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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
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Charles1dad .... am I getting the right specs for the tube amp you mentioned:

"- Tubes: 2 x 845, 2 x 6SN7 (Every unit comes with custom-selected NOS 6sn7 tubes and PSAVANE HIFI Series 845 tubes)
- Output power: 52 watts"

I'm sure the Absolare amp sounds great, but at 52 watts, not exactly a giant killer. I put an inquiry in with Magico. I'll report back if and when I get more information.

Even used, the S5s is not inexpensive. I saw one advertised for $23K -- not cheap. Also noted that someone was advertising a used Q3 for $21K. No point in going too far down the road if my amp will melt trying to drive the load.

Fortunately, there's a dealer located in Delaware that carries Magico. I might try to get down there to give a listen. The dealer also carries Focal. I've also been thinking about the Electra 1038 Be II.

You'll notice that the common denominator between my speakers, the Magicos and the Focals is that all three brands use a berylium tweeter, which based on what I've read, is a pretty impressive transducer.

Al ... you got to admit that even though the S5s may be a tough load, it's not too often that one gets to see dynamic speakers with such a flat impedance curve.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Thanks Al,
Over the years I've heard different versions of this story but I have no reason to doubt the Kevin Hayes version.Either way it was and remains an excellent amplifier.
Charles,
almarg's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
almarg
9,670 posts
 
Just noticed that in the thread I linked to there is a post dated 12-5-11 by Kevin Carter, under the screen-name "Delta27," confirming the relevant statements in the post by Kevin Hayes.

Sure is nice that we often have noted designers participating here in these forums.

Bruce, true enough, re your last statement.

Best,
-- Al
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Hello Bruce,
Yes I'm aware of the Absolare power rating and the Magico S5 challenging load impedance, but hearing trumps nunbers on paper. If youn ever have the time , read the numerous show reports of that combination. Certainly the S5 would presumably do well with higher power amplifiers . I used this example as a real life demonstration of how specifications don't reveal the entire picture (though they are a good starting point guide).
The "quality" of transformers and power supply aren't reflected when reading specifications or purely judging by measurements. Another example, my friend Jwm has the Rockport Atairs. He has the Absolare amplifiers and his long time VAC Phi 300.1 mono blocks (excellent PP amplifiers). He found the Absolare clearly better than his Phi 300.1 in his opinion (I agree). Of course it's subjective (and always will be ). Audio is really a mixture of science/engineering and art.

Charles,
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Thanks Charles. FWIW, got this message from Magico,

"Hi [Bruce],

The S5 can be driven with any modern amp we know of, including all Arc models.

I wish you all the best - happy listening, Jon Baker Magico"

Btw Charles, I happen to agree with your comment that an audition is the only way to go. Also agree that audio is a fusion of science, art and engineering.

Time will tell.

P.S. -- Just a guess really, but my amp has 4 ohm taps. ARC and Stereophile test results indicate that my amp should be able to deliver 150 wpc when driving a 4 ohm load off the 4 ohms taps with low distortion. That might augur well with the S5s because its rated impedance is 3 to 4 ohms, by and large, in the "power range" of the speakers, say less than 500 Hz.
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