Magico S5 Speaker - SET UP ADVICE PLEASE - Tow-In - Etc.

"So darn bright :( something wrong here...."

"... if this was their sound no one would like them and so many people do!"

I’d have to agree that it sounds like something is wrong here.

This is probably a long shot, but it seems worth asking: Have you been running the Sumiko subs with the Magico speakers? If so, and if you are connecting the subs at speaker level, have you been connecting the black wire of the Speakon cable to the white signal ground terminal on the rear of the amp, which is where it should be connected?

If instead you have been connecting it to a negative output terminal of the balanced Pass amp, which is a mistake that seems to often be made when connecting powered subs to the outputs of balanced amps, I’m envisioning that in combination with the low impedance of the S5 (as opposed to the impedance of your previous speakers) an ultra-sonic oscillation could conceivably result, that would manifest as brightness/harshness. And that kind of effect might account for the sensitivity to the amp’s power cord that you mentioned.

Just a thought. Regards,
-- Al

Re Magicos and tubes - my Q3s love the ARC pre and VTL monoblocks I pair them with. Personally I never really like the big Soulution amps that Magicos are often paired with at shows, the combo with tubes often gets feedback along the lines of “ I usually don’t like Magicos but these sound great”

i will say however that the Be tweeter needs careful room matching, I’d suspect that you have lots of unpleasant interactions with your untreated room. Have you tried a near field setup to see if that is more acceptable? At least then you’d be able to minimize the room interaction

Imo you can never have too much definition; it's how it's managed that counts. 

Pedigree of speaker will not determine how lovely it sounds in your home, and the same is true of components and cables. Finding the proper match not only with quality but also with the house sound is important. There is not a high end speaker made that can assure that all audiophiles will like its sound with all systems. I would expect that half the systems made would not be completely fulfilling, regardless of the brand of speaker. You're expecting perfect sound without doing your due diligence, i.e. system building. Not gonna happen typically. 

The DAC may or may not be an issue. When you have such a strong negative reaction, be prepared to change two or three things It's not about the DAC being better, but rather what components match up better. 

You went from analogue and tube components to all SS and extreme definition speakers. This will take some time and experimentation. It is very, very unlikely you would hit the nail on the head in your first one or two permutations with those speakers. It will simply take more time and experimentation. So be it. Look at it like a project similar to a house remodel. You go at it methodologically and make the changes. In the end you get your dream result. I know some guys who have taken a couple years to get their rigs perfect. It all depends on how much you want to push the schedule. 

Put the subs back in. Toe them in. Keep working it.

Thanks guys - honestly though - these are very well built and engineered speakers as is my DAC and amp and cables for that matter so to a degree they should work to a certain level?. I agree synergy wise and tweaking and getting to the sound one likes but this is different. I've owned many Wilson, Revel, Kharma, B&W and many others and used big Krell and BAT Class A amps and I know the SS slam sound. I get it - I've been thrown off by this synergy crisis though - I need to hook up a big - Phat, juicy tube pre and even if it's not the awnser just to hear what the result would be??? 

@fsmithjack 

Your Bricasti M1SE DAC has adjustable output.

quote from manual 

"
The next stage, at the analog out of the converter for the gain and filter sections there is a fully differential analog design with fast high slew rate analog operational amps. This is followed by 2 transistor designed output buffer sections, balanced and unbalanced, each separately buffered and isolated. The balanced output level as shipped is set with a fixed resistor at +13.5 dbm. For custom level matching, an internal the jumper on the board can be moved to engage a precision adjustable potentiometer. This adjustment is set from the rear panel screw near the XLR connector. When the potentiometer feature is engaged the level is adjustable from +8 to +23 dbm and can be referenced to a fraction of a db to match any setup. This level is set as a default +16 dbm at the factory so when the jumper is engaged this will be the new level. Please contact us for detailed instructions on how to change and set these levels. The unbalanced is set to normal hi fi levels of 2V RMS (+8dbm) by precision resistor values on the board."


You should check check to see what you have set. It is possible you may be sending too high of a signal to your amplifier and therefore clipping and massively distorting the input stage ...

At +22dbm the balanced XLR output voltage will be about 18 volts which is a pro audio signal and too much for most consumer grade amplifiers.