Article: Magico LLC December 2013

[DRB]

Having visited numerous dealers showing the Magico line I've never heard them perform in either a consistent or stellar manner, even with some of the best electronics and sources. I'm guessing that they are very, very room dependent. Sounds like the factory has designed the ideal room around the speaker, rather than developing a speaker design that is suitable in "real world" environments, especially in the home, where it's often lower ceilings and a wide mix of flooring and furnishings. For those with the "sweet spot" room, it likely performs quite well.

 

I haven't found many speakers to play well in an untreated room. I think it's always important to figure out what room problems one has and then find the right products to address the issues.

 

I just got through listening to a treated room where the person was trying to prove how much room acoustics play in the listening experience. It was an eye opening experience for me. If I had the financial resources to buy an expensive system, my first priority would getting the room to sound right. If you get the room to sound right, especially with low frequencies, any pair of speakers will perform much better and you'll end up not having to turn up the speakers louder to hear the bass, and you'll really enjoy your money's worth of electronics/speakers. you don't necessarily have to spend the money for a custom room or tons of room treatment, but certainly low frequency absorption below 100Hz is the most expensive and problematic issue we have with regards to small rooms. Diffusion and midrange/high frequency absorption is easy for the side, rear and front walls. But really focus on the low frequencies below 100Hz, you'd be amazed at how much deep bass with definition you aren't hearing. I kind of freaked out at this product demonstration. I heard a used mid fi pair of speakers connected to lower end used electronics produce sound that was simply amazing. But the person who conducted the demo said that his clients get HUGE improvements on their high end equipment that far exceeds any single product upgrade. That's how impactful proper room treatment is to a system.

 

I haven't heard the Magico products, but I've heard only great things about the product line. But they are not inexpensive. I hope to at least hear their listening room if they allow visitors at their factory.