Magico A3 vs. Joseph Audio Perspective vs. Spendor D9

Got my Spendor D9's yesterday! Early first impressions are that the detail retrieval on the D9's rivals that of the A3 but the A3 does it just a tad bit better. Granted, I am not listening to the A3's on my home setup but my first thoughts are that the D9 does not trail very far behind at all at the top end. Very good detail portrayal on the D9's without ever sounding harsh or shrill. Very easy to listen to speakers that still give that detail fanatic satisfaction.

Midrange is gorgeous. Love guitar, piano and jazz playback on these speakers. So smooth but again, without losing that detail. I know it is so subjective to dub a speaker, "musical", but that is the word that I would describe the D9's as.

Much better low end on the D9's than the A3's in my personal opinion. This is without spikes on hardwood floor. Solid thump that is tight but with impact. I'll be adding the Gaia II's and assessing the difference after I install those shortly.

At the same time, I'm testing out the difference in power cables from the wall to my power conditioner (Niagara 1000). The cord that I am auditioning is the Audioquest Thunder vs my Pangea AC9SE Mk II. First thoughts are that the Thunder lowers that noise floor ever so slightly. The level sounds higher on the Pangea however... As a result, it sounds a bit more "dynamic" but the Thunder performs slightly smoother without any of the rolled highs. Still evaluating but the Thunder is a solid, solid cable.

Hard to imagine what people are hearing. I always regarded Spender as a mid-fi product. I think that the Dynaudios at that price range are much better speakers and the Magico A3 is in a completely different league altogether then the Dayns.

A brand is not universally better than another. That much should be obvious. Magico's have very high end speakers, yes. But while they play primarily in that ball park, the A3's are $10K speakers that compete in a very competitive price range. That is where is becomes subjective. Not to say that the Magico A3's aren't great speakers - they are. But to my ears, they aren't leagues above their $10K price range competitors. Not by a long shot. 

freesole

If you appreciate some of the characteristics of the Pangea Cables the designer, Jay Vincent, who designs for AA to a "price point" is the designer of the Clarus Cables which are in a similar price range as the AQ cable you are testing.  Again congrats on your Spendors as I think in the long term you will be much happier than you would have been with the A3.  As you are finding the Spendor's are among the group of "musical and comfortable" speakers that don't draw attention to themselves they just make music.

A brand is not universally better than another. That much should be obvious. Magico's have very high end speakers, yes. But while they play primarily in that ball park, the A3's are $10K speakers that compete in a very competitive price range. That is where is becomes subjective. Not to say that the Magico A3's aren't great speakers - they are. But to my ears, they aren't leagues above their $10K price range competitors. Not by a long shot.

Agreed; It has been ~ 1 year since I sold my Magico S1s to purchase Spendor D9s and I'm very happy with the D9s and ultimately enjoy listening to my music more with the D9s.   I had both speakers in my home system at the same time before deciding to go with the D9s.  Plus, my system had been 'tuned' to mate well with the slightly cool and ruthlessly revealing Magicos (e.g. Pass Labs 250.8 + SimAudio 380DSD DAC; both are a little warm and super musical).

I spent 3 enjoyable years with the Magicos and do not regret owning them at all.    To my ears the S1s offer some advantages over the D9s, and visa versa.   Over all though, I much prefer listening to my favorite tunes on the D9s.   @freesole, enjoy your D9s !!

@freesole -- these are new speakers, right?  If they're not broken in and you already like what you're hearing, I think that's a great sign.  Be interested in what changes you hear as the D9s break in.  Congrats on a great pair of speakers!