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Magico Q3's at Goodwin's High End

Just a quick note to say that Goodwin's High End (in Boston) along with Alon Wolf presented a demonstration of the Magico Q3's yesterday.

As usual, it was a class act by Goodwin's and a real treat overall. Mr. Wolf fielded a number of questions about the speakers (and Magico's approach to design) and his detailed responses were fascinating.

The Q3's sounded spectacular. They were setup in Goodwin's huge listening room (20x30x11) and they were positioned quite wide apart and deep into the room (almost halfway). I was transported to the symphony hall with a few tracks - like nothing I've ever experienced before. They were driven with very expensive electronics, inluding huge Boulder amps that were 1000w each (if I'm not mistaken) to compensate for the size of the room.

The Q3 is a modest size floorstanding loudspeaker, but it weighs 250lbs! Like the Q5 (if you've ever heard it) it is very clean and neutral sounding. Definitely a speaker that lets you listen into the music rather than wow you with a forward presentation. Besides classical, we heard some jazz, some instrumental and a cut from Jennifer Warnes Famous Blue Raincoat that was stunning. These speakers don't call any attention to themselves. They were so coherent and produced such an impressive soundstage that it didn't feel like they were the source of the sound. Jennifer's voice had no artifacts (sibilence, etc) that it was like she was standing there. I feel I finally heard how the record was supposed to sound.

Anyways, I'm not trying to do a proper review here, but I did want to thank Goodwins and Magico for the opportunity and I thought I would share my initial impresssions.

Would love to know what other folks at the presentation(s) thought.
madfloyd
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
Ronstadt, from a musicians point of view, had/has what is generally considered a kick ass voice...she could peel paint from your ceiling...strip the chrome off yer tailpipes...or something. In any case, I've never heard it described as "small" (I've also never been to Vienna)...and I have friends who toured with her (I saw her live a few times in the 70's). They said she would come through the monitors like a banshee and they'd beg the monitor mixer to turn her down. Even the drummer's monitor...
I get annoyed by the scale of some instruments in recordings...it's an engineering issue but I prefer the instruments to be sort of naturally placed and sometimes the mixer will, for example, imply that the drummer has a 20 foot wide kit...or a 30' piano...I imagine if you crank Magico's up (I heard the Q5s at Goodwins) in a gigantic room you might feel like the scale is off, but the Q5s I heard had perfect scale for what they were playing at the time, as do my much less expensive but groovy main speakers. Sort of the point of any good system isn't it?.
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
I understand Folkfreak's comments about scale the same way Weseixas and Usermanual do. I've heard many modern recordings of "singer/songwriter" females sound as though the singer's head is huge. I think this may have more to do with recording technique/quality that system reproduction, but when I hear instruments and voices out of scale, it does hinder the illusion and is quite annoying. I don't know how much a speaker has to do with this, but I do know what Folkfreak means about space and silences. I hear this quality on my Magico Mini II's. Scale, space, air, silence is much better than with my previous speakers.

As to the Magico Q3 - based on the one audition I've had, it is a great speaker. The soprano and orchestral music I heard it play were very convincing. Also the small scale jazz. It just sounded very much like real music.

Feil does sell Pass amps and that is saying something.

Congratulations on your new speakers, Folkfreak. Nice system.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
Calm down sports fans.

If you re-read my posts, this is my position:

There is no correlation between a vocalist's physical size/stature and his/her voice. Nothing more and nothing less.

It is irrefutable.

I never mentioned musical instruments which are an all together different argument.
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
Did I mention Ronstadt's head...HUGE...like a gigantic Mexican mellon...just frightening....scares small children...although I doubt there's a connection to her vocal chops.
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
I would tend to agree with Audiofeil and Peterayer´s observations. It would seem the ´size` of the voice would correlate more to mic placement more than anything else, at least that is my experience or what I perceive.

That space and silence between is resolution, getting closer to what was recorded and as a result, greater realism, no small feat with any system, and then maintaining scale. I am quite interested in the Magicos in general for what listeners have observed concerning their presentation.
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