Magico Q5

I thought the tonality was reasonable, and with some attention and experimentation, had potential.

My problem is that the speaker totally dissociated the performance from the listener. It was like the musicians were placed on a pedestal, behind 2 inches of plexiglass. The sound was clear and 'accurate', but it had no soul. The sound was not relaxed, effortless, flowing, or beautiful. It did not pull me into the performance. The focus was the speakers, not the music. Although the speakers 'disappear' from a soundstage persepctive, they did not disappear from a musical perspective.

This was with 2kW of amplifier muscle, so not an issue of more juice needed to have them open and sing. Also used was a tubed preamp. There may be an amp-preamp-cable combination which could work, but it would probably be a challenge.

I am curious to what amp did you hear the speakers with. I am not familiar with any 2kW amplifier that I would like to listen to. You are not talking about McIntosh, I hope... Would you care to elaborate? I heard them in HK with a Spectral set up and it was absolutely fantastic. Truly a revelatory experience.

Hello Sibelius,

Is your comments based on a comparison to your Tonius 12's or to live unamplified instruments in general ...?

Hi Weseixas:

The answer is both. While audio is a wonderful hobby my true passion is going to live concerts - mostly symphony and chamber. Been doing this for about 25 years in both Chicago and San Francisco. This is my musical reference point. I went to the California Audio Show and spent two days listening to about twenty set ups. Tonian was one of my two favorite rooms. The single ended PHY drivers may not do everything well, but they absolutely nail timing and tone. A lot of the other rooms (Magico included) did many things well but when I closed my eyes and listened to an orchestral or solo piano piece the illusion vanished pretty quickly. Just my $.02

About 70.000 euros or so I was told