Magico Q5

Heard it today in a Magico-Soulution-MIT MAX set up. It is the first Magico that worked for me: dead neutral and open. Does not reach the sub woofer level depths but...what it did, it did awesomely. Could really live with that one. Price in Europe is insane however.

What is the European retail price?

I was disappointed with the Magico speakers at the California Audio Show. They do a lot well (large soundstage,good dynamics) but I thought the basic tonality was off. It's suprising to me how so many uber $ speakers just can't accurately reflect the sound of unamplified instruments.

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.