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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
stereotaipei
56 posts
 
knghifi,
My ranking of the speakers you mention (I listened to all of them several time): Magico > TAD > Vivid >> Magnepan >> avantgarde.

If you heard the S5 on Constellation and Spectral, I am not surprised you prefer Constellation. Spectral is so cold and uninvolving. But you can get MUCH better sound with Dartzeel, Hegel, Vitus, Boulder than with Constellation. I like the mid of the big VAC 450 ref, but the bass is a bit too mushy to my taste compared to a very good ss (heard the VAC only on Q7, not on S5)
melbguy1
1,438 posts
 
@Stereotaipei, thanks for your feedback. I've also heard Dartzeel amps with the S5's and agree they sound great together. Just curious if you have compared the Boulder 1060 to the less expensive Hegel H30 (with or without their respective preamps (Boulder 1010/Hegel P30)? Price does not guarantee better sound, so i'd be interested on which of these amps you think would likely sound better with the S5?
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
Stereotaipei, actually I auditioned the Q3 and not S5. I find the Q3 a bit too lay back for my taste. Of course setup and associated components are important, my ranking is TAD and Vivid tied, Magico, avantgarde if the subs are properly setup,a BIG if, it will rank higher. Too busy with work so still haven't demo the new Maggies yet.

If the Tad E1 is 90% of the Ref1, I'll probably go for the E1 and save some $$ for my new summer car.

I have a VAC Sig MKIIa pre and was planning to get the 450's for my new speakers but now might have Roger Modjeski build me a pair of RM300s mono. I like the sound of the KT120s and he can custom build them with 300 or 400wpc and other option so can drive any speakers I will get.

Thanks for your input.
stereotaipei
56 posts
 
melbguy1,
I would take the Hegel over the Boulder (better value for money). The Hegel pre is also very good.
Btw, I own none of them, I have a Devialet and a Dartzeel 108 with my Q1.

Knghifi,
that's a the first time I hear anybody stating that one magico speaker of the Q serie is too lay back. Actually they are the opposite, they have the hyper-definition of a very good electrostats and the power impact of a traditional cone speaker. If you found them too lay back, that means they were limited by upstream components (e.g. tube with insufficient current reserve)
knghifi
1,668 posts
 
Stereotaipei, they are detailed and high resolution but lay back and a bit mellow compare to Tad and Vivid where it's more aggressive in your face.
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