stereotaipei

Very interesting read Chris. As a owner of a pair of Q1 it is a lot of fun to have a look at the factory. Unlike Priaptor, I am very happy with my Q1, after having lived with Infinity IRS, Wilson WP, APL, Triangle, Evolution Acoustics MM3. None of my previous systems reached the same level of transparency, ease, and sense of listening to a live event. What is shocking with Magico speakers is the complete absence of coloration - this disturbs some people who have been listening for years to colored speakers, they may hear them as "flat". For me they just sound real, Magico speakers are the one which approach the most what I am hearing at concerts and therefore are the one which provide me the most emotion. I completely agree with you on the notion that Magico are very good value for money. Unfortunately a lot of people are thinking that good value means cheap. Magico speakers are expensive, but you know what you pay for: - silver and gold Mundorf XO component and Mundorf internal wiring whereas a lot of famous brands (see the list above) are using parts 10 times cheaper. This has a huge impact on transparency - Custom designed drivers (berrylium tweeter, Nanotec medium and bass). Designing your own drivers is a huge expense for a small company like Magico, when most of famous brands are using an off the shelf Scanpeak, Accuton or Focal driver (e.g., Wilson). But this again explains why these speakers are so true to the source. Focus is on getting a pistonic behavior, to reduce distortion to the absolute minimum. When you have a look at the latest Hifi Critic distortion and linearity measurements for the S5, it seems that Magico is right now in a different league: just compare it with the measurements of the Raidho D1 in the same issue, or of the Alexia a few months back. - Aluminum cabinet, with extensive aluminum bracing, designed with an advanced CAD software to simulate speaker behavior. When looking at the picture of the internal structure of a Q5, this speaker may require a week of machining.... You may argue it is over the top (knowing that 90%+ of companies buy in China cheap MDF enclosure for probably 1/10th to 1/20th of the cost), but it seems to me they just know what they are doing, even if it costs them much more: switching to such a construction has drastically reduced the box coloration of the speakers, compared to the previous generation of wood speakers and to any other brand on the market. Bottom line, it you are in the market for a high end product, I believe Magico line up is today the best value for money: Bill of material as % of MRSP is probably the highest of the industry, they sound great (both the S line and Q line), they have very good designers who (finally!) brought a scientific approach to the speakers industry and they keep re-investing on pushing the boundaries of what is possible (the Q7 is in a class of its own). Last, they are assembled like a Swiss watch. Quality of finish and of construction is top notch, I enjoy watching them and touching them even when the music is off, which doesn't happen often Sorry for sharing my excitement! ;-)

yes, it always surprises me there are so few of these. From my experience, you gain so much in sound quality by having one clock driving the full digital chain that absence of word clock input is a deal breaker for me....

do you guys know if this new Berkeley DAC will have a word clock input (at 14k, it better have...)

If anybody else wants to sell his Pacific microsonics Model 2 for a Phasure, contact me... I will buy it! ;-)

That's true, that's why you need good damping... mass alone doesn't work. But your speaker cabinet is subject to a force opposite to the force exercised on the membrane of the woofer... so without mass it would move. Btw, I just spent 4 hrs listening to a Wilson XLF system in a dedicated room, driven by DCS Vivaldi and the big mono Boulder amp. Putting your hand on the XLF, you could easily feel the vibrations while playing music. Quite disappointing. The owner agreed that his second system based on Q7 sounded much better.

Yes, carbon fiber is an interesting material for speaker design. Stiffness matters, but don't you need also some weight for total absence of vibration? Every time a woofer moves, there is an opposite force on the cabinet... and that's where mass helps to keep cabinet completely still. Or am I missing something? Agree that shipment cost is not much of an issue these days... I paid a bit more than 2k to ship my MM3 to Japan (6 crates with nearly 2000lbs)

Yes, carbon fiber is an interesting material for speaker design. Stiffness matters, but don't you need also some weight for total absence of vibration? Every time a woofer moves, there is an opposite force on the cabinet... and that's where mass helps to keep cabinet completely still. Or I am missing something?

Hi, Besides the Q serie, the S serie of Magico speakers uses pressure cast aluminium, with simple braces. But the Q serie and the Q7 in particular remains the top of Magico range, nothing can beats its stiffness and inertia - this translates into superior sound. If Alon Wolf decided to stick to such an expensive construction, it is because for the Q7, it is because it is the best enclosure he could build, without consideration for cost. I have never heard a better speaker than the Q7 - and I have heard many as or more expensive one! PS: but who would buy a pair of Q7 to listen to Jay-Z? ;-)

Chris, I believed that you were supposed to receive one NOS1 for review more than 8mths ago.. what happened? is it still planned to review it? thanks