-sub v S5 mk2s, and also further to kzhtoo's and Mike's comments) whether adding a sub would then complete the S3s. Putting aside a potential electronics upgrade! The dealer thought that the former would bring me closer to the S7s than the S5s. Anyway, is just a side thought about future upgrade potential if I ended up choosing the S3s. My current feeling is that the S3s have enough bass for my room.
 
Sounds like AJR is about to take a ride on the merry-go-round. LOL

That's alright, sometimes it takes a couple spins to get us where we want to be. Sometime back it was a speaker change that did it to me. And, now, I don't even have those speakers any more :)

Anyone think Jessica could stand to gain a couple pounds?
 
Melbguy1 said:
a.wayne, whilst I respect your technical understanding, no one is forcing you to post in the Magico forum. Have you considered participants in this forum might be tired of reading your meh comments?
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I understand the Magico owners / fans being proud about the company but that does not give people the right to insult when a differing opinion from "superb" is expressed. You have to realise, however incredible that might seem to you and other owners,to many (I cannot say since I haven´t listened to them) Magico speakers are not exactly their cup of tea. This thread was about Dynaudio & Magico, so I suppose the OP will have welcomed all kinds of experiences.

There´s sometimes a certain level of hostility and belittling in the Magico forum towards anything non Magico related that is a bit unpleasant.
 
Narayan said:
There´s sometimes a certain level of hostility and belittling in the Magico forum towards anything non Magico related that is a bit unpleasant.
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Passive-aggressive,condescending comments, like the one A.Wayne like to sprinkle around, are plenty unpleasant. You can have an opinion, but you better came out clean on it and not pollute the thread with obnoxious one liners. Apparently A. Wayne is a horn/PA DIY kind of guy, if he would have disclose his preferences right up front, tone down the smirk a bit, this conversation would have looked much different.
 
Since we are apparently now in the $30k territory you might as well try and get a listen to the Vandersteen 5A Carbon. Available in whatever color you specify and fully adjustable bass tailored to your room.
 
Also, since in $30k, just curious if the dealer had any other Dynaudio like Confidence or Evidence? Of course, most in that line would be imposing in your room, just wondered how you liked those. The C1 is a nice stand mount, less money than the Contour 60, it would be interesting though to hear a comparison with the Magico. Not that the C1 would come close to being better, the balance may be closer though as a stand mount.
 
A friend of mine used to have the Dunaudio Master Temptation ($40k?) and now has the Consequence Limited Edition ($70k?).

I can only say I much prefered my S5 mk2 on every single aspect of sound quality.
 
@AJR:. What electronic music do you listen to? I like similar music to you from what you said in an earlier post.

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Yeah, what I should have expected on a "Magico" forum, LOL

Some of the newer lines of Dynaudio are a bit easier but typically they require an amp with ample current to sound the way they were intended. The best I've heard Dyn sound was when our dealer used to carry Krell.

Elberoth said:
A friend of mine used to have the Dunaudio Master Temptation ($40k?) and now has the Consequence Limited Edition ($70k?).

I can only say I much prefered my S5 mk2 on every single aspect of sound quality.
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Mr Peabody said:
Yeah, what I should have expected on a "Magico" forum, LOL
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I don't think that's a fair comment. I try very hard to keep things balanced and I'm the first to congratulate new Wilson owners. We have a lot of Magico owners, but we have loads of Wilson, Rockport, etc. owners too. Magico and Wilson owners are passionate about the science, technology and engineering involved in their speakers and the world class companies behind them. If others prefer speakers like BBC monitor types out there, then all the power to them.

As for DynAudio, they have failed to innovate (as far as new two channel top end speakers are concerned) over the past 5-10 years and their US Distribution has been in complete disarray. They didn't know if they were supposed to be selling DynAudio for the German parent company or distributing for T+A and Octave for their friends in Germany. It was embarrassing walking around their room at Munich. Their staff were busy talking about anything but audio and they had NOTHING to show as far as two channel high end was concerned. Are they making a transition to CI and car audio? Don't know...maybe they are already.

At the outset, I found it odd to even consider DynAudio in the same breath as Magico. Wilson? Sure. Rockport? Sure. Gryphon? Sure. Gauder, Vivid, Estelon, Marten, Kharma, etc. are all others worth looking more than DynAudio IMO.

Back to the OP, I hooked up the S5 mk2's to the Bryston 28B3's with the VAC preamp and they came to life. Give them 1800 watts and look out! Bass galore!
 
AJR said:
I also listened to the S7s. Holy crap. Amazing. Point was to use as a reference to guess what the S5 mk2s would sound like (dealer doesn't have them). No clear conclusions. I do wonder (further to my earlier post re: S3 mk2s plus S-sub v S5 mk2s, and also further to kzhtoo's and Mike's comments) whether adding a sub would then complete the S3s. Putting aside a potential electronics upgrade! The dealer thought that the former would bring me closer to the S7s than the S5s. Anyway, is just a side thought about future upgrade potential if I ended up choosing the S3s. My current feeling is that the S3s have enough bass for my room.
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Go with S5 mk2, then add S-sub down the road. Also, do note that adding sub is not only for the extension but you are also enhancing the soundstage, mid-range clarity.
 
kzhtoo said:
Go with S5 mk2, then add S-sub down the road. Also, do note that adding sub is not only for the extension but you are also enhancing the soundstage, mid-range clarity.
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The S5 Mk2 is a strong contender based on the OP's budget, though if I'm following things correctly he has a few more auditions in the pipeline.

As for S Sub, I would prioritize working on the room, speaker placement & upgrading amplification as Mike noted before assessing if subs are needed. My friend who owns a $500k system & owns S7's was previously using WB Torus subs. However after some expert help with speaker placement, he a-b compared his S7's with/without subs & now proffered them w/out subs. Would the S Sub sound better? Perhaps. But just sayin'.
 
David - is there a Bryston dealer near you? You have to hear the 28's on the S5's.


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Mike said:
David - is there a Bryston dealer near you? You have to hear the 28's on the S5's.
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Ah probably, though my own Dealer doesn't carry that line. How do they compare to the Pass & Vitus mono's in the same price territory? At this stage, my next amp will be the Vitus SIA-030 when it eventually lands. But it would be fun to hear the 28B's sing. Might have to swing an audition if I can find the time.
 
Melbguy1 said:
Ah probably, though my own Dealer doesn't carry that line. How do they compare to the Pass & Vitus mono's in the same price territory? At this stage, my next amp will be the Vitus SIA-030 when it eventually arrives. But it would be fun to hear them sing. Might swing an audition if I can find the time.
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The Vitus monos I heard at Munich and they were singing sweetly. The Pass is 1/5 the price here and has a sweet, full, ballsy sound. Both are excellent. I just found that the more power I give the S5 mk2's, the better they perform. I think Bud might be on to something with his big Pass monos. The Bryston's with a proper preamp (sweet tube) is "holy crap" good! The speakers come to life. I hope you can try an amp with some major power. You will be shocked.


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