Magico Ultimate III - $700,000 Speakers

+1 @erik_squires 

@kingharold wrote:

Magico calls these horn speakers, but they are actually hybrid speakers that include horns.  Horn bass is the icing on the cake.  I would prefer Living Voice Vox Olympians with horn subs for about the same money.

Indeed, the design label "horn speakers" is thrown about in a laxly fashion and yet one that by its strict definition should imply all-horns, when what's typically at hand is horn hybrids.

Haven't heard the Magico's, but as an outset - not least due to the Elysian Lab horns - I would go with the Vox Olympian setup. The wood work here is also exquisite, an aesthetic in stark contrast to the rather steely/sterile look of the Magico's. Mr. Weiss' of OMA's Imperia all-horn speaker system might also fit the bill here, and cheaper at that. 

@paulherry wrote/quoted:

For a pair of Magico Ultimate III, they ask for 700 thousand dollars, and five-way systems with horn design are hidden in aluminum cases with a height of 230 centimeters. They reportedly require 10 amplifiers ..

A 5-way active system translates into 5 stereo amps, or 10 channels. 

.. and in terms of technical innovation, it is worth noting that a highly sensitive compression driver is located in the throat of each horn.

I wonder what the "innovative" part is here - that they're highly sensitive? 🙄

@erik_squires wrote:

I wish I could say that a complicated multi-way system would be stunningly better sounding than a conventionally amplified system.  They are not.

By "conventionally amplified," do you mean that merely a single stereo amplifier is used with passively configured speakers? 

A 5-way speaker system is a lot of cross-overs and driver segments to handle, in vital frequency ranges at that - that's certainly where the complexity part comes into play and getting it all to mesh well, let alone seamlessly. The active platform per se on the other hand is not what I'd regard "complex," that is to say: similar amps could be chosen above the "power region," and the active XO should make the integration part that much easier (and, I'd expect: better sounding) compared to a passive approach. 

In a fittingly sized environment such a well-integrated setup should - by way of the physics accommodated, the quality of construction and (hopefully) overall implementation - make for an impressive sounding and emotionally charged experience with live-like dynamics, scale, etc. 

A 5-way speaker system is a lot of cross-overs and driver segments to handle, in vital frequency ranges at that - that's certainly where the complexity part comes into play and getting it all to mesh well, let alone seamlessly. The active platform per se on the other hand is not what I'd regard "complex," that is to say: similar amps could be chosen above the "power region," and the active XO should make the integration part that much easier (and, I'd expect: better sounding) compared to a passive approach. 

@phusis 

I think you wrote a lot to my simple point:  Multi-way, active crossovers do not in anyway guarantee a significant audible improvement even when done well.  That a 5-way, active crossover system is not really a selling point so much as a design choice. 

Having said that, it sure simplifies things as a crossover designer to work this way.

@erik_squires wrote:

I think you wrote a lot to my simple point:  Multi-way, active crossovers do not in anyway guarantee a significant audible improvement even when done well.  That a 5-way, active crossover system is not really a selling point so much as a design choice. 

Having said that, it sure simplifies things as a crossover designer to work this way.

The 5-way approach is indeed a design necessity for what Magico has set out to accomplish, not a selling point. You keep insisting active multi-way is no guarantee for "significant audible improvement," yet whoever claimed multiway is exactly that? No approach guarantees audio nirvana, but this is a seriously scaled-up system aiming for a fairly authentic reproduction in vital areas, partially horn-loaded at that, and thus a bunch of cross-overs come into play. Making it an actively configured endeavor only helps, as you acknowledge yourself, and from here on it's up to Magico to work their magic with the integration. 

I could not pay $700k for speakers. Even if I were Bill Gates with his kind of cash.