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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
rtn1
535 posts
 
Professional singers when unamplified and in large halls will fill the hall. They project their voice and sing deep from the diaphragm. They have a position, but the sound eminates beyond that position IN A NATURAL WAY. When the imaging is large and forward, it is not natural and we perceive it to be incorrect.

When recorded, it is the job of the engineer to convey this perspective. It seems as though light and rigid cones tend to image in a way that puts the image in the correct place and perspective in relation to the rest of the musicians. If the frequency response is linear, then nothing should be prominent or forward.

In a typical pop music recording studio, aren't the musicians often recorded individually in a chamber to be later reassembled? I cannot listen to popular music because it all sounds cut-up, 2D, and distorted to me. Too many filters and tricks. Plus, I cannot listen to electronic instruments.
folkfreak's avatar
folkfreak
1,349 posts
 
Having triggered what seems to have been a very interesting discussion (if off topic) on singing I think Rtn1 gets it just right. I'd argue that in a pop music study the tricks should be in the service of reassembling that same perspective -- which is what Joe Boyd was able to do so well with Sandy Denny, and that the Q3s fed back to me.

And on singers and size, and another of my favorite recorded artists for unamplfied voice .. Thomas Quasthoff ;-) I'll definitely fire him up when I get home tonight
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Whow think ill get 2 pairs.
suteetat
435 posts
 
Hmmm, interesting point about voice and scale of singers. Unfortunately, in my experience, I have not heard any stereo system that can quite produce the kind of impact that a truely large voice can produce in a concert hall or opera house. In part, that may be the false of microphone recording the voice, perhaps. Having heard Eva Marton, Alexandra Marc, Deborah Voigt, Hildegard Behrens, Nina Stemme among others and listen to their recordings, I never quite get the kind of goose bump experience from their wall of sound come crashing through. Birgitte Nilsson mentioned in her autobiography that when they tried to record her voice, the sound engineer kept asking her to step away from microphone as she kept overloading it as she sang.
Behrens is rather petite and Stemme is certainly quite slim (at least by opera singer's standard) but their voice is certainly not.
Not sure what this has to do with Q3 but oh well... our local dealer is supposed to get in his first pair to demo by the end of the month and from what I have been audition locally so far in my price range, I really think that Q3 is probably going to be the one I will get later on this year.
suteetat
435 posts
 
Finally I got to hear Q3. However, the speakers only arrived at the dealer 2 days ago and not even closed to burn in yet but it sounds very promising. Like Q5, it made just about all other cone speakers sound boxy in comparison. Excellent detail and I could hear separation of each instruments much clearer. The improvement over V3 is quite significant. My dealer is now worried that it may be more difficult to sell the remaining stocks of his V3 because the difference is price and performance seems to favor Q3 quite a bit. I should have Q3 in my living room in the next week or so after they are burned in more.
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