Magico S5's in the house...

[cannata]

Well I more or less wanted to make sure I got a good feel for the S5's before I posted any more impressions. I knew I needed to experiment with placement and I did want to go back to my Alexias to confirm the differences that I thought I was hearing. I'm stil playing with speaker placement to some degree and I haven't went back to my Alexias. I had a friend help me move them out of the room and I can't move them back on my own. I keep putting it off. If they were still in the room I would have gone back a while ago.

What I feel I have learned is that both speakers share some common ground. Both are excellent products and capable of great sound when setup correctly. Both have their advantages. Both allow me to hear the differences between electronics, cables and power related gear. The Alexias have a bigger scale and a stronger sense of power. The S5's are more restrained. Both can be fatiguing when not setup well. I prefer a sub with the S5's (even though I have two, I've only hooked up one so far).

With both speakers I hear some artifacts that are identical - that tell me the issue is not with the speakers themselves, but somewhere else in the chain, setup, or the room itself. I feel I hear less artifacts with the S5's. I feel the S5's are little more neutral, perhaps a little more clinical. I often turn the volume up much louder with the S5's to try and manufacture some presence and scale. I wish there were larger Magicos in the S series.

There are some intruments that I prefer on the S5's - like classical guitar, clarinet, orchestral cymbals & vocals. Rock sounds more 'live' and in-the-room with the Alexias. I'm not thrilled with violin on either speaker (which probably says something about either my expectations or a problem elsewhere in my system). Black Sabbath on the Alexias rule.

You may not be able to fully appreciate the S5 with the Pass you have, it is not be powerful enough for what you are trying to do (there is a reason they go up to Xx 1000 ).
FWIW, I did hear that Martin Collomes ended up buying an S5 for his reference speakers. In some ways, he has been through the same process we have, using Wilson as reference for many years.

 

[PeterA]

You may not be able to fully appreciate the S5 with the Pass you have, it is not be powerful enough for what you are trying to do (there is a reason they go up to Xx 1000 ).
FWIW, I did hear that Martin Collomes ended up buying an S5 for his reference speakers. In some ways, he has been through the same process we have, using Wilson as reference for many years.

That is an interesting comment. The Pass XA160.8 has 320 watts class A into the S5 4 ohm load, and then goes up to around 500+ watts in A/B. Madfloyd's needle almost never moves indicating that his amps rarely leave class A when he listens to music. Cannata, what is it that you are presuming Madfloyd is "trying to do" and how many watts do you think these speakers really need? I'm sure Madfloyd could supply his room dimensions and volume at which he typically listens.

 

[cannata]

Cannata, what is it that you are presuming Madfloyd is "trying to do" and how many watts do you think these speakers really need?

"The S5's are more restrained"
" I often turn the volume up much louder with the S5's to try and manufacture some presence and scale" etc...

That can be a sign of an under power system for things like Black Sabbath 'in the room' experience. My musical preferences may be different but I do not experience any of the things he is talking about with my amps, (DMA 360).

 

[MadFloyd]

You may not be able to fully appreciate the S5 with the Pass you have, it is not be powerful enough for what you are trying to do (there is a reason they go up to Xx 1000 ).
FWIW, I did hear that Martin Collomes ended up buying an S5 for his reference speakers. In some ways, he has been through the same process we have, using Wilson as reference for many years.

I'm not surprised to hear Martin Colloms bought the S5's. I've read his review about 6 times and it does sound like he really, really liked them.

I would love to know what amp(s) you think might better the Pass. I've been curious about Hegel and recently the Constellation Centaur.

 

[MadFloyd]

"The S5's are more restrained"
" I often turn the volume up much louder with the S5's to try and manufacture some presence and scale" etc...

That can be a sign of an under power system for things like Black Sabbath 'in the room' experience. My musical preferences may be different but I do not experience any of the things he is talking about with my amps, (DMA 360).

At about 85 db the scale of the S5's is still somewhat less than life size. At 90db it's pretty darn good, but the midbass is lean (e.g. I will often hear kick drums more than electric bass - depending on the material). Here I'm mostly comparing to the Alexias which have more midbass and a larger scale (although obviously not that much larger - still smaller than Maxx or XLF). I also believe the Wilsons exude a bit more presence - might be because they aren't as linear (e.g. certain frequencies jump out (or are louder) than others.

 

[cannata]

The Spectral 360 do a wonderful job running the S5, and I hear that the new 400 will do even better. If you like the Pass sound, you can try one of their bigger amps.

 

[MadFloyd]

The Spectral 360 do a wonderful job running the S5, and I hear that the new 400 will do even better. If you like the Pass sound, you can try one of their bigger amps.

I don't think a bigger Pass would make much of a difference - the needles on my 160.8's never budge - I don't believe the amps are being taxed in any way.

I did love how Spectral sounded with the S5's and would love to try this combo one day.

 

[cannata]

At about 85 db the scale of the S5's is still somewhat less than life size. At 90db it's pretty darn good, but the midbass is lean (e.g. I will often hear kick drums more than electric bass - depending on the material). Here I'm mostly comparing to the Alexias which have more midbass and a larger scale (although obviously not that much larger - still smaller than Maxx or XLF). I also believe the Wilsons exude a bit more presence - might be because they aren't as linear (e.g. certain frequencies jump out (or are louder) than others.

I think that you should bring back the Alexia to the room. When I came back to my Wilson's after listening to the S5 for few weeks, I had a completely different perspective on them. You may still feel the same, but you may be surprised.

 

[MadFloyd]

I think that you should bring back the Alexia to the room. When I came back to my Wilson's after listening to the S5 for few weeks, I had a completely different perspective on them. You may still feel the same, but you may be surprised.

Which Wilsons do you have? How often do you go back and forth?

 

[cannata]

Which Wilsons do you have? How often do you go back and forth?

You can read my story, on the now close, unfortunately, Magico-S5-vs-Wilson post: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...o-S5-vs-Wilson-Alexia/page17&highlight=magico

I sold my Alexia 6 months ago. I did the back and forth MANY MANY times.

 

[MadFloyd]

You can read my story, on the now close, unfortunately, Magico-S5-vs-Wilson post: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showt...o-S5-vs-Wilson-Alexia/page17&highlight=magico

I sold my Alexia 6 months ago. I did the back and forth MANY MANY times.

Ohhhh, now I realize who you are, cannata. The post you are referring to was instrumental in pushing me to try the S5's.