The Law of Diminishing Returns is BS! A Video on the Magico M9 (TAS)

[microstrip]

(...) my room has almost zero absorption built in; it's all hardwood and diffusion. even hardwood underneath the speakers. (...)

Surely not zero. Hardwood has medium sound absorption coefficients - higher than plaster, brick or tile for example.

Most diffusers have around 30% absorption.

 

[Lee]

My apologies Lee, I missed it, I went back and indeed you did mention the four Pilium mono blocks. They are Pilium Hercules mono amps and they are fed from a Pilium Alexander preamp, which feeds the M9 MXO crossover, which then feeds the Hercules four each monos.

The Hercules monos are actually the mid-level mono amps now that are available from Pilium. The current Pilium flagship mono amps that were recently released are the Atlas mono amps, which are mono versions of the Zues stereo amps, which as I mentioned we will be using in Dallas.

Lee, of course we would love to have you visit Rhapsody Dallas to hear the M9s. You can spin your own playlist and bring your own records to play as well.

No worries. I would love to visit the Dallas location.

 

[chuck]

Chuck,

I would love to hear your system. And I like YG but I do believe the M9s will be at a higher level.

But I think we made clear the you can be happy at any price level these days.

My point is that, all else being equal (room, setup, etc.) the higher price speaker will have advantages in contradiction to what the Law of Diminishing Returns suggest.

I will get to hear the M9s in a couple of weeks. Thank you to Bob and Chris for making this possible.

Lee, you are welcome to hear my rig anytime you are in San Diego.

 

[Lee]

I will get to hear the M9s in a couple of weeks. Thank you to Bob and Chris for making this possible.

Lee, you are welcome to hear my rig anytime you are in San Diego.

Thank you Chuck. Look forward to hearing your impressions of the M9.

 

[Audio_Karma]

Klippel Measurement and more on the Magico M9's !

 

[Another Johnson]

Back to the title …

I know how the guy feels. Most of us, myself included, think that the best we’ve ever heard has got to be close to the best that could be achieved. It’s so good, how much better could it possibly get?

I’ve felt this way many times over the last 48 years of a really startling high end journey. I’ve been in what I thought was audio nirvana over and over again, with system after system.

But no matter how good it is, against all odds, it’s always been possible to get even better. I used to think there had to be a ceiling somewhere. If there is, it keeps moving.

If I went back to my MC240, C22, and Dual TT, with Shure cartridge, the gap would look insurmountable. How could you get here from there? $2000 vs $200000 is how.
Diminishing returns? I don’t know. That depends on your value system. I don’t regret pushing on. I’m closer than I’ve ever been to a target that I can never reach.

 

[chuck]

Chuck,

I would love to hear your system. And I like YG but I do believe the M9s will be at a higher level.

But I think we made clear the you can be happy at any price level these days.

My point is that, all else being equal (room, setup, etc.) the higher price speaker will have advantages in contradiction to what the Law of Diminishing Returns suggest.

I heard the Magico M9 system at Rhapsody DFW. It is the most impressive audio facility I have been to, in a totally bland industrial park building. Chris is an excellent host and I encourage anyone to visit. The room is a room-within-a-room, with thick, designed for audio, walls, floors and 12 foot ceiling. Even the doors are big, thick, heavy and designed for sound. The Magico M9s were driven by a pair of Pilium stereo amps, Pilium preamp, Pilium DAC and Taiko Extreme streamer. The room was built for the system and then treated extensively. So I would think this was as good as the Magico M9s can sound. They sound great as expected, easily the best Magico I have heard

I listened to music that I know well, Rattle/Berlin Beethoven symphonies 5 and 9; Fox/Encores pipe organ, Tchaikovsky Piano concerto no. 1, Mussorgsky Picture at an Exhibition piano, Marshall Tucker Band, Mellencamp, Joan Baez, Chuck Mangione, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, and other music. I listened to many of these tracks before I went to Dallas and when I got home. This was only a couple of hours listening but, overall, I prefer the sound from my YG XVi/Boulder 1110 and 3060/Playback Designs MPT8/MPD8/Baetis Reference/2xREL 32 system. On all music, but particularly classical music, the YG system sounds clearer to me, more real. The bass from the M9s compared to the XVi, was at times a bit boomy. On some of the rock tracks, the Magico M9s were equal, perhaps a bit better. So to answer Lee's question, on sound alone, the M9s did not IMO achieve a higher level than the YG Sonja XVi. I am not a reviewer, this is just my impression.

The only disappointment was the Taiko streamer stopped half-way through some tracks including the choral movement of the Beethoven 9th.

 

[Lee]

I heard the Magico M9 system at Rhapsody DFW. It is the most impressive audio facility I have been to, in a totally bland industrial park building. Chris is an excellent host and I encourage anyone to visit. The room is a room-within-a-room, with thick, designed for audio, walls, floors and 12 foot ceiling. Even the doors are big, thick, heavy and designed for sound. The Magico M9s were driven by a pair of Pilium stereo amps, Pilium preamp, Pilium DAC and Taiko Extreme streamer. The room was built for the system and then treated extensively. So I would think this was as good as the Magico M9s can sound. They sound great as expected, easily the best Magico I have heard

I listened to music that I know well, Rattle/Berlin Beethoven symphonies 5 and 9; Fox/Encores pipe organ, Tchaikovsky Piano concerto no. 1, Mussorgsky Picture at an Exhibition piano, Marshall Tucker Band, Mellencamp, Joan Baez, Chuck Mangione, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, and other music. I listened to many of these tracks before I went to Dallas and when I got home. This was only a couple of hours listening but, overall, I prefer the sound from my YG XVi/Boulder 1110 and 3060/Playback Designs MPT8/MPD8/Baetis Reference/2xREL 32 system. On all music, but particularly classical music, the YG system sounds clearer to me, more real. The bass from the M9s compared to the XVi, was at times a bit boomy. On some of the rock tracks, the Magico M9s were equal, perhaps a bit better. So to answer Lee's question, on sound alone, the M9s did not IMO achieve a higher level than the YG Sonja XVi. I am not a reviewer, this is just my impression.

The only disappointment was the Taiko streamer stopped half-way through some tracks including the choral movement of the Beethoven 9th.

How do we know that you are not saying essentially that the M9s are good but my own system is better because it has the sound characteristics that I prefer and the gear I selected to provide those characteristics?

 

[Another Johnson]

How do we know that you are not saying essentially that the M9s are good but my own system is better because it has the sound characteristics that I prefer and the gear I selected to provide those characteristics?

I think that is what he is saying.