Jargon can be confusing especially when using only words. I figured that out when you included the video link. Suddenly I understood exactly what you were writing.
Regardless, you have excellent taste in audio gear, especially speakers!
Magico S5 2024 in the wild
- Thread starter mxk116
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Regardless, you have excellent taste in audio gear, especially speakers!
Oh Man, I was all jacked up about "tilt" as I've never even considered that in Magico setup. I've always thought "level" is the best and always sought that although now, being an OCD audiophile am aiming my laser at the listening position and realizing my floors are not level. The right speaker shoots about and inch higher than the left with the laser just over the tweeter. Also after seeing your distances per the 2 awesome threads above, I've pushed them closer. They were 11.5 feet apart tweeter to tweeter and now are much much closer. They are currently at 10'8" tweeter to tweeter and 10"1 to the listening position. 1'2" - 6'5" to the rearmost wall (jut out of 4 feet in the listening nook/equipment space). Front of speakers are 11'7" to backwall and 10'10: to center target on the listening chair. I'm posting pictures for clarity sake but just wanted to thank the two of you for heads up on moving them closer. I do have the laser targeted to converge roughly a meter behind the listening position too per standard Magico recommendation. Have yet to put them up on the IsoAcoustics spikes which should improve imaging dramatically based on the S3Mk3 experience but they are indeed disappearing and imaging is insanely immersive. It sounds like a 3d fish tank for some of the electronic music I like to demo with. I had the speakers so far apart that the center image had a bit of a blind spot. Very audible on Chris Rea's "Auberge" at the beginning where he walks from left to right into the room and starts his car, drops a bottle that then rolls all the way to the left stage. Great test for imaging continuity and center fill btw. It's now fixed and is seamless. I'm also getting more front to back information which causes images to come out into the room and for some of the electronica swirl around 9 feet in front of the speakers and way out beyond to the edges of the room. Thanks again for sharing your setups- it's really been instrumental in bringing it all together! Peace!
Owen, I’m glad to hear that you found value in our posts and that you’re enjoying the experience of listening to your new speakers, they look great!
From the picture, it seems you have quite a large space, with the speakers positioned along the wider side of the room. How much distance is there between your listening position and the back wall?
Have you ever considered rotating your system by 90 degrees so that it’s set up along the narrower side of the room? Doing so could eliminate having a wall directly behind your head, which would reduce reverberations and potentially enhance the clarity and imaging of your system.
Thank you for the kind words, i completely agree—jargon can sometimes make things harder to follow.
That is some 3D fish tank for certain. Enjoy your rig and just continue to listen and make adjusts accordingly. Be patient and use your ears.
Thank you sir! Your eagle eye managed to catch a main deficiency in my room. My main sound room (which is spectacular) has been relegated to wifey who has developed a condition that all we passionistas all dread - she cannot listen to loud music, LOL so I've moved to one of the spare bedrooms and have to make some compromises. I've built a back wall from absorbent panels from the very fine acoustics company Artnovion to give that sense of space like I have another room behind the listening room like I had in my main room. It's not perfect but the images will help to understand that the nook which is on one side would cause some aberrations on imaging. Magicos love seeing a mirror image room and unfortunately even with my current setup this is not possible as the nook is not centered on the room either. UGH.... Anyways until I can finish my basement room this is it for now. N.B. I've always preferred Magicos on the long wall which generate a super wide and wraparound stage with imaging even behind the listening position. Cheers!
Hi Owen,
Thank you for your detailed reply! You’ve put a lot of thought into optimizing your current setup, even with the compromises. The absorbent panels from Artnovion are an excellent solution—they’re both effective and smart for managing acoustics.
I can see how the nook and lack of symmetry could be challenging, but it sounds like you’ve handled it creatively.
Your basement project sounds exciting! I’m sure it will be spectacular once completed. I’d love to hear updates as you make progress.
Cheers,
Guy
Just a quick note that I had a seriously surreal experience listening late night to some electronica. There was a moment where imaging was taking place on the ceiling centered right on the projector. It was as if there was a speaker on the projector and it was so realistic it had me giddy. Never heard anything like that in any system.
Well, being the restless sort decided to experiment with placement - pulling them out from the back wall as well as starting from a ridiculous spread apart and was SHOCKED at the result. I'm aiming them almost straight ahead, 17'8" tweeter to tweeter and 51" from the nearer front wall, 100" from the nook front wall. The soundstage exploded in 3 dimensions, floor to ceiling imaging and of course a ridiculously wide soundstage. The sense I get is of being on the back wall of a giant fishtank with the fish being musical images. These speakers are unreal. I highly suggest experimenting with placement as I could not be happier right now with the result.
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I'm thrilled you're happy with the results, and that you are enjoying your speakers, the S5 are truly amazing world-class speakers.
Thanks! This is why I love love love Magicos on the long wall
Some nice information about the S5 from the UK magico-s5 mkiii launch event
www.hifipig.com
Magico S5 Launch Event | Hifi Pig
MAGICO S5 MK3 SPEAKERS LAUNCH EVENT Janine Elliot heads off to London Town to give you her first thoughts on the latest iteration of Magico's S5 loudspeakers at KJ West One.
www.hifipig.com
Paris launch event this time.
Thank you for sharing this report. Not only is Roy Gregory's experience exceptionally consistent with my own, it is surprisingly similar (to me at least) to what Tom Martin experienced as reported in his "review" of the S5 2025 in The Absolute Sound in September 2024. And not because they "liked" or "disliked" aspects of its performance but because they found it a challenge to characterize its sound in isolation from the system. I'll quote Roy Gregory's report (bottom of page 3) as well as Tom Martin's to illustrate this point;
Roy Gregory- "On the one hand, precision, resolution, dimensionality and detail; on the other, presence, body, weight and colour. In digital terms, you pays your money and takes your choice – but what the experience really demonstrated is just how clearly the Magico speakers reveal both the costs and benefits of that choice. Hang the S5 2024 on the end of a system – any system – and it’s going to tell you exactly what the system’s doing. If the goal of audio design is “nothing added, nothing taken away”, the latest S5 represents a giant step in that direction over any of its predecessors."
Tom Martin- "The S5 2024 has a sound reminiscent of what we often hear when we review good electronics. The character of good electronics is pretty minimal, so you tend to notice album to album differences – differences in mic placement and instrument positioning and recording environment and compression levels and mixing – more than you sense a character from the electronics. It is like that with the S5 2024: you hear bigger album to album differences than you heard in the past and the sense of added character from the speakers is hard to pin down because…there isn’t much consistent character. I think that’s probably because the S5s don’t have much added character, at least as calibrated by current speaker technology."
The Magico S5 "sound" is difficult to describe because it embodies everything that precedes it. Whether this outcome is one's personal preference is up to the individual. After living with the S5 I can certainly say it is mine. IMO the latest generation of Magico speakers represents a sea change in the performance of their products. I'm not suggesting Magico's latest products are unique in this respect but I do believe they are onto something exceptional.
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