Stereophile claims about Magico

Wireless,my comments were merely expressing an interest in a fine looking design,in the KEF.From a fan point of view,not as someone running out to spend money.

I certainly like the coaxial mid/tweet,and well matched woofer employed.Not cheap,but the "about to hit the market" TAD monitor will,also be a coaxial mid/tweet design(three way too)but be five times the cost....
A decent reason to shine a light on the KEF,for those interested.

Best

Yep, somebody's got to buy 'em new. I find the best way to evaluate a product is to read dozens of reviews. A lot of times you can read between the the lines of the magazine reviews and then read the discussions in the forums here and really get a good idea of what a piece is going to sound like. But it takes a lot of reading. Of course I think we all enjoy that.
Not all magazines are like that. For example cars (Car and Driver) and computer products (Cnet online) are often accurately reviewed. But it's quite clear audio is not that way. The market is probably just not big enough to support a print maganzine and dozens of esoteric products without an at best synergistic effort between the magazines and manufacturers. One thing I noticed reading Stereophile (I recently subscribed to the print version) that I hadn't noticed before is that the writers are very serious about the hobby. Almost serious to a fault even thought they are clearly over-hyping almost everything they review. They know where their bread and butter is (advertising) but they do seem to be genuinely into it to a strong degree. Like I said since they are clearly over the top I just take their reviews with several grains of salt and enjoy the fiction as well as the true.

Does seem like its the best loudspeaker of the month club. Every month or so a new revolutionary loudspeaker design is reviewed. I feel for the poor soul who buys these loudspeakers based on reviews only to read next month a new favored son is available. Most of the gear Iam interested in never gets tested and if so not by major mags. Very rare they have reviews that realy interest me. I do enjoy phile and other mags but the reviews are not much use system wise to me. But to be fair sure we all could list kit we would like reviewed maybe I should start my own mag and quit complaining about phile;)

I want to say something too: I think it would be wise to audition the Magico first (with the right set up and in a room with appropriate acoustics) before concluding that it is indeed a flavour of the month speaker...
I think only a few of you have done serious listening to the Magico's.

Chris

IMO,the "thing" I get from a review is whether I want to persue giving myself some exposure to said product.That's it!Nothing more.

I will make an attempt to hear something,if it falls into my own take on how I want to do things.Sometimes this works out quite well,as I "may" be able to voice my own rig,to better get what I may(only occassionly)like about some product's performance.Occassionaly I am inpressed enough to find a way to buy it.
As to reviews...of course you have to take them with a grain of salt.

As to the Stereophile reviewers' "seriousness"....well like other journals,this is subjective as to how a particular reviewer comes off.

I think Mike Fremer got alot of (undeserving) heat on Audiogon,based on his "opinion" of the Grand Prix Monaco table.A review that got an almost "opposite" write up(as to how the reviewer liked the product)in Hi Fi Plus(from Roy Gregory)....Why?...I don't really care!!That's the subjective appeal of listening to something.Yet,I like M.F.,and thinks he does a job "I would screw up"!!

I "DO" happen to know Bob Reina(of Stereophile)quite well personally,and believe he is very honest,and down to earth in his review process.
I know his musical likes,and his system.He does NOT get new equipment often,but ascribes to the "logical" school of setting up a system to his needs,and making changes very logically/slowly..."one smart dude"!
Actually I think he deserves a special mention for NOT trying to get the hobbyist to go out and buy the very latest gadget that he may think is just swell,and he does not constsatly go on about the greatness of what he has,and how we are missing something,by not having "his" stuff!....
Then you look at guys like J.V. from TAS,who basically hypes almost everything!Without questioning price,or possibility of competing designs for less cash.He seems to have good equip,but he also seems to favor the "mfgr of the month" over the hobbyist,who spends their money.Of course he is doing his job,and quite well actually,but I come from an era when the reviewers of TAS(the old "real TAS")would have definitely had alot more to say about the pricing of the latest darlings,and would not have aided "some greedy" mfgrs in hiking up prices,because the reviewer simply kept mentioning the "fabulosity" of the design ENDLESSLY!!Review after review!!Until something better came along,of course.That annoys the crap out of me.......

Reina....well he is a musician extroadinaire,eclectic,interesting,has musical taste all over the place(I love that)and really understands that this is a hobby!...Btw,he has a really good sounding rig,but alot of his "personal" setup is NOT the newest(yet sounds damn good)!

Sorry for the rant