Cost no Object but Small Room

I dropped by a dealer whom I know very well...and listened to the Magico Minis again....very nice indeed, very nice.
But I also got to listen to the Model 6....WOW...obviously far to big for my room, but holy crap they are good. They were being driven by an all Audio Research system of Ref CD, Ref 3 and the ref 610 (I think? the top of the range) mono blocks...staggeringly natural

Oh and the Elipsa are in HK I found out so will arrange a visit.

Unfortunately over here, home demos are not provided

Henryhk,

Home demo of speakers is not common anywhere (too easy for a customer to damage the finish). But, the good news for you is that you will be listening in the near field (close to the speaker) at home so you can audition in the near field at the dealership. This removes a lot of the room acoustics variables and gives you a good sense of what the speaker will sound like in your own room. A lot of speakers actually do not sound good in the near field because they are balanced to sound good at a distance (high frequencies drop off faster so a speaker balanced for the far field will sound bright up close; sound only integrates at a great distance for some speakers).

I listed a few speakers above, but I forgot to mention other possibilities. I heard the new Quad electrostatics and I think they are the best Quads ever (yes, better than the 57s). Although electrostatics nead to be away from the back wall, they do have big advantages in small rooms -- they sound very dynamic at lower volumes, and, because the opposite polarity soundwaves from dipoles cancel at the sides, they actually interact less with the sidewalls of the room.

I am quite familiar with all of the Sonus Faber models except the Elipsa and current Guarneri. I haven't heard those, but my guess is they are contenders for a small room.

Henryhk, did you hear the Mini 2? I heard that HK have them.

Larryi, very good pt on auditioning.

Roypan, yes several times. The Magico minis so are the front runners on wish list so far. I love the way they resolve yet retain warmth and beauty of tone like my Kharmas yet also sound more alive and dynamic.

This is exciting since I am waiting to upgrade mine. I live in the US and have not heard the Mini 2 yet. I know that you have heard the first version as well. Can you tell the differences?