Magico V2 vs. Q1

I have replaced a pair of Evolution acoustics MM3 (500lbs per piece) with a pair of Q1. I don't regret the MM3 at all. It doesn't go down to 16Hz like MM3, but it is doing all the rest much better. I use them in a completely treated, dedicated room (see the thread "new home for my Magico Q1" thread in whatsbestforum to see some pics of the room). The room is extensively treated with bass traps resonators, so no room resonance to help. It still sounds great.

I have listened to Q1 against Mini 2 in the same room. Q1 gets more lower, is more transparent, images better and have a sweeter, less in your face tweeter. I am sorry for the bad news: it is a much better speaker, so you should listen to them only if ready to buy them ;-)
I have heard also the Raidho in several occasions, but not in same room as my Q1. Good speakers, but not great. Personally I don't get what is all the fuzz about it.

PS: one last comment, before judging the Q1, make sure they are well burnt it. Sounds improved A LOT over the first 1000 hours.

btw.. you should listen also to S1. Very impressive for less than half of Q1 price. I would say it is significantly better than V2.
I have ordered a pair I will use as surround speakers, should arrive in one month. Will be interesting to compare them with my Q1, in the same room. Would guess that Q1 still wins, but by a narrower margin than what the price difference suggests.

I don't buy every magico... but I kept listening to other brands and didn't find something superior, so it seems I will end up with 2 Magico systems: Q1 in living room, Q7 in dedicated music room (completed with Magico center speaker and S1 when I use it as HT).
I have now the Q1 in the dedicated music room, see my system page...
The S1 should arrive in one month. I am curious to hear the head to head comparison with the Q1, with same room and same equipments.

When I looked replacement for the MM3, I listened to speakers from Raidho, TAD, Kharma, Marten, Magnepan, Wilson, Lansche, Focal Utopia, Avalon, Gyia, Joseph audio, Estelon, Hansen, KEF, MBL, Vandersteen, Sonus Faber, YG, Rockport, Nola, Aerial.... for each brand at least 2-3 different speakers.
I am lucky to live in a region where it is easy to hear most brands, and I am traveling all the time across the globe, so easy for me to go to listen to new stuff.
What I liked the most besides Magico is Gyia (but cabinet is not stable and drivers look fragile), TAD.

The mini 2 is a classic, great speaker, still better than most current speakers. But I had the privilege to listen to it in same room as the Q1, the Q1 does everything better (bass extension, imaging, transparency and sweeter highs).

I believe the Q1 is more expensive to produce than the Mini, so I would doubt that decision to move from mini to Q1 was driven by cost. Machining and high quality anodizing like you find on the Q1 is much more expensive than stacking layers of birch. Reason for moving to aluminum with extensive bracing is stiffness. The Q1 cabinet is more inert.... actually it is dead inert, which leads to a more transparent speaker.

Yes, it is shocking how small the Q1 is compared to the Mini. But internal volume is same or even a bit larger (I asked Alon Wolf when I met him at Munich show last year).

I love the aesthetic of both Mini and Q1. I just think that the Q1 is a more "intemporal design", because it is more neutral. So for long term, I would rather have the Q1 in my living room.... or the Q7... but for other reasons! ;-)

Yes, I would be also very happy with the Mini 2, and I also prefer mini 2 than V2.
No, the Q1 is not dry sounding, actually it is warmer than the Mini 2 (tweeter less in your face). But this is true only if they are fully burned in. The first 400 hours, the sound on my Q1 changed a LOT. At the beginning, the highs were too aggressive to my taste, now, they are very liquid, I can listen for hours without getting tired of it.

I may be wrong, but from the HKG location and from the pics, it sounds like a Q7 from the ex local dealer, Sound Chamber, which was replaced a few months ago by a new dealer, Radar (which btw was the right move as Sound Chamber was very arrogant, I hated dealing with them). Not sure if they are trying to dump their stock or just posting around Magico speakers at low price to annoy the new dealer... when they got dumped by Wilson a few years back they did everything they could to try to damage them.

A friend of mine saw an ad from them for a Q1 at a very low price in a local magazine, and when he called they told him "they sell it to friends only", so not sure how much of this is real.

sonic improvement:
- more transparent in particular in medium (probably because of less cabinet resonance)
- smoother tweeter
- more bass extension
- gives more the impression to listen to a "big" speaker. Don't know why: maybe bass extension or maybe because of broader image.
Don't get me wrong, the Mini 2 is great, but when I compared it with Q1 in same room I realized that the improvement with the Q1 is bigger than what I expected