Visit to Chris to See Magico M9 and VYGER and Pilium in Southlake, Texas

[dcathro]

This is Chris. Former Rhapsody.Audio DFW. I will start by saying my relationship with Bob in NYC has existed for about 10yrs. I think of him as a friend, business associate and confidant. My feelings have not changed in any way so any inclination or creative interpretation to the contrary is flat out wrong. I have decided to trek my own path while retaining some of the brands he distributes as well as some new lines, Those that I find emotionally engaging. My feelings on Hifi/audio reproduction or whatever you want to call it are somewhat different than most dealers or even forum members who will vehemently defend whatever brand they spent all of their savings on. My question to people who is visit is how does it make you feel? Are you connected to the music you love? If not, we move on to something else. There is no hard sell, no huge discounts to move product like a Best Buy. The money doesn't drive my decisions to be a dealer. I do not make my living doing this.....My reputation is more important than selling someone a new shiny box they can brag about behind a computer screen to their friends and enemies on these often ridiculous rabbit hole forums.

Regarding the video..... I will state firmly that no microphone someone is going to bring into my room will even get a sniff of the sound or feeling of using your ears and letting the music speak. Some people like videos to see cool stuff, some think its the be all, end all of a system, and some use them to attract buyers. That is their prerogative and who am I to argue. Just know that I personally do not want to be a part of it because it is not a remotely accurate portrayal of that moment in time.

Regarding Ron's video..... It was stated that this was a bad idea and that Alon does not endorse or agree with videos for most of the exact same reasons stated above. The fact that the whole thing was taken off axis, in strange positions to showcase the gear and nothing else doesn't help the portrayal. I told him to do an overdub but was told that it won't work. Whatever, it is what it is....... I have never heard a speaker of this level of resolution or ultimate capability. Is it my daily cup of tea? No. As it is almost too intense in the nature of feeling like you're at an IMAX theatre etc.. I listen to music to relax. I don't sit and dissect sound piece by piece or only listen to tracks that are "well recorded" or audiophile ridiculously replayed tracks. I don't care, I listen to what I like and customers have the freedom to listen to what they like in my establishment. The M9 is very sweet spot dependent to get close to the capability. They are not a planar that you can listen to in any part of the room because they don't sound anywhere near potential they're given the inherent design. To take a video off axis, never in the center image let alone the focal point is beyond pointless. To cap it off, we listened to records, some of which were pulled from my collection that were purchased for probably $1.00 10yrs ago out of the used bin.... By this point, 40 visitors into the weekend, I was too tired to really care. That falls on me. I take that responsibility. However, do not judge the sound possibilities of this room on a video taken with the intent to highlight the room and gear rather than the sound.

Anyone is welcome, any time, to visit and draw your own conclusions.

Chris. Now Euphoria HiFi. Located in Southlake TX. 7169824189

Hey Chris,

It is good that you explained things from your perspective.

I Loved the video of your room and the gear (I make no judgements regarding the sound)!

Congratulations on being able to follow your own path with your hobby/business, and big respect for your philosophy.

Cheers

David

 

[bonzo75]

Whats missing from video shares is a standardized boxed speaker video of a system that is very pleasing playing Skynrd or Lord or Bruno Mars etc.

I don’t have Skynrd for you but lots of rock - black sabbath, Metallica, Hendrix, deep purple, doors

For those who say horns cannot rock…we salute you – Zero Distortion

zero-distortion.org

 

[Al Stewart]

Chris,
Congratulations on the formal announcement. You are a terrific host. Wishing you great success in the new endeavor.
Regards
Al

 

[Kingrex]

What a thread. Ron takes a video. Ron is told it wasn't an appropriate video. Video stays up and people start to talk about whether the video was any good. Then we are told the owner of the equipment has gone out as an independent dealer. Then people start to talk about do videos have any merit. Then the conversation moves towards horns versus dynamic driver speakers. And finally, it's swirls around to congratulations on your new business. This thread should get on a ward for most topics covered.

 

[XV-1]

then why blame tire video? The video is showing the LP lacked bass. What you are blaming is the auditioning process of which LP to use. In room too, if people has been there and heard this LP, they would have had the same conclusion

Ked, did you even read what I wrote? I didn't complain about the video. Yet boneheads here complained about the lack off bass. It would seem they don't even know the music they are complaining about.

" I thought the only thing wrong with Ron's video was the abysmal choice of music and questionable video editing."

 

[Alrainbow]

What a thread. Ron takes a video. Ron is told it wasn't an appropriate video. Video stays up and people start to talk about whether the video was any good. Then we are told the owner of the equipment has gone out as an independent dealer. Then people start to talk about do videos have any merit. Then the conversation moves towards horns versus dynamic driver speakers. And finally, it's swirls around to congratulations on your new business. This thread should get on a ward for most topics covered.

Rex when you have the Juice to control
it’s what happens lol. I’m glad you posted about it.
PS videos are useful .

 

[Kingrex]

I wonder if boxed speakers would perform at a higher level if manufactures put an active analog crossover in them, set and ready to go. The end user would need to select 2 to 3 low power stero amps to direct couple to the drivers. Sort of like Linkwitz, but you pick your own amp.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Brothers in Arms one of my favorite songs and a great demo tune. Very haunting song and when a system gets it right its an emotional experience. For me its the B3 and the perfect and proper amount of Leslie.
The whole album is a music and production masterpiece.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

What a thread. Ron takes a video. Ron is told it wasn't an appropriate video. Video stays up and people start to talk about whether the video was any good. Then we are told the owner of the equipment has gone out as an independent dealer. Then people start to talk about do videos have any merit. Then the conversation moves towards horns versus dynamic driver speakers. And finally, it's swirls around to congratulations on your new business. This thread should get on a ward for most topics covered.

Whenever I see that many pages in a short period of time there is always bunched up undies, usually by the same people, so I just skim the content. To much to do and too little time to bunch mine up over audio kit.
I do however appreciate and enjoy system sharing and take the videos as entertainment and eye candy. I appreciate the effort Ron and others put into them.
You all know better than to think you can judge a system by a cell phone mic or even a good mic plugged into a phone and the time spent squabbling about them, it is silly behavior.
Calling someones choice of music preposterous because its not your choice is well...preposterous. We all look for different things in music and systems and that is the journey. Is it preposterous that I uses zero classical music to find what I am looking for in a system?
All y'all need to put some crushed ice in the bong, get some sticky icky, draw slow and deep, hold it in, exhale slowly and just relax and enjoy the music.

 

[thedudeabides]

In my opinion, those with MAGICO speakers and with similar electronics and not PILIUM unfortunately haven't discovered their speakers yet.

How many other amps have you auditioned on your Magicos?

 

[Holli82]

Brothers in Arms one of my favorite songs and a great demo tune. Very haunting song and when a system gets it right its an emotional experience. For me its the B3 and the perfect and proper amount of Leslie.
The whole album is a music and production masterpiece.

I enjoy BIA and Diana Krall too...I feel so ashamed........

I have no dog in this fight, but after reading all the posts here I'm thinking I should sell my gear and just use my cell phone for youtube videos. I guess i am missing something.

Ron, keep doing your thing and making videos. I find them enjoyable. I appreciate the time and effort it takes to do this on our behalf. My approach has been using the internet and youtube to learn about products I may be interested in. There is no substitute for auditioning equipment in person before purchase.

 

[XV-1]

Brothers in Arms one of my favorite songs and a great demo tune. Very haunting song and when a system gets it right its an emotional experience. For me its the B3 and the perfect and proper amount of Leslie.
The whole album is a music and production masterpiece.

Seriously . It's absolutely terrible digital and doesn't even sound like a real band or instruments. the previous 4 Dire Straits album all sound infinitely better than BIA.
YMMV

 

[itay123]

How many other amps have you auditioned on your Magicos?

If you looked at my gear list at the bottom of my comment's, (by the way it needs to be updated, we will do it when we get the chance) you would see that I don't have MAGICO speakers,
however I have heard a bunch of MAGICOs models over the years,
and I have heard with a wide range of amplifiers/electronics, From LUXMAN to PILIUM,
most of the amplifiers with which I heard the Magico speakers could not really handle them properly and made me less "dig" the company,
after I heard the PILIUM Leonidas on S7s,
about two years ago, a local distributor who is also a good friend,
had a pair of S7s speakers in his showroom.
The S7s were in his showroom for quite some time, so I heard them with quite a few amps, including luxman, Dagostino, Karan, Solution, Audio Research, Absoler and more...
with PILIUM (Leonidis - which he had on display at the time),
the S7 sounded the most natural, punchy, and very convincing,
the customer who purchased the S7s also purchased PILIUM monoblocks.

 

[Rexp]

Whenever I see that many pages in a short period of time there is always bunched up undies, usually by the same people, so I just skim the content. To much to do and too little time to bunch mine up over audio kit.
I do however appreciate and enjoy system sharing and take the videos as entertainment and eye candy. I appreciate the effort Ron and others put into them.
You all know better than to think you can judge a system by a cell phone mic or even a good mic plugged into a phone and the time spent squabbling about them, it is silly behavior.
Calling someones choice of music preposterous because its not your choice is well...preposterous. We all look for different things in music and systems and that is the journey. Is it preposterous that I uses zero classical music to find what I am looking for in a system?
All y'all need to put some crushed ice in the bong, get some sticky icky, draw slow and deep, hold it in, exhale slowly and just relax and enjoy the music.

So you're on drugs, that's quite silly or as some might say, stupid.

 

[Al M.]

So you're on drugs, that's quite silly or as some might say, stupid.

Huh?

 

[abeidrov]

Seriously . It's absolutely terrible digital and doesn't even sound like a real band or instruments. the previous 4 Dire Straits album all sound infinitely better than BIA.
YMMV

You obviously haven’t heard Robert Ludwig’s BIA lacquer cut Sounds absolutely fantastic!

 

[Alrainbow]

I have heard magico for years at rhapsody in various locations in ny areas always sounded great.
And heard them not so great a few times. I feel any well made speaker has to be powered right and room according. bob must know how this gets done. after axpona I plan to make an appointment to visit bob in Brooklyn it’s been a while.
im sure it will be memorable as always.
best show room for audio without the show room style.
for the vast majority who don’t have a made for purpose audio room it’s how it should be shown.
and bob is very talented at making music the focus without pressure.
thank you bob for all the past years visits

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

So you're on drugs, that's quite silly or as some might say, stupid.

And there is the usual crowd, where in any of that did I say I was on drugs....we can do this all night long.

Seriously . It's absolutely terrible digital and doesn't even sound like a real band or instruments. the previous 4 Dire Straits album all sound infinitely better than BIA.
YMMV

Like I said we all have our own boats to float. I love all the DS albums and production as well as all of MK's solo albums, the attention to detail is second to none.

You obviously haven’t heard Robert Ludwig’s BIA lacquer cut Sounds absolutely fantastic!

Sure does, love it but that always opens up another can of worms with people. I do have just about every version of that album and like most of them for their own flavor.

I enjoy BIA and Diana Krall too...I feel so ashamed........

I have no dog in this fight, but after reading all the posts here I'm thinking I should sell my gear and just use my cell phone for youtube videos. I guess i am missing something.

Ron, keep doing your thing and making videos. I find them enjoyable. I appreciate the time and effort it takes to do this on our behalf. My approach has been using the internet and youtube to learn about products I may be interested in. There is no substitute for auditioning equipment in person before purchase.

Rag Tag Doll is amazing!

And yes please keep doing room visits with videos, they are awesome and much appreciated. Also love the show coverages, great exposure to new and different things.

Enjoy your evening all

 

[cjfrbw]

Isn't some intrepid audiophile going to make another forbidden, stealth M9 recording to keep this brawl going, or not?

 

[Lagonda]

Isn't some intrepid audiophile going to make another forbidden, stealth M9 recording to keep this brawl going, or not?

With a buttonhole FBI type wire hooked up to a Nagra pocket recorder !