S5s in for audition

Myles B. Astor said:
Magico S5 Loudspeakers
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I Enjoyed the review and the best part for me is that I felt the same when I was in his house.

Is so common in audio reviewers to give highly praise feedback on what they're reviewing
And most of the time I jump to bad conclusions because of the money $$$ in the middle.

But now I will give back my faith on reviewers because Myles wrote with total truth.

Thanks Myles,Truly Magical

N.
 
highEndguy said:
I Enjoyed the review and the best part for me is that I felt the same when I was in his house.

Is so common in audio reviewers to give highly praise feedback on what they're reviewing
And most of the time I jump to bad conclusions because of the money $$$ in the middle.

But now I will give back my faith on reviewers because Myles wrote with total truth.

Thanks Myles,Truly Magical

N.
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Thanks Nelson! Glad to restore some faith in the reviewing process! :)
 
asiufy said:
I agree, great review, Myles!

When I paid Myles a visit, I remember telling him how great the Q3s were, with SS amps no less! I also would've never taken Myles for a potential Magico fan!
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One must always have an open mind; the day we think we know it all, it's time to retire.

Myles, now that you're "in", you really must try some SS amps there, if anything, just to stratch that itch :)

As for sources, you're all set, with all these tapes and LPs! No need for digital there...

The system, overall, must be sounding great, congrats!


alexandre
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Thanks Alex! Yes, as good as the system was before, the S5 have taken it to the next level. It's really taken tape to another level.

Fear not, I will get around to listening to running the S5s with ss amplifiers. Just don't want to do another me too review of a ss amplifier.
 
mep said:
If Myles flips over to SS, we better all start looking for other signs that the end is nigh. Myles has already hit on what he knows a SS amp would bring to the table. It is a question of tradeoffs though as you always have to give up something to get something. By switching over to a SS amp, you are certainly going to gain ground in the bottom two octaves with respect to extension, tightness, punch, and definition. It's what you have to give up after the bottom two octaves that causes the dilemma.

The good news is that we are continuing to see tube amps improve in the quality of their bass. I attribute part of this improvement to increased attention being paid to the quality of the power supplies and the amount of joules being stored as well as better output transformers. I also think the new KT-120 and KT-150 tubes are bringing an improved quality to the bottom two octaves of bass as well.
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I think the biggest thing, and one reason that Magico often uses Spectral at shows (or at many Magico dealers) is to emphasize the speaker's low noise floor. Drop that noise floor and more of the recordings spatial properties come through (and the same goes for getting the bass right.)

I think that ss and tube amplifiers continue to improve but I don't as others do, hear them converging. Rather I hear their strengths becoming stronger and their weaknesses minimized.
 
Myles B. Astor said:
Fear not, I will get around to listening to running the S5s with ss amplifiers. Just don't want to do another me too review of a ss amplifier.
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If you want to avoid a "me too" review with SS and Magico, I suggest you avoid Spectral, Solution, Constellation and try to get one of the big Pass Labs Class A monoblocks in. I don't know of any Magico/Pass reviews out there. The Pass will give you the control at the lower frequencies and the sweetness, openness and harmonics in the mids and highs that great tubes can provide. The former Magico head of sales had Pass XA100.5 with his Magico V2.
 
PeterA said:
If you want to avoid a "me too" review with SS and Magico, I suggest you avoid Spectral, Solution, Constellation and try to get one of the big Pass Labs Class A monoblocks in. I don't know of any Magico/Pass reviews out there. The Pass will give you the control at the lower frequencies and the sweetness, openness and harmonics in the mids and highs that great tubes can provide. The former Magico head of sales had Pass XA100.5 with his Magico V2.
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Thanks for the suggestion. One thing is that the ss amplifier has to have SE inputs-not to mention match my GAT preamplifier. Many don't nowadays.
 
Myles B. Astor said:
Thanks for the suggestion. One thing is that the ss amplifier has to have SE inputs-not to mention match my GAT preamplifier. Many don't nowadays.
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One nice bonus about having upgraded my Pass from the .5 series to the .8 series is the input impedance on the .8 is 100k! I was able to drive the XA160.8 with my Doshi preamp whereas I wasn't able to with the XA160.5...
 
I can't wait to hear the Magico's (S3 and Q3)driven by the Tenor, should be interesting as the Tenor sorta combines the best of SS and tubes in one package. Days away for the Q3 and a month for the S3's arrival.
 
Mark Jones said:
Has anyone heard the s3 and s5 in the same room same gear?
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I have. I preferred the S3. Seems better balanced and a nicer midrange. More of an open sound too. But the S5 packs a bigger punch. I think it all depends on room size, associated gear, etc. Both are exceptionally good. You also get the feeling the S5 will play at much higher levels without any sign of strain.


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Mike said:
I have. I preferred the S3. Seems better balanced and a nicer midrange. More of an open sound too. But the S5 packs a bigger punch. I think it all depends on room size, associated gear, etc. Both are exceptionally good. You also get the feeling the S5 will play at much higher levels without any sign of strain.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Someone, somewhere, made the comment that the S3 may not be quite as good in the S5 since in larger rooms the relative bass output may drop and tilt the FR a little. Don't know, the S3 sounded nice at Bob's place.

I don't think you would complain about the openness of the S5s if you heard the S5 paired with the Skogrand speaker cables. :) We can also debate whether or not some "perceived" openness is really ringing or breakup of the tweeter.
 
Myles B. Astor said:
Someone, somewhere, made the comment that the S3 may not be quiteas good in the S5 since in larger rooms the relative bass output may drop and tilt the FR a little. Don't know, the S3 sounded nice at Bob's place.
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Yeah - totally dependent on room and gear I'm sure. Hard to go wrong with either really. S5's play a little more effortlessly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Great review. Among so many poorly written reviews that are beeing published nowadays, this one is a stand out.

As an S5 owner, I share many of your comments. What I found most interesting, is that the S5 were not exactly awe inspiring under show conditions (Absolare excluded).

I also haven't heard the S5 sounded anywhere near good under show conditions. For whatever reason, Magico most often exhibits with Solution or Spectral gear, which I dirctly atribute to the flat, uninteresting sound. I had to borrow the speakers from the Polish distributor to find out how good they are. I ordered them on the spot after hearing them in my room (my previous speakers were Wilson Sasha 1), and didn't regret my decision any single minute of the 3 months I had to wait for my own pair.

The biggest difference between the Sasha and the S5 were the smoothnes of the midrange/HF region, and an uncanny bass articulation (that came as a surprise, as I never complained about the bass quality of my Sashas). Initially, I had a problem to recreate the soundstage depth I was getting with the Wilsons (which I wrongly atributed to the S5's wider front), but after Matts from SMT Sweden came to my house and moved the speakers 30cm forward, all the depth was back.

The only real drawback is speakers' weight, which makes borrowing them really difficoult (unless you have a very accomodating dealer).

IMO there is no speaker on the market today around $30k mark, which offers a better 'package'.
 
Elberoth said:
Great review. Among so many poorly written reviews that are beeing published nowadays, this one is a stand out.

As an S5 owner, I share many of your comments. What I found most interesting, is that the S5 were not exactly awe inspiring under show conditions (Absolare excluded).

I also haven't heard the S5 sounded anywhere near good under show conditions. For whatever reason, Magico most often exhibits with Solution or Spectral gear, which I dirctly atribute to the flat, uninteresting sound. I had to borrow the speakers from the Polish distributor to find out how good they are. I ordered them on the spot after hearing them in my room (my previous speakers were Wilson Sasha 1), and didn't regret my decision any single minute of the 3 months I had to wait for my own pair.

The biggest difference between the Sasha and the S5 were the smoothnes of the midrange/HF region, and an uncanny bass articulation (that came as a surprise, as I never complained about the bass quality of my Sashas). Initially, I had a problem to recreate the soundstage depth I was getting with the Wilsons (which I wrongly atributed to the S5's wider front), but after Matts from SMT Sweden came to my house and moved the speakers 30cm forward, all the depth was back.

The only real drawback is speakers' weight, which makes borrowing them really difficoult (unless you have a very accomodating dealer).

IMO there is no speaker on the market today around $30k mark, which offers a better 'package'.
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Thanks Adam and interesting comments.
 
Elberoth said:
The only real drawback is speakers' weight, which makes borrowing them really difficoult (unless you have a very accomodating dealer).
Click to expand...

I wish Magico had built in handles on the side and back so that two people could easily lift a speaker to adjust distance, angle, etc. Now it is just to difficult with carpet spikes to lift. You need three people trying to lift a speaker by pressing their hands against it. No way, Jose.
 
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