Magico FINALLY finds Musicality!!! - Thanks to CAT Preamp and Monoblocks!!!!!!

KeithR

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Yes, but until we actually see gated measurements of an Mpro, I can’t really comment. To me the Mpro sounded like a Q without any issues, or more like a speaker without any issues (at least not immediately evident). It is/was the most natural speaker I have ever heard, but I did not feel that it was voiced differently and therefore was more natural. It was anything but voiced, it was simply not there.

"Though Magico claims that the M-Project doesn’t measure substantially differently than its other speakers—and on a global level this is clearly true—on a local level the differences I just noted are there to see. More importantly, they are there to hear, for (as I told you in Part One of this blog) the M-Pro simply doesn’t sound like its Q or its M or its S brethren—or at least it doesn’t sound like them when it comes to tonality. Oh, it has the same standard-setting low-level resolution of timbres and textures and the same lightning reflexes with transients as the Q Series speakers—and even lower distortion—but overall it is substantially fuller, richer, darker, and more powerful than the Qs, making for a presentation that is far more likely to appeal equally to musicality-first listeners, without entailing any sacrifices that would limit its appeal to Magico’s classic audience—the transparency-to-sources and absolute sound crowds. Indeed, the M-Pro’s appeal to both of the latter has only increased, thanks to its denser and more lifelike tone color."

JV doesn't use tube amps usually either. I would think the MK2 version of the S takes some of this newish tonality with it due to the driver upgrades, but will see at Newport when I get to hear it. That's all I'm really saying.
 

MadFloyd

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JV doesn't use tube amps usually either. I would think the MK2 version of the S takes some of this newish tonality with it due to the driver upgrades, but will see at Newport when I get to hear it. That's all I'm really saying.

JV is now using VAC I believe...
 

caesar

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Hats off to Cesar for coming clean (or is it just a plot ;)). So Cesar, all you got to do now is go and listen to the Q series with a big tube amp. See what you think :cool:

I have always called it as I heard it. I'm an amateur in the truest sense - no agenda and only passion.

To me, the magico models all sound different. The best I heard Q5 sound is with the very highly powered and more "big-bottomed" Balabo, but it still wasn't quite my thing.
 

caesar

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JV is now using VAC I believe...

yes, I think that's what the cover of the latest magazine says... vac is very transparent and musical; cat is just as transparent and musical, but also has BASS. Historically, "Sterile" Jon Valin hates bass (speaking in audio terms only!), but that's where so much of the music's emotion is...

There is a reason wolf chose cat for the introductory tour of his latest design, for a speaker that he hopes will keep his guys at the factory busy for a long, long time.
 

Steve Williams

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yes, I think that's what the cover of the latest magazine says... vac is very transparent and musical; cat is just as transparent and musical, but also has BASS. Historically, "Sterile" Jon Valin hates bass (speaking in audio terms only!), but that's where so much of the music's emotion is...

There is a reason wolf chose cat for the introductory tour of his latest design, for a speaker that he hopes will keep his guys at the factory busy for a long, long time.

Was Ken Stevens there representing CAT
 

caesar

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Dont forget also what tape brings in to the equasion

Jonathan Horwich, the tape producer played his recording of the jazz guitarist Bobby Broom. I happened to have heard the same guitarist live just a couple of weeks ago. It was a very life-like sounding tape.
 

caesar

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Agreed. Anyone know the price point?

I thought the tube driven Wilson room was disappointing at best. Among other things, if you moved your head slightly off-center, the sound came directly from the speaker you moved toward.

New S5 in the mid $30s. If you double the price, you get a better midrange and an extra woofer, and, of course all of their secret sauce to put it together - which is the S7.
 

Elberoth

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New S5 in the mid $30s. If you double the price, you get a better midrange and an extra woofer, and, of course all of their secret sauce to put it together - which is the S7.

No evidence that the S7 midrange is any better than S5 mk 2. They both use same drivers.
 

andromedaaudio

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Caesar i always saw you as an independant observer :D
Throw in another opinion , magico is a on the dry side sounding design which needs some tube juice to live up .
I remember the difference on hearing the mini on solution :( versus the V3 on zanden amplification :D
New S5 in the mid $30s. If you double the price, you get a better midrange and an extra woofer, and, of course all of their secret sauce to put it together - which is the S7.
 
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caesar

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No evidence that the S7 midrange is any better than S5 mk 2. They both use same drivers.

Elberoth, you may be correct. But then are they charging an extra 35 Large for an extra woofer and about a foot more of nicely finished metal?
 

caesar

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Caesar i always saw you as an independant observer :D
Throw in another opinion , magico is a on the dry side sounding design which needs some tube juice to live up .
I remember the difference on hearing the mini on solution :( versus the V3 on zanden amplification :D

Thank you.

I wouldn't be surprised one bit if many folks still find the magico transparency startling, especially with less than stellar recordings.
 

caesar

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May 30, 2010
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"Though Magico claims that the M-Project doesn’t measure substantially differently than its other speakers—and on a global level this is clearly true—on a local level the differences I just noted are there to see. More importantly, they are there to hear, for (as I told you in Part One of this blog) the M-Pro simply doesn’t sound like its Q or its M or its S brethren—or at least it doesn’t sound like them when it comes to tonality. Oh, it has the same standard-setting low-level resolution of timbres and textures and the same lightning reflexes with transients as the Q Series speakers—and even lower distortion—but overall it is substantially fuller, richer, darker, and more powerful than the Qs, making for a presentation that is far more likely to appeal equally to musicality-first listeners, without entailing any sacrifices that would limit its appeal to Magico’s classic audience—the transparency-to-sources and absolute sound crowds. Indeed, the M-Pro’s appeal to both of the latter has only increased, thanks to its denser and more lifelike tone color."

JV doesn't use tube amps usually either. I would think the MK2 version of the S takes some of this newish tonality with it due to the driver upgrades, but will see at Newport when I get to hear it. That's all I'm really saying.

Hey Keith, I thought your observations were right on all long. I do hope magico brings this same system to Newport, but the tape dude, Jonathan Horwich, is local to the midwest.
 

PeterA

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There is a reason he very quickly discovered soulution and balabo after he played magico with arc.

Could you explain to us what that reason is? I remember him describing the Mini II/ARC Ref610 combination as being the most realistic reproduction of small scale acoustic instruments that he had ever heard, or something to that effect, in the TAS Mini II review. I also think he auditioned the M5 with the ARC super monos in his home system, and perhaps the Q5.

I've always like SS with Magico, personally, which is why I use Pass Class A with my Minis. Spectral also sounds great with Magico.
 

Elberoth

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Elberoth, you may be correct. But then are they charging an extra 35 Large for an extra woofer and about a foot more of nicely finished metal?

Life. Wilson is charging $20k for a 1" larger woofer (Sasha 2 vs Alexia) + separate tweeter enclosure.
 

PeterA

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Caesar i always saw you as an independant observer :D
Throw in another opinion , magico is a on the dry side sounding design which needs some tube juice to live up .
I remember the difference on hearing the mini on solution :( versus the V3 on zanden amplification :D

Your conclusions are based on the two speaker/amp combinations. Unclear if the room or rest of the system was the same. The Mini is much more transparent than the V3, and higher in resolution. It might have been more informative to hear each speaker with each amplifier in the same system/room. But certainly, the Solution and Zanden amps sound different too.
 

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