You have the Q’s and M’s. That’s some serious speakerage there. Nothing ever in the world is build better then a Q series Magico. Never before it or after it. Tenth degree and then some. Build like a tank doesn’t do them justice. Tanks wish they were built that well. All Magico’s sound great - they have never made a bad speaker ever. Even the old birth wood ones sound fantastic. The mini changed the speaker world forever. The M series - that’s a new level for Magico. That semi-constipaded sound is gone - the air and openness and unrestricted dynamics I think is just is so good they never quite got there before but their flag is planted there now!
Speaker Thoughts - YG Acoustics Hailey 2.2 vs Magico S5 MK II
I own Magico S5 MK II Speakers and love them but curious what the YG folks think? I have never heard the YG Speakers and am curious what folks think. I have heard good things about YG. A little better dynamics and bass but would love some others feedback.
Thanks
https://www.yg-acoustics.com/product/hailey-series
https://www.magico.net/product/s5mkii.php
Thanks
https://www.yg-acoustics.com/product/hailey-series
https://www.magico.net/product/s5mkii.php
63 responses Add your response
Not mine - those are not mine. I wish. I just heard them at a guys house that I bought a VAC integrated from. I own the lowly Focal Sopra 2’s. I happen to love them and sold my Magico S5 MKII’s because I like them better but still I’m not claiming them to be better then Magico or YG. They are just best for me and for now at that. I tend to change them more then I should but I am smitten by them. |
That Focal tweeter is bright and raw. It throws haymakers. I love it. Although, I did not love it with my Soulution 530 or my Pass Labs 160.8’s. It just needs a bit of a chill pill. That chill pill came in the form of a Ypsilon Phaethon with it’s hybrid tube-transistor linestage that rocks a pair of 6H30 operating in single-ended Class A for both the input stage and the driver stage. Its output is “bridged, single-ended” also biased in Class A. It’s a different way to do it. So they make the amp a push pull amp to drive tougher speakers but it’s very different. Rather then just making a push pull amp the make separate single ended amps and run them in opposites bridged to come up with their own version of push pull. A single ended amp with real balls. Needless to say it is a very elegant, purist approach. It’s not just super super transparent with its powerful mosfets it’s also buttery tube singled ended smooth. Both these attributes dial the beryllium tweeter right into its wheel house. That bright, raw inverted metal dome tweeter is now silky smooth and combo with its extension and decays are just killer. Audio really is about partnering the gear just right. I think the Magico’s would partner well with most. They were great with the Soulution and the Pass Labs. They were great with the Ypsilon too but the Focal and Ypsilon that there has a ceiling that seems to still be climbing. |
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keithr So you think that a Be tweeter is more ’polite’ and less resolving than a Silk dome?? Not the impression I get when I compare the two. |
When I started with thread I owned Magico S5 MKII speakers and loved them. I knew they were fantastic speakers but for me and my evolving my taste I wanted to consider other options. Only after owning multiple pairs of Magico’s over a few years had I leaned that a speaker with a little more bite and rougher edges may be more to my liking. A little less polished and polite speakers. Now the Magico is only polite compared to a more raw and brighter speaker and I don’t think it can be called polite unless compared to a such a brash speaker. That is why I considered YG. I found YG - Magico and even more so with Rockport are all refined and sophisticated musical devices. I found I like the sound of the French Focal better. It’s a more raw - needs taming type of speaker as it can be ear bleed bright if not matched up properly. The others really will never be too bad. I found Focal to be easier to drive with quicker stops and starts and much hotter. The tweeter can be brutal but also when tamed with a tube DAC or tube preamp and matched with excellent solid state output power I find to be the perfect sound for me. Now I guess the Magico M series is a more raw and transparent speaker like this but way out of my price range. I never owned a Focal speaker before and ran into them by accident. I know the build quality of Focal is nothing like the others but I only need them to be built well enough to be good sounding speakers and to last so long like 20 years or so and not built like a Magico or YG to last a thousand years. I found Focal speakers paired with Ypsilon electronics to be my cup of tea. |
Wilson Benesch realized long ago that large bass drivers do a lot of doubling...I had a pair of small speakers with 8" woofers and the bass was so irritating I couldn't stand it, like sitting at a stop light and a car pulls up with the music blasting. I like honest bass and they don't chase the fantasy of sub bass... having said that when I was a dealer I compared them to the Korus X's by Talon the Tannoy's the Nola's. No comparison...The bass is tight and accurate and you don't need to treat all the walls . I had their Torus Infrasonic Generators that go into the 20's with accuracy and never needed bass busters or toom treatments. Most on agon who say they are looking for more bass probably don't have a satisfying midrange. |
I have heard the Magico speakers and the YG speakers at the RMAF.....For me I don't get any goose bumps..... Check out the Wilson Beseech A.C.T. Evolutions...They are using carbon fiber cabinets and have for years. This is the direction that Magico is going with their up end speakers.The M-5...The bass is as good as it gets, no bloat, and lively. The midrange is incredible, so realistic... http://aaudioimports.com/ShowProduct.asp?hProduct=293 |
Coming back to this thread. Another interesting match up might be the YG Hailey vs Magico A5 or M2 (A5 quite a bit lower msrp than the other 2). Also Sonja 2.3 vs Magico m3 or m6. I think the one issue with the YG lower end models or sonja 2.2 configuration is just the lack of bass impact and likely due to just having a singular 10 inch woofer (and smaller on hailey). Although Yoav tells me that given the metal driver and lack of flex, the driver movement is more pistonic and performs like a driver that is 1 size bigger (ie. 10 inch woofer is more like a 12 inch woofer). |
On the thread on the analog forum section titled: Direct Drive vs.Idler Drive vs. Belt Drive Member neonknight posted this: "I am noticing something about you. It appears you are one of these people who believe that your choices are the only correct way to do things in this hobby. If others disagree with you or have a different perspective then they are misguided or ignorant. Audio is a journey and there are many pathways to take, and folks often have a different destination in mind and value a different perspective of what they get to hear and experience." I think that sums up a ton of folks on these forums...and I couldn’t have put it better! |
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@daveyf Seriously? Thin sounding, ’ok’ imaging, one-trick pony?? Where did you hear the M2? It’s ok to dislike a brand you never heard, but why the fiction? It’s not like many here have never heard the M2, or the M6, which is anything but thin and image like no other box speakers (even JA noted this in his M2 review). |
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Sonja vs Magico M...I would probably go with Sonja...depending on room size and which Sonja model. Magico M's are a little bit of a one trick pony at that price point, IME. The big Sonja 2.3's or the XV's are pretty special, albeit with their immense power requirement up stream. Flea powered tube amps ( maybe even normal powered tube amps??) need not apply! |
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Room designed for audio playback...baloney. You can and should listen to any well designed audio system with some time spent on speaker placement of course, but if the room is full of furniture, isn’t something like a shipping container or a WW2 submarine torpedo room, just sit back and enjoy it. Sexist "wife approval" comments are generally telltale signs of male insecurity. You don’t need an anechoic-ish bass trap filled first reflection damped man cave to enjoy music...nothing wrong with rooms...they’re where many people live. |
I've listened to YG Kipods and Anats extensively at several shows. And I just spent 3 hours alone in a dealer's showroom listening to S3 and S5 (both MkIIs). The YGs were in a large 50x30 foot room. The experience was the life-like realism of literally having the performers in the room. Both S series Magicos, on the other hand, were set up in a long (15x35) 11.1 AV room treated throughout with absorption materials....the room was totally dead....and the speakers sounded like near-field recording studio monitors - accurate as could be but rather lifeless. THE POINT: Whatever anyone's experience is with ANY high-end speaker is totally contingent upon the individual parts of the entire system (ie, electronics, cables, tweaks, etc) AND THE INHERENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROOM IN WHICH YOU EXPERIENCED THE ENTIRE SYSTEM IN. I'd go so far to suggest that any stereo audio system regardless of cost, that resides in a room that was not specifically designed for audio playback, will short change the listener of the system's capabilities in such an "ideal" room. Makes ya wonder how many times we have all jumped onto the audio merry-go-round to switch out gear in search of that elusive sound we crave, only to once again be disappointed due to an imperfect listening environment, that our wives may not allow us to change. |
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