Speaker Thoughts - YG Acoustics Hailey 2.2 vs Magico S5 MK II

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! 

I have the Q3s and in my house in Florida i have M3 the M3 are more open etc this being said i still love my Q3s .

My self I like the S MKII’s better then the Q’s and the M’s are insane. All the criticism the S and Q’s had vaporized into thin air with the M3 and up. Magico has evolved immensely with the M’s. Way out of my league. 

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. 

How do you compare Q and S to M.

Thats great however your speakers are MUCH more musical and much better.

The other day I listened to a pair of Alexia 2’s with D’agastino monos with a VAC master preamp and that was some nice slam! Those thing can bring it! Legit bring it! 

I don’t know about better bass? Magico is not a bass centric speaker. YG’s have some pretty good slam. I’m not sure about Dynamics or highs either. Now it’s matter what speaker your talking. If your taking S, Q or M series. The S and Q are Very different animals compared to M’s 

MAGICO is more musical,better bass detail and dynamics cleaner midrange and better highs.These speaker sound even better with tube preamp(VAC) or tube phono stage which i have TW ACUTIC RPS 100 one of the best.

Sure - makes sense. I am not nearly as familiar with YG. They seems pretty awesome though. 

 Was just saying that both Magico and YG can sound polite. 

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. 

@fsmithjack 

I know, but keithr agreed with you, so I can't say I follow his reasoning

I said the exact opposite of that??? 

@ 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.

very interesting story, fsmithjack - thanks for sharing. 

i know exactly what you mean by polite. i chose YG over Magico as i find them more alive and microdynamic, but certainly can still hear some of what you speak about. 

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.

Only rockport lyra of those 3 has a metal cabinet speaker. Interested in more comparisons between metal cabinet speakers.

Brands to check.
Raidho
Marten
Rockport

Any other thoughts on YG vs Magico ? Also to complete the metal triforce, stenheim?

Ya guessing with the infrasonics that would fill everything out well while maintaining quality.

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. 

@sounds_real_audio  I really think WB seems well made but 2 concerns.
1. I have heard they can't do deep bass and bass heavy music well in terms of extension and impact
2. They kind of look like dildos (I mean their higher end stuff) like eminence

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

Running the Hailey 2.2s with mono 860a v2s now which has made me contemplate no longer needing my sub to complement. Plenty of layered, quick and impactful bass. at least for my tastes...

Any other comparisons of YG Vs Magico?
YG vs Wilson aside:
I had 1 YG owner who went from XLF -> YG XV and was really happy with that shift. Another likes h is Sonja 2.2 more than XLF.

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).

@sciencecop Dave expresses an opinion and need to apologise to you? Logic?

@sciencecop   Get a clue...and read my post above

I guess your apology was not sincere??
A pity.

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!

@daveyf 
Apology accepted. Don't let me catch you slippin up again!

@sciencecop thanks for that...very informative and very assumptive. Great post. Sorry my prior post hurt your very tender and sensitive feelings.

@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).

@smodtactical I have heard the Magico M2. I thought it was a little thin sounding, particularly in comparison to other competing speakers in the same price range. The imaging was ok, but again I think it can be bettered by other speakers at or below its price point.

@daveyf  Did you hear the Magico M2? I found it super impressive. Incredible imaging and clarity.

It depends on your equipment to determine which is
better.

Vitus match well with magico as compared to yg. Its vice 
versa if your amp is d agostino.

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! 

what about sonja vs magico m series ?

I think YG's are superb. BUT you had better have a VERY powerful ss amp to drive them. I am not sure that a tube amp with less than 300 watts/ch would suffice. Whereas the OP's current Magico is an easier load. What amp are you using to drive the Magico's?

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.  

Any more thoughts?

YG is a great speaker however you need high power tube or solid state and great copper cables(Purist is one).You need a great high resolution amp and preamp such as Audia flight Stremento #1 preamp and #4 amp to sound there best.

@ebm  any thoughts on YG ?

MAGICIO S5MK2 a great speaker with NO significant coloration just GREAT sound and superior build quality.These are very accurate sounding  and must be voiced with the best copper cables and amp and preamp for best sound quality.Enjoy and don’t worry about the competition.