q3 magico

Don't know if the response from Peterayer was for me, but my "point" was I wouldn't like being a reviewer in such a "touchy" area as this, it had nothing to do with Jeff Fritz being well respected or thoughtful.

You can easily see how half these threads on A-gon end up in the UFC cage, esp. when you enter this super hi-end foray.

I am very interested in any input anyone has on driving the Q3 with low power tube amps? What I heard with the Nagra was rather special, but that was a limited experience...

Heard Q3 with VIVA tube amp and preamp wonderful open speakers still not broken in all the way.They are magical souning Q3 best i have heard i have MAGICO MINI 2 they are still wonderful the Q3 is the best speaker under $50K.

Hi Rx8man,

I meant no offense. These can be "touchy" areas and things often get quite personal. I understand your point but I think these reviewers are well aware of the environment in which their reviews are seen, discussed and often scrutinized. It can get kind of hot. Given the internet and forums such as these, there is now much more back and forth. I find it fun and often quite informative. I would hope that the reviewers enjoy the increased responses that the reviews generate.

I think Q3 certainly can be matched with lower power amplifier but it certainly will benefit from more power as well but not quite to the same degree as Q5. Soulution 710 120w certainly will drive it very very loud in medium size room. However, like V3 and Q5 (to a lesser degree), it can benefit from a bit more power. On my Lamm M2.2, I have 2 options, high gain mode with 220W in 8 ohms, 440w in 4 ohms or low gain mode with 220W in 4 ohms with more bias into class A. Generally Lamm recommends using low gain mode for any speakers with 1-6 ohms impedance. At least with Q3, I prefer using Lamm in high gain mode as dynamic and bass does improve quite a bit. Not that I discourage low output amps as I think the midrange/treble would be very special with low power tube amp but there may be some trade off as well.