Has anyone heard the Magico Mini?

Wow, there are quite a lot of differences in opinions expressed here. I heard them two years ago at CES/THE SHOW. Under those conditions, I thought they were among the best sounding speakers at both shows. What they had that I particularly liked was a very lively and clear sound -- somewhat like the sound of high efficiency speakers (i.e., horn and single driver speakers) in that respect, but much better balanced tonally than most high efficiency speakers. I think that is a very important quality that is particularly hard to find in modern speakers. Most speakers sound boring and constipated to me -- they lack the ability to deliver small dynamic changes realistically.

I took note of an unfavorable comment from someone who heard it with Thor amplification. I have not heard the combination, but, I've heard Thor equipment with a number of tube friendly speakers and I did not like the sound of their amps or linestage on ANY speaker I heard. The amp sounded very brittle, edgy, and lean (similar in sound, to Audio Research gear). With a speaker, like the Mini, which is NOT fat and warm, I can see how the combination would not be ideal.

Stereotaipei - I heard them with a pair of Wilson Benesch Torus. Amps were the Audio Research Ref 210 first, and then the Ref 610. They sounde great with the 210,and awesome with the 610 after they warmed up (took a couple of hours for those to get to peak performance). However...I'd love to listen to them with my Tact W210 subs, which are also extremely fast and a lot less $$ than the Torus...

Hmm... I think many other speakers will sound great if not better with a pair of ARC 610 on tap :)

The irony is that we have a bookshelf here that's so hard to drive and needs amps bigger than themselves to shine.

And how did you get that impression? Anything will sound better on the big ARC. It is a very good amplifier. JV entire review was done on the 210’s. That is a very real, somewhat modest power rating. I drive the MM with smaller amps as well. The MM is actually a lot easier to drive then the watt and quite a few others.

And how did you get the impression that I said "ANYTHING" will sound better on the big ARC? All I said was that the big ARC will make many other speakers sound good too.

Btw, what amps are you using with your MM now?

Merry Christmas,

Roy