2. speakers
  3. 136873-45461

Auditioned Magico A3 - VERY DARK...

So today after waiting for months to try and listen to the Magico A3, I went to Scott Walker audio at Anaheim and listened to the Magico A3, connected to some VAC Tube amp, being fed from a Sony audio streamer, here are my impressions:

- They look fantastic, I wish they made them in silver too, but they are just great in brush black aluminum
- They're quite small and could fit everywhere
- Fit and finish is impecable
- The bass they generated was nothing but amazing for such a small cabinet, you could hear the drums, the down beats and incredible depth of bass at an amazing level
- Imaging was INSANE, you could literally place everyone and everything...
- Sound was VERY VERY DARK!!! This was a bit of a surprise, the top end lacked for my taste to a quite a degree
- I felt like the combo of the Tube amp and Magico lacked resolution, while bass and mid was great, the top end absolutely lacked resolution
- The sound was extremely laid back, again dark
- It does NEED POWER, like he had to crank the volume up, to get good sound out of this, so be aware of that

Overall, I "personally" did NOT like the sound, it lacked details and resolution at the top end, while it was great at the bottom end.  Now, the rep and I think this is mostly due to Tube amp, and connecting it to a solid state amp would bring back resolution, but we simply didn't have time to do that today.  I look forward to listen to these at another time with some decent solid-state amp, but as-is, I was NOT as impressed as I expected and wouldn't have purchased one and I strongly believe Tube and Magico A3 do NOT go well together! 

Anyone else with similar impressions?! Curious to know what others may think, or maybe there was something else in play?

Thoughts?
alexb76
Post removed 
Post removed 
fleschler
2,012 posts
 
Jhills, I think you are correct. VAC phi and iq 200 amps were designed to control low impedance speakers including Kingsound electrostats and can drive Magnapans. Driving a 3 ohm speaker should be a breeze. The mentioned VAC amps are a great choice for most speakers except maybe the power hungry like B&Ws and Wilsons of MBLs where they sound best with large amps.

However, I have auditioned and heard Magico speakers over 15 times at shows and stores, from the Q1 to the Q5 and S3 to S7 and did not like any one of them. I heard them in all times of rooms with all types of equipment. The smaller ones couldn’t recreate an orchestra sound. Pinched and small sounding. The larger ones were just dead sounding, not musically involving. A Q5 sounded so bad that a single guitar recording sound like a ukelele. Sure, blame the recording, blame the ancillary equipment. These were all high end dealers. I’ve heard so many better sounding/musically involving speakers, why bother with Magicos, for the name brand? Give me a Harbeth 40 over any Magico. I prefer Von Schweikerts, older Legacy, Lumenwhites, Volti, Martens, or any number of other high end speakers. I want music, not just sound.
Post removed 
fleschler
2,012 posts
 
I said I would rather own Harbeths than Magicos.  They aren't for me either.  I currently own Legacy Focus and Signature IIIs (2 systems).  I am thinking of replacing the Focus with either Von Schweikert VR55 Active or Luminwhite Kyara.  At least 10,000 Focus speakers were sold.  Let's see if Magico even keeps the A3s around for more than 3 years and sells a 1000 pair.  I doubt it.  They come out with new and improved models continuously.  There's something wrong with that in high end speaker lines.   Wait, I bet there will be an A1 soon to capture the $5000-$7000 market.  Then a new M line to completely eliminate the Q line.
More to discover