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Magico S5 review

I've been auditioning the Magico S5's on loan from my dealer Scott Walker Audio of Anaheim for several weeks now.
The S5's are an all aluminum cabinet, a trickle down version of the Q series. They are 90 DB, 22HZ-50KHZ, 190#,and sell for $28,600. After some considerable work by Scott he got the speakers locked in perfectly.

My current system consists of Focal Nova Utopia BE speakers
($45,000), An Ayon CD-5 cd player, An Ayon Triton 2 amp,Grand Prix Monaco racks,and a slew of Synergistic Research equipment: Tranquility bases,Migs, Hologram A,D, and AC Precision power cords, Element interconnects,an 11 piece Acoustic Art system, SR fuses and even the new Ayon BT KT-88 SX tubes made in the Czech Republic

I thought I had a pretty great system......Until the S5's came into the picture. The first thing you notice about these speakers is their sealed rather than ported bass. Oh my god! I am not a bass freak but the Magicos had incredible bass.....taut with a visceral punch to the stomach on the right tracks. And this with a tube amp.On certain bass heavy tracks it was like having two subwoofers in the room.

The tweeter was smooth and delicate and completely integrated with the midrange.....it was like one driver.

The midrange is where the Magico Magic comes in.....a strong center vocal image (I like female vocalists), not only more "there" than my Focals but violins had more sheen, cellos sound deeper and you could hear deeper into the subtleties and nuances of the human voice. The tonal characteristics were denser and more real.

The real surprise came when I put the Focals back in the system. I was disappointed. Very Disappointed. The Focals bass in comparison to the Magicos sounded flabby and weak,midrange presence was lessened along with the Magicos wonderful tone. It was easy to discern that the Magico S5's sounded more holographic, 3D, with a smoother yet more detailed mid and top end.

Things I particulary liked about the music reproduction of the S5's:

Dark Side of the Moon: Listen to the bells and the cash register on the song "Money" Stunning.

Warren Zevon, Life Will Kill You: Warren knew he was dying and wasn't in great shape vocally but when you hear the title track you can hear EVERY nuance in his voice....you can hear all his despair and humor.

Sarah McLachlan, Surfacing: I was amazed at how good this Cd sounded, absolutely gorgeous. I heard guitars, Synths, and faint almost out of hearing range background vocals by Sarah. I heard sounds on this Cd I have never heard before.

Melissa McClelland,Thumbelina's One Night Stand: A cd with country folk sensibilties but with a sort of Southern guitar crunch to it. Listening to this on the Magicos was like having Melissa in the room.....Holographic, real vocal tones, and absolutely haunting.

So after saying all this what's an audiophile to do?
My dealer Scott Walker is taking my Focals in on trade along with a check. I understand the S5's take two months to build and get here so Scott is loaning me his demo pair for the duration. That will certainly make waiting for the next two months a lot easier.

mreapoe100
french_fries
815 posts
 
Well for me the value of the review is the astute observations of a person with trained ears that can appreciate the differences between IMHO a great set of Focal speakers and a product even more transparent. i am not as concerned about something being 10 years old as the articulate descriptions this person offers. when i first started out i had real trouble hearing a lot of the subtle differences between components, and felt i was being taken for a ride by some
unscrupulous salespeople as well as other "very fussy" audiophile types.
Then one day i sent a dedicated TRANSPORT back to the manufacturer for updating and substituted a Denon CDP while i waited to get it back. Holy %#^#!!!
I couldn't listen to music anymore- it sounded really artificial. People were even arguing at the time that a transport COULDN'T make a difference in the sound quality if it was just transmitting ones and zeros over a cable. this and other similar experiences made me "keep my mouth shut" a lot of times when i "thought" discussions of audio equipment had reached the rarified level of the Tice-Clock conundrum.
but here we can at least assume that Magico certainly knows what they're doing, albeit for a big bunch of money. OTOH all i can say is $10K ought to buy
you a really great pair of speakers that can do a lot of the things mentioned in this piece. AND $30K should (SHOULD) be more than enough to buy an entire system that can reproduce music on this level. Oh, there i go again....
rcprince
3,073 posts
 
Something that may be lost in this discussion, and which I think deserves some comment irrespective of the virtues of Magico speakers, is the exemplary customer service given to the OP. A home audition of several weeks, and a loaner for two months? That's what all of us would like to see from a brick and mortar dealer.
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
Has anyone directly compared the S5 to the Q3? I'm curious about the differences in sound.
jwm
918 posts
 
I think that dealer is nuts. I would never let someone have a home loan for that long. I don't care that he is buying them he can wait until they come and I would not leave the show room empty. This guy is not a good businessman.
mreapoe100 OP
8 posts
 
You know I wanted to keep my review short and sweet but since some New Jersey audio dealer keeps hacking away......here goes.
I remember Beatlemania. I was there.
I go to live concerts, this year so far: Diana Krall, Joe Cocker, Huey Lewis, Steely Dan, Aimee Mann, etc I have seen everyone from Sinatra to Ray Charles live.
I am a member of the LAOC Audio society. I hear new speakers and amps in a variety of locales every month.
I go down to several dealers and listen to Focals, YG's, Kefs, Magicos, etc All the time.

I have listened to the S5 Magicos in three different locations each time with different amps. I may have more perspective on this speaker than audiooracle. And yes, I think the Kef Blades are right up there with the S5's.....the difference is personal musical preference. I like the blades....I liked the S5's more.

Some rooms at shows are great others not so. I can tell the difference. I have heard GREAT speakers in bad rooms before. To a degree I can filter this.

I have owned numerous speakers since the 70's including:
Roger sound labs, Klipsch La Scala, Focal Altos and Novas, Gallo 3.1 and stradas, Pmc TB2+, Paradigm Studio 20's and their reference S8's, Avantgarde Duos, Green Mountain EOS,Micro Pure Kitaro, Bozak B300, Duevels, B&W, Shahinian Arcs, Tannoys, Ohms, etc,etc

My decision to buy these speakers was neither rash nor impulsive.Perhaps Audiooracle is now more informed that I am informed. In a few weeks the audio society is going to Bel Air to listen to some Magicos on Bob Carver Amps.Then I might have my fourth perspective on the S5's and get to meet Bob.

I didn't feel my audiophile resume was necessary in a review of the S5's. Perhaps this will ease the mind of some people who feel so concerned for my musical and financial welfare.

Thanks to those of you out there who gave me the benefit of the doubt that I might know what I was doing.
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