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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
rx8man's avatar
rx8man
1,481 posts
 
An in-home audition takes most of the guess work outta the equation, otherwise you're faced with aural memory from two different locations and systems obviously.

If you can bring your speakers to the dealer (like I did) that's another second choice alternative.
usermanual
104 posts
 
Congratulations. You did well. Get used to the idea that ill-informed people will find it irresistible to tell you that thire crap is better than yours. The funny thing here is that here is a guy that condemns you for listening to speakers at shows, where at some of his other posts he claims to have only heard the Magico at shows (obviously he didn’t have them at his shop or house). Like I said, welcome to the mad house.
peterayer
1,382 posts
 
Mreapoe100,

Congratulations on your new S5. I am a big Magico fan, owning the Mini II. The V2 and Q3 where in the best dealer demoes that I have heard. I have not yet had a chance to hear the Q1 or S series speakers.

I'm curious about how the S5 compares to the Q3. Did you ever make the comparison? Also, which color did you select?

I agree with those who have written that you don't need to explain your buying decisions. I wonder if dealers do themselves a disservice when they chime in sounding overly aggressive or critical of brands which they do not represent. I once asked about the Mini II on these forums and got a private email from a manufacturer saying that I could do much better with his brand of speaker. This was a completely unsolicited contact and told me a lot about the guy.
mreapoe100 OP
8 posts
 
Peterayer, I did not compare the S5 to the Q3.I compared the S5 to the Blades and a lot of other speakers - the bass, by the way, of the Magico goes lower than the Blades and I feel is more articulate.

As far as the paint.....Go for the graphite flat black (no paint)This is the first time Magico is painting their speakers....give them some time. When my dealer peeled back the industrial tape off the top of the speaker two paint chips came with it. The flat black will also be more resellable.
I looked up audiooracle and found him to be a Kef dealer, what a shock! He may not "have any skin in the game" but he is clearly invested in Kef.
ack's avatar
ack
115 posts
 
Yeah I've written off that dealer too
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