Speaker Thoughts - YG Acoustics Hailey 2.2 vs Magico S5 MK II

You have the Q’s and M’s. That’s some serious speakerage there. Nothing ever in the world is build better then a Q series Magico. Never before it or after it. Tenth degree and then some. Build like a tank doesn’t do them justice. Tanks wish they were built that well. All Magico’s sound great - they have never made a bad speaker ever. Even the old birth wood ones sound fantastic. The mini changed the speaker world forever. The M series - that’s a new level for Magico. That semi-constipaded sound is gone - the air and openness and unrestricted dynamics I think is just is so good they never quite got there before but their flag is planted there now! 

That’s good to know. Thanks for the feedback.

Yes so I bought the S5 MK II brand new and love them but including the S5 MK I I’ve had Magico a long time and can’t afford the M series Magico but do have a line on a pair Hailey 2.2 and a local fella really wants my Magico’s so just sort of kicking the Idea around in my head.

I think it’s important to try new gear and keep growing as an audiophile. Don’t get me wrong I love my Magico’s but if the Hailey 2.2 is a legit better Speaker then the S5 MK II I think id like to consider it.

Cost wise the move won’t cost much and I would love to try a more alive and dynamic sounding speaker. The Magico S series MK II sound is great but it is not the most dynamic with strongest bass speaker out there but does other things great as well. I know their bass is accurate and musical but I’ve heard so many good things about the YG Hailey 2.2 it’s got me thinking.... 

Thanks for the info. I would love to hear the Haileys but doubt it will be possible. I have Stage III Concepts cables after trying many different kinds. They are excellent and should work great with both. Well I hope anyways. They are much better than my former Kubala-Sosna cables which I really liked until I tried the Stage III's.
Thanks 

When I started with thread I owned Magico S5 MKII speakers and loved them.

 I knew they were fantastic speakers but for me and my evolving my taste I wanted to consider other options. 
Only after owning multiple pairs of Magico’s over a few years had I leaned that a speaker with a little more bite and rougher edges may be more to my liking. A little less polished and polite speakers. 
Now the Magico is only polite compared to a more raw and brighter speaker and I don’t think it can be called polite unless compared to a such a brash speaker. That is why I considered YG. I found YG - Magico and even more so with Rockport are all refined and sophisticated musical devices. 
I found I like the sound of the French Focal better. It’s a more raw - needs taming type of speaker as it can be ear bleed bright if not matched up properly. The others really will never be too bad. I found Focal to be easier to drive with quicker stops and starts and much hotter. The tweeter can be brutal but also when tamed with a tube DAC or tube preamp and matched with excellent solid state output power I find to be the perfect sound for me. 
Now I guess the Magico M series is a more raw and transparent speaker like this but way out of my price range. I never owned a Focal speaker before and ran into them by accident. I know the build quality of Focal is nothing like the others but I only need them to be built well enough to be good sounding speakers and to last so long like 20 years or so and not built like a Magico or YG to last a thousand years. 

I found Focal speakers paired with Ypsilon electronics to be my cup of tea.

I said the exact opposite of that??? 

The other day I listened to a pair of Alexia 2’s with D’agastino monos with a VAC master preamp and that was some nice slam! Those thing can bring it! Legit bring it! 

That Focal tweeter is bright and raw. It throws haymakers. I love it. Although, I did not love it with my Soulution 530 or my Pass Labs 160.8’s. It just needs a bit of a chill pill. 
That chill pill came in the form of a Ypsilon Phaethon with it’s hybrid tube-transistor linestage that rocks a pair of 6H30 operating in single-ended Class A for both the input stage and the driver stage. Its output is “bridged, single-ended” also biased in Class A. It’s a different way to do it. So they make the amp a push pull amp to drive tougher speakers but it’s very different. Rather then just making a push pull amp the make separate single ended amps and run them in opposites bridged to come up with their own version of push pull. A single ended amp with real balls.  Needless to say it is a very elegant, purist approach. It’s not just super super transparent with its powerful mosfets it’s also buttery tube singled ended smooth. Both these attributes dial the beryllium tweeter right into its wheel house. That bright, raw inverted metal dome tweeter is now silky smooth and combo with its extension and decays are just killer. Audio really is about partnering the gear just right. I think the Magico’s would partner well with most. They were great with the Soulution and the Pass Labs. They were great with the Ypsilon too but the Focal and Ypsilon that there has a ceiling that seems to still be climbing. 

Not mine - those are not mine. I wish. I just heard them at a guys house that I bought a VAC integrated from. I own the lowly Focal Sopra 2’s. I happen to love them and sold my Magico S5 MKII’s because I like them better but still I’m not claiming them to be better then Magico or YG. They are just best for me and for now at that. I tend to change them more then I should but I am smitten by them. 

I don’t know about better bass? Magico is not a bass centric speaker. YG’s have some pretty good slam. I’m not sure about Dynamics or highs either. Now it’s matter what speaker your talking. If your taking S, Q or M series. The S and Q are Very different animals compared to M’s 

Sure - makes sense. I am not nearly as familiar with YG. They seems pretty awesome though. 

My self I like the S MKII’s better then the Q’s and the M’s are insane. All the criticism the S and Q’s had vaporized into thin air with the M3 and up. Magico has evolved immensely with the M’s. Way out of my league.