The S3 ship lengthwise side to side 47” wide x 22” deep x 25” tallDoes anyone know the dimensions of the S3 shipping crate?
...that is an amazing back-up band there! Wadax. Pilium. Thanks for posting.
About four months ago, having fully retired and having much more time to devote to this fascinating hobby and to listen my stereo, I decided to upgrade. At the time I had Magico A3 speakers and ARC electronics. I set out to listen to what was available which I could afford. I was fortunate enough to be able to travel and visited quite a few high end audio shops. Along the way, among others, I listened to Wilson Benesch ACT 3Zero and Resolution 3Zero speakers, to Wilson Sasha V's, Alexia V's and Alex V speakers, to Sonus Faber Amati G5 (which I did not like at all) and Il Cremonese EX3ME speakers, Dynaudio Confidence 50's and 60's, MBL 120 speakers and Magico S3 2023, M2, M3 and M6 speakers. Other than the Amati G5's, all of these speakers sounded at least good or better to much better.
I liked the ACT 3Zero but came away thinking that they were too expensive for what you get, and frankly, too few dealers. The Resolution 3Zero's sounded even better, but were not only too expensive, but too tall and would never be accepted by my wife. The Wilson speakers were nice, but too sugary for my tastes, too forgiving of the material and not detailed enough and I found the bass to be a bit flabby. The Dynaudios were also nice, but did not seem to me to be truly serious speakers. The MBL's were very interesting, but to get them to really sound like they should you have to go to at least the 111 F's or higher and use very expensive MBL electronics. After many hours, which I really enjoyed, I found that I liked the Magico speakers the best as long as you fed them a lot of good clean power with plenty in reserve. In reverse order, the M6's are just too much money for my budget and, in my opinion, need a large dedicated listening room with the highest quality, and therefor also expensive, electronics. The bass on these speakers is simply amazing. With sufficient power and good source material I found that I could even identify the make, and sometimes even the model, of the basses being played in some of the music I listened to. I did find that I agree with some who say that these speakers do show the warts on poorly recorded material. But hell, there is an awful lot of finely recorded material out there. These speakers sounded great from whisper quiet to the concert levels such as those levels which the Who played at back in the 70's. I can only imagine what the new M7's or the M9's sound like. M2's and M3's were tremendous as well, throwing huge, deep three dimensional soundstages. They both connected with me on an emotional basis, perhaps more so than the M6's. Neither was a clinical as the M6's, but there was still fine detail. And despite the smallish bass drivers they both played loud when you wanted them to be loud with plenty of bass. But the S3 2023's were remarkably close in performance to the M2 and M3 speakers, at tens of thousands of dollars less. Compared to what is out there of similar quality, I agree that at $45,500 the S3 2023 is a relative bargain. So in March I ordered a pair of the S3 2023 speakers from the nearest dealer and am now waiting for them to arrive, with an expected ETA of late May or early June barring unforeseen circumstances.
I also quickly realized that I needed to upgrade my amp and pre amp if I was going to get the sound I was looking for out of the Magico speakers. I listened to a number of amp and preamp combinations, including Vinnie Rossi (very nice), large McIntosh amps (mid fi at best), Burmester (very nice also), D'Agostino (a seemingly good match for the Wilson speakers as they must be voiced in a similar fashion, but I did not find them to be a good match in my opinion with the Magico speakers), MBL (too expensive and really requiring an all MBL system, far to expensive for me), CH Precision (a very good match with the Magico speakers, but the amp/psu/preamp/psu combination I liked was just too expensive and I was really hoping to get something made from a solid company in the US), Luxman (nice but two are needed and just not the level of grit, grunt and detail of the better amps) and Boulder. Considering everything, including price I decided to go with the Boulder 1160/1110 combination. I really liked this combination with the Magico S3 2023, M2 and M3 speakers (IMO more amp, such as the Boulder 2150's or the CH Precision M10's in mono configuration, is needed for the M6 no matter what Magico says about recommended power). The speed and the power of Boulder amp pairs well with the Magicos.
I understand that some find this combination of Magico and Boulder to be clinical, and perhaps it is, a bit. But when the recording is right, they do not sound clinical at all, they sound real, without the sugar that ends up be tiring in the long run and which some speaker/amp combinations seem to add to the mix. I just found the honesty, the realness of the Magico/Boulder combination to really be to my liking and what I am looking for in a very good stereo system (I understand that with a dedicated room and yacht like funds that you can get to audio nirvana, but for most of us that is there to dream about, just like we can dream about winning the lottery).
So, as far as this topic goes, anyone in the market for a speaker in the Magico S3 2023 price range is really encouraged to find a way to get out there and listen, listen and listen again to what is out there. I went to quite a few dealers over a pretty large geographical area and all dealers and staff were very, very pleasant to deal with and happy to show what they had and take time with me, as they will no doubt will with you. Educate yourself and find what works best for you given your parameters/circumstances. I did and it is the Magico S3 2023.
The Magico S3 ship side to side 47” x 22” deep x 25” tall . We can ship you pair !Does anyone know the dimensions of the S3 shipping crate?
Congrats on the new S5's! If I didn't already have the S3s I would pull the trigger on those. Anyone want a deal on a pair of the new S3s?Today, I had the opportunity to listen to the new S5 in Munich, as well as two other demonstrations of the S3. And let me tell you, the new S5 is something truly special.
While the S3 is a superb speaker, the S5 takes everything to a more relaxed and grander level. It's an amazing beast, and I'm thrilled that I've ordered it. It effortlessly fills and pressurizes the big room that Magico use without the need for a subwoofer.
P.S. The best of the show easily goes to Arias Cerat. It's truly the first time I've heard a setup I would die for.
Both rooms with the S3 speakers were good, but they didn't come close to last year's Magico S3 room, which featured a subwoofer (or even two).Well, well. Was thinking of upgrading to new S5s but most of the reports coming out of Munich were saying the S3s in the other rooms as well as the S3s shown in the same setting last year at Munich were superior in many ways. Think I'll stick with S3s. They are sounding so good now with the new Puritan PSM156 line conditioner and the new carpet spikes from Isoacoustics!
Show reports only make me more confused; I'll wait to make any judgements until I hear the S5 2024 in person.Well, well. Was thinking of upgrading to new S5s but most of the reports coming out of Munich were saying the S3s in the other rooms as well as the S3s shown in the same setting last year at Munich were superior in many ways. Think I'll stick with S3s. They are sounding so good now with the new Puritan PSM156 line conditioner and the new carpet spikes from Isoacoustics!
Similiar to this report, and almost the same language (S3 on page 2) https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/show-reports/munich-high-end-2024-show-highlights/2/Show reports only make me more confused; I'll wait to make any judgements until I hear the S5 2024 in person.
Here's an example of show reports from 2 professional reviewers from the same publication regarding the Magico S5 at Munich 2024.
Which report is accurate?
This one from The Absolute Sound's Robert Harley;
"Magico used the Munich show to formally introduce the new S5 2024, a larger version of the amazing S3 2023 that wowed me last year (and Jonathan Valin in his review in Issue 347). With a substantially larger enclosure and a pair of 10” woofers coupled to a 6” midrange, the S5 had a much more energy in the power range than the S3, which was demonstrated in the same room last year with the same electronics and front end (including a Wadax Reference DAC). The S5’s bottom end was big and powerful, with a strong physical presence. It didn’t sound quite as lithe and light on its feet as the S3, which could have been due to a room resonance. Price: $74,500."
Or this one from The Absolute Sound's Tom Martin;
That's must be world record " recall the S3 being last year" , Human ability for echoic memory allows us to hold auditory information for about 3 to 4 seconds. Even short-term memory can retain sound information for about 20 to 30 seconds without rehearsal.Similiar to this report, and almost the same language (S3 on page 2) https://www.hifi-advice.com/blog/show-reports/munich-high-end-2024-show-highlights/2/
"In many ways, the S5 sounded like a bigger S3, especially in terms of treble delicacy, midrange sweetness, uniformity, lack of edge, and overall naturalness. On the other hand, the S5 sounded less tight and nimble than I recall the S3 being last year. The S5 bass is fuller in body, which also makes for a more voluminous lower midrange that seems a little darker and warmer than that of the S3."
Also in the S3/Wadax room: "This system sounded absolutely gorgeous. It was sweet, rich, fluid, and spacious yet linear and transparent, as well as tight, articulate, fast, and well-controlled."
And in S3 the MSB room: "The sound was supremely delicate, transparent, refined, and surprisingly fast and explosive, if not quite as engulfing or organic as the other S3 system. Visually, another beautifully simple yet deceivingly esoteric system."
My own experience (having owned original S3, S3mk2 x3, S3mk3, S5mk2, and S7s are that the speaker called for is entirely room dependent. Small to normal size rooms call for S3, Large rooms S5s and extra large rooms S7s. You can easily overwhelm a room if you don't match to room size properly which is likely what happened with the S5 in Munich. I think we need more data points to know for sure.
I think the Pass Labs XP32 does exactly what you need:Well, since this is an S3 thread, and not an S5 thread, thought I'd throw out there the question for which I am seeking an answer. Clearly a sub (or preferably a pair) with smaller speakers is optimal as per exupgh12's statement above. I'm now looking for a preamp that can output XLR and Single Ended simultaneously and wondering if anyone has good ideas there as far as recommendation. I was about to pull the trigger on a C10X and found out unfortunately that it cannot output mixed... Too bad, but there must be a stellar preamp on the market that can do this, and I don't want to go the way of something a JL Labs CR1 as you lose transparency and gain complexity...I have a pair of Klipsch (gasp) 1600s that are in the same room and only take RCA (shared with my theater). Don't suggest something like high level REL as that is not an option - already have 6 subs which is too many. Any ideas there will be appreciated as I'm starting to give up....Have looked at VAC ref, Ypsilon, Luxman and none of them seem to be able to do that trick (buffered output stage). TIA
VTL TL7.5 Series III, world class preamp (read Roy Gregory's review), simultaneously outputs xlr and rca.Well, since this is an S3 thread, and not an S5 thread, thought I'd throw out there the question for which I am seeking an answer. Clearly a sub (or preferably a pair) with smaller speakers is optimal as per exupgh12's statement above. I'm now looking for a preamp that can output XLR and Single Ended simultaneously and wondering if anyone has good ideas there as far as recommendation. I was about to pull the trigger on a C10X and found out unfortunately that it cannot output mixed... Too bad, but there must be a stellar preamp on the market that can do this, and I don't want to go the way of something a JL Labs CR1 as you lose transparency and gain complexity...I have a pair of Klipsch (gasp) 1600s that are in the same room and only take RCA (shared with my theater). Don't suggest something like high level REL as that is not an option - already have 6 subs which is too many. Any ideas there will be appreciated as I'm starting to give up....Have looked at VAC ref, Ypsilon, Luxman and none of them seem to be able to do that trick (buffered output stage). TIA
I’ve listened to both at length but never in my own room. I have heard the S5 mkII and the S3 2023 in the same room at the local Magico dealer but not in a side by side A/B comparison. With those caveats, each time I listened to the S3 2023 I thought it provided superior transparency, lower distortion/coloration, better tonal balance and soundstage. For me the S3 2023 is significantly more engaging and musical than the previous generation S5.I’m looking at new S3 2023 or used S5 mkii. The dimensions of the S5 mkii actually work better for me. Any thoughts here? Thanks!
Thanks. The only Magico speaker I’ve heard at length is the A5. Spent a decent amount of time listening at AXPONA.I’ve listened to both at length but never in my own room. I have heard the S5 mkII and the S3 2023 in the same room at the local Magico dealer but not in a side by side A/B comparison. With those caveats, each time I listened to the S3 2023 I thought it provided superior transparency, lower distortion/coloration, better tonal balance and soundstage. For me the S3 2023 is significantly more engaging and musical than the previous generation S5.
Just one person’s perspective; have you had the opportunity to hear either or both? If yes, what was your experience?