Hint of new Magico products

cannata

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Jan 30, 2014
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I get much deeper bass on the M's than on my S5's - at least in my room. I had to use a sub on the S5's.

Ah ha, maybe that is what you are hearing (missing), is the sub. A sub can completely change the frq balance perception.
 

PeterA

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The M looks much better than the S5 in the 800-3.5K range. Perhaps that is why the upper mid to lower tweeter transition sounds so good. I've never heard bass resolution/articulation as good as what I heard from Madfloyd's new M Project with his Pass XA.8 amps. Incredible resolution and naturalness.
 

MadFloyd

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Ironically I feel that is the weak spot, at least with my electronics and room.
 

stereo

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Sep 1, 2012
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This looks more like what I heard, although I thought they also had more deep bass, but it looks like they are on par with the S5 as far as extension goes.

don't use these charts to judge bass extension. Magico's room had a problem of bass suck out, and untreated room mode. They have now added additional treatment to improve this (as you can see on the Q7 mk2 pic). These curves were probably made before that
 
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stereo

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Sep 1, 2012
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Wow, I'm surprised to hear that it sounded that different to you. Maybe it was the room and/or the electronics? I think I have a similar midrange and tweeter in my M-Project and I haven't found it to sound that different from my S5's (other than it being much leaner in the bass). Perhaps this is because the speakers really don't have a sound of their own and one hears the electronics chain.

I really think you have a room problem or an electronic problem. What you heard doesn't reconcile at all with what I heard in 2 different rooms. If you compare S5 and M-project, difference is obvious:
- more bass on M-project. Very solid bass foundation, huge imaging on orchestral music (to my taste, I prefer the Q7 mk2 bass which is tighter, less overhang)
- Medium is 100 times better than on S5. It is even better than on the original Q7 (but not yet at the level of the Q7 mk2). VERY transparent, very sweet
- tweeter is the highlight of the M-project (and of the new Q7 mk2). It is just not there. Super smooth BUT super detailed at the same time. In comparison with this tweeter, any other speaker I heard on any brand sounds bright. It is an exceptional driver, which gives more information than any other I know, and at the same time is not at all in your face, all the aggressiveness / sibilance you sometimes hear on the attack of human voices is gone.

"Too bright" would be really the last attribute I would attach to the M-project. I actually would rather characterize the image as a little bit on the dark side.
 

stereo

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Sep 1, 2012
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The M looks much better than the S5 in the 800-3.5K range. Perhaps that is why the upper mid to lower tweeter transition sounds so good. I've never heard bass resolution/articulation as good as what I heard from Madfloyd's new M Project with his Pass XA.8 amps. Incredible resolution and naturalness.

fully agree with you. The tweeter on the M-project has much lower THD, it goes also lower in frequency than previous Magico tweeters. This avoids stretching the medium driver too much in term of frequency coverage, it can focus on where it works the best. As a consequence both mids and highs are largely better.
 

MadFloyd

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I really think you have a room problem or an electronic problem. What you heard doesn't reconcile at all with what I heard in 2 different rooms. If you compare S5 and M-project, difference is obvious:
- more bass on M-project. Very solid bass foundation, huge imaging on orchestral music (to my taste, I prefer the Q7 mk2 bass which is tighter, less overhang)
- Medium is 100 times better than on S5. It is even better than on the original Q7 (but not yet at the level of the Q7 mk2). VERY transparent, very sweet
- tweeter is the highlight of the M-project (and of the new Q7 mk2). It is just not there. Super smooth BUT super detailed at the same time. In comparison with this tweeter, any other speaker I heard on any brand sounds bright. It is an exceptional driver, which gives more information than any other I know, and at the same time is not at all in your face, all the aggressiveness / sibilance you sometimes hear on the attack of human voices is gone.

"Too bright" would be really the last attribute I would attach to the M-project. I actually would rather characterize the image as a little bit on the dark side.

I will take it as face value that you are correct. What I am hearing makes no sense. It is too bright to listen to with most music and I have to believe the problem is on my end.
 

XV-1

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May 24, 2010
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The M looks much better than the S5 in the 800-3.5K range. Perhaps that is why the upper mid to lower tweeter transition sounds so good. I've never heard bass resolution/articulation as good as what I heard from Madfloyd's new M Project with his Pass XA.8 amps. Incredible resolution and naturalness.

One would hope the M creams the S5 in every respect of playing music, considering its 4 times the price.
 

PeterA

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One would hope the M creams the S5 in every respect of playing music, considering its 4 times the price.

Sure XV-1, no surprise there. I was merely commenting on how I thought the two frequency response plots correspond to what I actually hear from these two speakers in the same room/system. It's nice to see a set of in-room measurements. I'm still learning how to interpret the data though. In this case, Magico supplied the plots and Madfloyd happens to own these two particular speaker models.

Ian's switch to the S5 from his previous set up was pretty dramatic and the M takes his system to an entirely new level, IMO.
 

LL21

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Dec 26, 2010
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I've been to the Transparent room in Saco. It is superb. Apparently they have two such rooms. One at the factory, and one at the owners' home. Completely isolated and very large as well. And this is for a cable manufacturer. They have the Wilson XLFs and the Thor sub was in the back of the room, though it was not hooked up.

They have a Thor and they dont have it hooked up? Yikes!...send it here...i'll hook it up! ;)
 

number95

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May 14, 2014
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My M Project speakers finally arrived last week. So far I am really impressed. I was trying to curb my initial expectations as my experiences with new speakers have always confirmed of patience, burning in, experimenting with placement, toe in/out etc. Not this time. From the first second, even without spikes, they proved to be a different caliber. After placing and switching to spikes, further improvement was remarkable. Last but not the least, the control, authority and easiness via ARC Ref 610Ts are outstanding, never felt that way with B&Ws. Will share some photos soon.

So far approx 20 hours of listening. It only gets better. Tonality is extremely neutral, lots of tone color and tons of resolution w/o any hint of distortion. Soundstage, imaging, layering could only be heard to assess rather than typing here. The integration of drivers and mids/highs as well as bass/mids beyond anything that I heard so far including some other Magicos. The tweeter never gets hot while providing excellent resolution of high frequencies. Bass articulation (both midbass and low bass as well as visceral punch) is almost perfect, excellent definition and decay with authority. Mids are crystal clear with sheer resolution and extreme neutrality. I listened to different recordings from rock to jazz to classic to vocal, M Projects never failed to impress in any of them. No idea how they will improve -if any-while burning in further. Extremely satisfied and can easily say they are probably the final speakers for me.
 

Tand

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Nov 26, 2013
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Sounds amazing! Really looking forward to get my pair now!!! :)
 

PeterA

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So far approx 20 hours of listening. It only gets better. Tonality is extremely neutral, lots of tone color and tons of resolution w/o any hint of distortion. Soundstage, imaging, layering could only be heard to assess rather than typing here. The integration of drivers and mids/highs as well as bass/mids beyond anything that I heard so far including some other Magicos. The tweeter never gets hot while providing excellent resolution of high frequencies. Bass articulation (both midbass and low bass as well as visceral punch) is almost perfect, excellent definition and decay with authority. Mids are crystal clear with sheer resolution and extreme neutrality. I listened to different recordings from rock to jazz to classic to vocal, M Projects never failed to impress in any of them. No idea how they will improve -if any-while burning in further. Extremely satisfied and can easily say they are probably the final speakers for me.

Fantastic and consistent with what I heard with the M. Very interesting to read these results with tube gear and Transparent cables. Congratulations. Would love to see photos.
 

number95

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May 14, 2014
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Fantastic and consistent with what I heard with the M. Very interesting to read these results with tube gear and Transparent cables. Congratulations. Would love to see photos.

Thank you Peter. I used to hear Q5 and M5 with same amplifiers and did not feel similar control and easiness. I presume that is due to M Projects' efficiencies. I will share some system photos soon.
 

number95

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Tand

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Al M.

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Hi Ian,

you're welcome. Looking at the picture of your room,

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?16181-Magico-Fan-boy!

I noticed that you have a carpet only in front of the speakers (I suppose the floor is thin carpet floor?). I'd suggest to also have a carpet behind the speakers. I now have one, and it removes some treble brightness and upper midrange emphasis. As a side effect I can also toe-in my speakers much more without the treble getting too 'hot'. It is thus a good frequency modulator, and achieves for a few hundred dollars what a cable might do for a few thousand dollars, and it does it in a more natural way, affecting the acoustics rather than manipulating the frequency response of the system itself.

A carpet behind the speaker was recommended by Art Noxon from ASC in an email to me, and also by a Thiel speaker website that I can't currently locate. Several sources suggest that the carpet should be natural fiber rather than synthetic one, as explained here:

http://www.goodsound.com/howto/2002_08_15.htm

(Mine is synthetic, and not that thick; I am still planning to replace it one day with a thick natural fiber carpet, depending on the effect of the ASC window plugs that I will be getting.)

Obviously, a carpet is much more wife-friendly than other acoustic treatments, but the transparent ones suggested above might be a good additional choice, if the ASC stuff is visually too objectionable.

Now I've heard what a good carpet from natural fiber can do, unbelievable:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...nd-the-last-CD&p=309945&viewfull=1#post309945

(Cost: $ 500, including thick pad underneath.)
 

MadFloyd

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Now I've heard what a good carpet from natural fiber can do, unbelievable:

http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...nd-the-last-CD&p=309945&viewfull=1#post309945

(Cost: $ 500, including thick pad underneath.)

Interesting. Was there a difference in pile-size or underpad?

My wall-to-wall carpet is wool so I assume it falls under 'natural'. It's a berber so it's not long pile. The area rug that is between the listening position and the speakers is synthetic. I've never considered removing it and honestly have a hard time imagining that it could make any difference.
 

Al M.

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Interesting. Was there a difference in pile-size or underpad?

The carpet is a bit thicker, but probably still what normally would be called short pile. I didn't have an underpad before (it's synthetic, by the way).

My wall-to-wall carpet is wool so I assume it falls under 'natural'. It's a berber so it's not long pile. The area rug that is between the listening position and the speakers is synthetic. I've never considered removing it and honestly have a hard time imagining that it could make any difference.

Perhaps it does? I didn't think until recently that acoustics had such a great influence, and little details had such an influence on acoustics, but they do. I'd give it a try.
 

MadFloyd

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The carpet is a bit thicker, but probably still what normally would be called short pile. I didn't have an underpad before (it's synthetic, by the way).



Perhaps it does? I didn't think until recently that acoustics had such a great influence, and little details had such an influence on acoustics, but they do. I'd give it a try.

What size carpet did you use? Would love to see a photo if you can.
 

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