2. speakers
  3. 1305470053

Magico Q3's at Goodwin's High End

Just a quick note to say that Goodwin's High End (in Boston) along with Alon Wolf presented a demonstration of the Magico Q3's yesterday.

As usual, it was a class act by Goodwin's and a real treat overall. Mr. Wolf fielded a number of questions about the speakers (and Magico's approach to design) and his detailed responses were fascinating.

The Q3's sounded spectacular. They were setup in Goodwin's huge listening room (20x30x11) and they were positioned quite wide apart and deep into the room (almost halfway). I was transported to the symphony hall with a few tracks - like nothing I've ever experienced before. They were driven with very expensive electronics, inluding huge Boulder amps that were 1000w each (if I'm not mistaken) to compensate for the size of the room.

The Q3 is a modest size floorstanding loudspeaker, but it weighs 250lbs! Like the Q5 (if you've ever heard it) it is very clean and neutral sounding. Definitely a speaker that lets you listen into the music rather than wow you with a forward presentation. Besides classical, we heard some jazz, some instrumental and a cut from Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat that was stunning. These speakers don't call any attention to themselves. They were so coherent and produced such an impressive soundstage that it didn't feel like they were the source of the sound. Jennifer's voice had no artifacts (sibilence, etc) that it was like she was standing there. I feel I finally heard how the record was supposed to sound.

Anyways, I'm not trying to do a proper review here, but I did want to thank Goodwins and Magico for the opportunity and I thought I would share my initial impresssions.

Would love to know what other folks at the presentation(s) thought.
madfloyd
suteetat
435 posts
 
Depends on how big the room you are using 710/Q3 with, I suppose. I heard the combination at my dealer over the weekend in a smallish room and it has no problem driving Q3 to more than adequate loudness with no sign of stress.
I have not yet heard Q3 with other amplifiers but on V3, I prefer it driven by Spectral. Personally, I find Soulution a bit too lean for my taste (I heard 710 with Q3 and 700 with Q5), perhaps its damping factor which is incredibly high, couple to Magico very very fast bass just sound a bit fatiging to me after awhile. No tympani or snare drum is that tight in real life I think. May be it was also Argento cable that my dealer was using that is also on the lean side of neutral. They are getting in MIT cables which I heard sounds great with Spectral/V3 in the past.
epic27776
7 posts
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

Looking to upgrade to a nice floorstander in a dedicated audio room of 15ft(L) by 10.5ft(W) by 10ft(H). Will be playing it down the long side of the wall.
In the list are Magico Q3, Tidal Diacera and Ktema.

Suteetat, what is the rough dimension of your dealer room?
Believe my room of the sized mentioned is considered small.
Hope its more than adequate if I decided to go for the Q3 driven by the Soulution 710.

Cheers
suteetat
435 posts
 
The room I heard Q3/710 in was roughly 3.5mx4.5m or about 11x15ft and a little over 9ft tall. There should not be trouble with volume at all but you will need significant room treatment otherwise Q3 will definitely be too much for the room. Now Q3/710 was moved into a larger room, about 5x7m but I have not heard it yet. However my dealer said that 710 was still adequate for Q3 in that room and 710 actually had an easier time driving Q3 in comparison to V3.
clavil
254 posts
 
--how does the Q3 sounds compared to tha magnepan 3,7 ?

-- wasn't the mini II sounding a lot better than the V3 ? (of course this last one had more bass extension)
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
Clavil,

I compared the Mini II to the V3 in the same room at Sound By Singer in NYC. I much preferred the Mini II, though the amplification was different, so it was not a direct comparison. I found the Mini II to be far more coherent.

I've heard the Q3 once at Goodwins High End in Boston. It was in a very large room driven by 1000 W Boulder monos. It sounded amazing. Just as coherent as my Mini IIs, but they were more extended both up and down.

I haven't heard the Magnepan 3.7, but the Q3 did sound extremely fast, clear, transparent and neutral, if that helps.
More to discover