Auditioned Magico A3 at my hi fi dealer

 

Robert Burgess posted:

Please note the grills cost $640 in the US, plus around 6-8% sales tax.

Also, to put US vs UK prices in perspective, in the US a 272 lists for $6,500 plus sales tax, or roughly STG 5,400 at today's fx rate. This compares to a STG 3,700 list price in the UK. Either way, there's always a big penalty buying imported gear.

Perhaps that’s why so few Americans buy and use Naim? Perhaps comparing hifi made in USA v U.K. isn’t a good illustration. A quick comparison of Nikon cameras is. The D500 on Amazon Uk sells for £1800. On Amazon US the price is $1800 (and that includes $200 of extras the U.K. version doesn’t come with). The D850 sells for $3400 in the US, £3300 in U.K. (approx. $4300). 

The same difference seems to apply to all Apple products, and to the majority of Japanese and Chinese made electronics. I guess we in the U.K. must be seen as a soft touch!

The higher price is more than adequate compensation for not being governed by a lunatic. 

hungryhalibut posted:

The higher price is more than adequate compensation for not being governed by a lunatic. 

Steady, HH. I can sense the moderator's finger hovering over the delete button. 

MDS posted:

hungryhalibut posted:

The higher price is more than adequate compensation for not being governed by a lunatic. 

Steady, HH. I can sense the moderator's finger hovering over the delete button. 

Which is most appropriate. I get a bit annoyed by these comments.

Good for you. Get as annoyed as you like. 

Let's keep it on topic please.  Thanks.

Just heard a3 with Nad m32. Really nice they are extremely solid looking. Bass depth and control was absolute.

I was impressed with Magico reviews and inquired with their Stateside management about power requirements given my kit, NAP 300DR & NAC 552DR and was politely told how much they liked Naim sound and how it could work, but cautioned I would be missing much of what the speakers offered. All Magicos are extremely inefficient and require very powerful and costly amplification to make them a viable investment and listenable addition to a system.  I've heard from music lovers who play their systems at low volume that much of what they want to hear is inaccessible without cranking up the volume.  Magico's including the A3's certainly have initial startling and captivating clarity, but I'm not sure their musicality holds up over extended listening. I've been told from dealers that the A3's are  over subscribed with putative waiting times of 6-8 months. On surface the A3's seem to be the buy of the century, but Magico's are also known to be the speakers that many owners regret buying and can't wait to get rid of. I would suggest a lot of patient auditioning and reflection on listening and musical priorities.           

Sounds like they’re an ideal match for all those lucky Statement owners!

I heard the top of the line Magicos with MCintosh monoblocs....I could not for the life of me understand what all the fuss was about, there was no deep and punchy bass, the speaker was not engaging, and that tweeter seemed awfully hot to my ears. The source was a DCS full stack, so no issues there with the source.

On the other hand when I heard the big Dynaudio Contour 60 driven by BAT amplification, the speaker was fun, boogied and engaging, and lack of bass. 

The Dynaudio Confidence range are the best speakers I've ever heard.

PS : typo error the big Dynaudio contour 60 do not lack bass, in I've never heard a Dynaudio speakers that didn't have punchy and deep bass

cnewyork posted:

I was impressed with Magico reviews and inquired with their Stateside management about power requirements given my kit, NAP 300DR & NAC 552DR and was politely told how much they liked Naim sound and how it could work, but cautioned I would be missing much of what the speakers offered. All Magicos are extremely inefficient and require very powerful and costly amplification to make them a viable investment and listenable addition to a system.  I've heard from music lovers who play their systems at low volume that much of what they want to hear is inaccessible without cranking up the volume.  Magico's including the A3's certainly have initial startling and captivating clarity, but I'm not sure their musicality holds up over extended listening. I've been told from dealers that the A3's are  over subscribed with putative waiting times of 6-8 months. On surface the A3's seem to be the buy of the century, but Magico's are also known to be the speakers that many owners regret buying and can't wait to get rid of. I would suggest a lot of patient auditioning and reflection on listening and musical priorities.           

Thanks for this input. Indeed there is a several months waiting list for A3's at the moment - I was told "in 2019" but the month wasn't known yet if I were to put down a deposit now.

You motivated me to reach out to the company to see what they thought of pairing the A3's with a NAP250 or 300.  Their head of global sales and marketing reported to me that they believe either drives the A3 well,  with the 300 providing "audible improvements in the weight of low bass dynamics and increased dimensional sound field." 

(The A3 IS more efficient, relatively speaking, than some others. I too always think of Magico as the end of high current Spectral, etc. amps.)

Richard Dane posted:

Let's keep it on topic please.  Thanks.

Sanity prevails.

Just switched to Dynaudio Contour 60 myself, driven by NAP 300. They are a wonderful speaker with precise but punchy bass. If you have the space, they are a good choice with a decent Naim system and good value at their price point. In my case they replaced a much loved but aging set of Contour 1.8 Mk 2s, with huge improvement to what was effectively a sonic bottleneck. A huge upgrade.

I moved from Ovator S-800 to Magico. I first had S7 and now changed to M6. They are really good and works well with Naim. BUT they are power hungry loudspeakers so minimum NAP 300 if you want to play at some volume. 

Magico is also sensitive to the wall behind you. (Opposite to wall behind loudspeaker). So you must make sure that the distance from wall, were the loudspeaker is facing, is at same distance for both loudspeakers. Of course not a big problem if you have a symmetrical room. 

Patrik posted:

I moved from Ovator S-800 to Magico. I first had S7 and now changed to M6. They are really good and works well with Naim. BUT they are power hungry loudspeakers so minimum NAP 300 if you want to play at some volume. 

Magico is also sensitive to the wall behind you. (Opposite to wall behind loudspeaker). So you must make sure that the distance from wall, were the loudspeaker is facing, is at same distance for both loudspeakers. Of course not a big problem if you have a symmetrical room. 

 

Thanks Patrik at least the A3 are less power-hungry than others . . . but yes a NAP 300 would be the way I'd go.  Have you heard the A3's yet?

Bart, I have not heard the A3s but own a pair of S1 mk2. So, not 100% this applies, but I feel more “engagement” with the sound of my speakers with reduced toe-in. The manual recommend rather strong toe-in, but I prefer just a few millimeters. The stronger toe-in can make them a bit too revealing for my taste. Others I’m sure will disagree but possibly worth experimenting with if you go for a home or second audition.

@bart I have only heard the A3 at a hifi show. Sounded very good. Maybe the best loudspeaker in that price category, if you have an amplifier that can drive them.

@Bart - while you’re at it, I recommend also auditioning some Harbeths. Both Compact C7s and SHL5+s.

MangoMonkey posted:

@Bart - while you’re at it, I recommend also auditioning some Harbeths. Both Compact C7s and SHL5+s.

The Harbeth US importer is not far north of me and my long-term sales guy from Goodwin's recently took a position there; I'll take a Saturday drive sometime soon - worth a listen for the price of a short drive!

Patrik posted:

I moved from Ovator S-800 to Magico. I first had S7 and now changed to M6. They are really good and works well with Naim. BUT they are power hungry loudspeakers so minimum NAP 300 if you want to play at some volume. 

Magico is also sensitive to the wall behind you. (Opposite to wall behind loudspeaker). So you must make sure that the distance from wall, were the loudspeaker is facing, is at same distance for both loudspeakers. Of course not a big problem if you have a symmetrical room. 

 

Patrik, Could you tell us a biggest differences between S800 and S7 and then S7 and M6?

Follow-up:  I got the Magico A3's into my home for a long weekend.  We loved them, simply stated.  With reference to where the volume knob was sitting, my NAP250DR has plenty to drive them; 9pm on the dial was "moderate" and 10pm was pretty loud.  Given the bass they are capable of producing, 50 more watts might be nice at moderate listening levels, but is not required by any means.

Our own review pretty much mirrors what one can read online.  Beautiful treble (beryllium tweeter) and midrange.  Slightly "dryer" than my Devores in a way that I like and was looking for, and way more "musical" in my very alive living room than in the dealer's virtually anechoic listening room.  At the original position of my Devore Nines, the bass was actually TOO much and boomy.  Pushing them back closer to the rear wall (14" from the rear wall) fixed that. (They are sealed box speakers; not ported.)   Interestingly, I noticed that the sound stage is significantly above the speakers as well as behind, as if one is listening to performers on a raised stage.  I later read that in a review too.  But I did not exhaust positioning options.

At 110 lbs each, it was all my wife and I could do to unbox, re-box, and get them into the back of her car to return them today.  So while the announced-only-yesterday Magico M2's are even prettier, at $56,000 and 165 lbs each, I think that the A3 ($9800) is a better "fit!" and likely not 5.6 times better

I visited Goodwin's in the Boston area and loved the Magicos.   I went to hear the Rockport speakers but much preferred the Magicos.   The large models are out of reach but I thought the smaller ones sounded much like my beloved Merlins.   Well worth a listen and tempting for me to take home.    Do you have any sense of the minimum impedance?  I understand that the Naim amps are sensitive to that.

Skip posted:

I visited Goodwin's in the Boston area and loved the Magicos.   I went to hear the Rockport speakers but much preferred the Magicos.   The large models are out of reach but I thought the smaller ones sounded much like my beloved Merlins.   Well worth a listen and tempting for me to take home.    Do you have any sense of the minimum impedance?  I understand that the Naim amps are sensitive to that.

I don't THINK that impedance drops much below the 4 ohm nominal impedance.  But I'm not 100% positive.  Magico themselves told me that they thought that the A3's would match up well with the 250DR, and even better with a 300.

Bart, thanks for the report on your audition of the Magico A3.  You mention that you ended up with the speakers 14 inches from the rear wall.  Could you please tell us what the overall dimensions of your listening room are, and how close to the side walls the speakers were placed?