| I managed to take one photo
of this room before Alon Wolf, the Magico designer / manufacturer
/ exhibitor said he did not want me taking photos of his room.
Why? Because he did not like what I said
about the Magico Mini loudspeakers at the last CES.
Here is what I wrote:
"Magico speakers and Cat JL-2
amplifiers. Lots of people liked this sound but I found a heavy
concentration of energy in the midrange, in a compressed, and
uneven presentation, rapidly trailing off at the frequency
extremes. Beautiful speakers and amps - but the sound just did not
work at all for me here. There was another Magico system that had
one of large Rowland amps driving it that we did not get to hear."
and
"Magico
speakers, big Rowland amplifier. Considering I wrote elsewhere
that I did not make it to this room - it was hardly memorable.
Mostly I remember thinking "what's the fuss about these speakers?
This system is just not showing them in their best light" This is
a pretty large room - so that could have something to do with it,
as we got burnt out on small monitor speakers in big rooms here
after living with the Sonus Faber Extremas for many years.
'Course,
the other Magico room was much smaller, but it had its own issues.
Silly me, I did
not take a picture of the rack with the source equipment."
Alon seems like a nice,
level-headed guy, but that is hardly very provocative. The first
room reviewed had an *Edge Signature 1 preamp in the chain, which
we sell.
Really, I am going to
write what I hear, in as honest a way as the English language
allows. I do not mean to eviscerate anybody. If someone thinks a
review is unfair, email me, or post it on the blog if you want,
and we can discuss it. Just don't threaten us or it will go up on
the blog whether you like it or not.
OK, Alon did let me
listen to the system in this room, which had the $150K Magico
floor standers, and so here is what I heard.
I liked these better than
the Magico Mini's, by which I mean that these speakers, I do not
know their name, are a better value in my estimation in the $150K
speaker market than are the Mini's in the $20K speaker market.
A lot of people
spontaneously voiced their opinion that they did not like the
sound in this room, saying that the sound was cool or the bass was
disconnected from the rest of the frequency range. The fact that I
thought it was better than that does not mean that I am trying to
get Mr. Wolf to let me take and post photos of his rooms. At an
estimated 8 days of 12 to 14 hours to get this report out - it
probably saves me almost an hour NOT to take the photos, retouch
them, crop, resize, and comment on them.
I presume next year I
won't get to listen at all and save another hour [few rooms have
$150K speakers that require this much introspection]. If all the
exhibitors had this attitude I might actually get to just hang-out
and enjoy a show or two :-)
|
Resolution |
|
|
| Level of detail:
5=perfect |
|
5 |
| Micro-dynamics |
|
6 |
| Midi-dynamics |
|
8 |
| Macro-dynamics |
|
8 |
| Harmonic resolution |
|
7 |
|
Harmonics |
|
|
| Body / richness |
|
9 |
| Tonal accuracy |
|
8 |
|
Dynamics |
|
|
| Separation |
|
8 |
| Consistency
top-to-bottom |
|
9 |
| Control |
|
7 [but with the lowest octave
decays being unnaturally extended] |
| Authority |
|
8 |
|
Imaging |
|
|
| Correctness |
|
8 |
| Separation |
|
6.5 |
| Transparency |
|
5 |
| Depth |
|
N/A |
| Width |
|
N/A |
| Off axis behavior |
|
9 |
| Solidity |
|
6 |
|
Character |
|
|
| Enjoyability |
|
8 |
| Emotionality |
|
7 [although everyone I talked to
thought this should be lower] |
| Reality |
|
6.5 [really, the lack of
transparency hurt here] |
| Magic |
|
7 [I heard real potential, needs
work though] |
| Impressiveness |
|
8.5 |
| Sophistication |
|
8 |
|
Comments |
|
|
| In the
non-photo there is the ever-present dresser next to one of
the speakers but the speaker's placement is not
symmetrical, either from the front wall or the side walls,
presumably to compensate for this furniture-burg. There
was a lack of transparency here in that I was unable to
convince myself that there might be real instruments 'out
there'. Perhaps this was due to a lack of the ultimate in
micro-dynamics, which might also account for some of the
lack of emotionality and engagement that the sound seemed
to have. There was also a hardness in the upper midrange /
lower treble that stood out from the very competent
handling of the other frequencies.
This sound was somewhat like that in
the Hanson room, but with a greater level of detail and
control of the dynamics. But there was something that drew
one's attention particular frequency clusters - like seams
in frequency response 'character', different frequencies
sounding different, not in dynamics or level of detail but
like some came from one type of material and some came
from another.
Perhaps this is because we were
sitting so nearfield at, oh, maybe [referencing the
non-photo] 8 feet or so in front of the speakers. Or maybe
the cables were of heterogeneous materials that
transmitted different frequencies differently. Or maybe
the rack had several different resonance frequencies that
each affected the preamp in various ways. [OK, I admit it,
I am making fun of all these speaker manufacturers who
take full responsibility for the sound, no matter what
system their progeny are in - and so then blast me when I
comment on the sound in their room :-) Why isn't the power
cord manufacturer writing me nasty emails , I want to
know!].
What I liked a lot about this
sound was the that there was a real balance between tone
and detail - approaching that never-never land of the holy
grail of being able to have both musicality and resolution
(not to mention bass frosting on top). I did 'feel'
various passages if the music - getting drawn in. And
being in Photo Panic mode, a few other systems impressed
me with their qualities and allowed me to breathe a sigh
of relief on this floor, but none drew me in - and none
impressed me that they might go beyond just a good system
[in their current room and configuration] and approach
those rare mystical magical musical experiences that we
like to write about here. |
|
Legend |
|
|
| N/A
means Not paying Attention [I wasn't paying attention to
this] For most scoring, 9 =
best we ever heard. On Level of Detail, less than 5
implies a rounded note presentation, greater than 5
implies a distinct note presentation.
These impressions are just
impressions, and apply to the whole system in combination
to the room. Please do not misconstrue it as something
else, especially you speaker manufacturers.
Impressive
- Exaggerated bass and/or detail and/or dynamics
Sophisticated - Detailed and with finesse
Enjoyable - Nice to listen to, pleasant
Sweet - Exaggerated harmonics and/or warmth
Emotional - Music often pulls at heart strings
Real/Truth - Transparent, accurate
Magical/Spiritual - Precipitates psychological
effects other than what might be expected |
|
|
