Magicos are chesty

I havent heard enough Magicos under optimal conditions to decisively comment but my guess is that the Magicos are revealing more of the true sound in the recording than other speakers you have heard. Most dynamic speaker stink with distortions some of which are the result of thin resonating cabinets. It takes some serious listening to get to the point where you can distinguish between pleasant distortions and more accurate reproduction. Problem with many is that they confuse preference over truth. I sincerely believe that the best speaker for the individual is the one that they prefer, but spend some time listening to Harbeths (as an example) and then go to a speakers with inert cabinets, first order crossovers, proper time alignment, sealed enclosures, etc and you get an entirely different sense of the music. Reproduced music should not sound homogeneous.

My Magico Mini 2 and Q3 never sounded "chesty" to me or anyone who has heard my system.  I listen to a lot of vocals.  I do not have a lot of experience with the S series, having only heard the S1, S5, and S7 at dealerships, but the S5 mk2 at a reviewer's house sounded superb with no "chesty" sound on vocals.  

It seems like a strange artifact or coloration you heard.  Have you ever heard a well set up pair of Magicos in a private home?

My Magico S3MK2 speakers are very accurate and uncolored and a bad recording , well, it will sound like a bad recording.  I did play the Chris Isaak tune 5-15 and other similar stuff like Tony Joe Whites Rain Crow and they sound balanced in my system.

@dguitarnut

Interesting! Maybe it was the room I listened to them then. The dealer had done his own acoustics, and quite possible he sucked out all the wrong frequencies.

E-S  I 100% agree with you about the S1   Hearing it twice at shows confirmed how mediocre they are.  They made the large orchestral Pictures at an Exhibition sound like postage stamps at an exhibition  Using behemoth amplification (1000 watts into 2 ohms), they were so quiet and undynamic that only vocalists and guitars had any life to them.  YUK!   I was sitting about 8' away from them.

As to the larger M and S lines (3s, 5s)  I've heard about 15 times,  sometimes they sounded dreadful (mushy, closed in) being driven by the likes of Jadis amps, or else sounding sterile with VAC amps or just weird sounding with guitars sounding like ukeleles (possbily poor choice of recordings).  My wife and I have never experienced any joy listening to Magico speakers.   The Rockports killed them using similar equipment. 

Speakers with less than "perfect" design and construction with some flaw(s) sound can sound great; hence, our love for von Schweikerts, Lumenwhites, lower end Focals, lower end Martens, older Legacy's and a host of other speakers that are just more enjoyable to listen to long term.  Even Harbeths are fun to hear although they aren't the speakers I can live with.  I would rather have large Magnapans than Magicos and I used to be an stat owner of Acoustat Xs, 2&2s and ML Monolith iiis.  .