The best mini monitors you have heard?

i would say both the ensemble and the chario are incredible, but mini means really small, do i'll go with any variation of the ls3/5..

I have recently switched from an Avalon Eidolon to the Magico Mini. I bought the Eidolon over other Acouton Ceramic based systems, which, I eventually got tired of and by now, after switching to the Mini I no longer miss.
If the Minis were too aggressive, you need to look elsewhere in the chain. They are simply telling you what the rest of the system is doing. Mikelavigne is right. Other speakers will be less transparent and almost always more colored and therefore more forgiving.

Which Charios do you have Jaybo? I have the Academy III Jrs. Love'em

You mentioned Magico Mini fatigue from prolonged listening....you also mentioned you liked the Dynaudio C1.

I may hazard a guess that you might be finding the ceramic driver audible ringing to be fatiguing. There are a couple of ways that the inherent ringing of these lightweight rigid drivers are stiffled. The first is an aggressive notch filter so that the ringing is electrically damped. The second is to place rubber dampers on the cone (the typical dots you see on the side of the cone).

Stick to ordinary damped drivers like the C1 soft dome and polypropylene woofer (woven fabric or paper and composite designs are good too, provided they are well damped). You will have many more hours of fatigueless enjoyment without the ringing. Less rigid damped cones breakup also... but in a much less detrimental manner.

This is all quite intuitive...if you hit something rigid then it will make a noise and then ring like a bell at a characteristic frequency whereas something soft will just make a single thud (with no nasty extended breakup). If you don't believe me try this experiment; hit a pillow with a drum stick and then try hitting a cymbal.....one will give an impulse then nothing whilst the other will give you an impulse and then ringing. Now try hitting the cymbal with your hand but this time grab it exactly just after you hit it (dampen it) ....this is what notch filters and rubber dampers are doing on a rigid cone (trying to stop its natural internal tendency to ring like a bell)

IMHO, extremely rigid drivers are great in theory but fatiguing in practice unless very well controlled (exremely hard to do as you may have found with the cymbal exercise). My suggestion is to avoid them. There are very many great sounding monitors that use well damped drivers. Dynaudio C1 is already a good start.

Shadorne, I don't think the Magico Mini has ceramic driver. The Kharma 3.2 has a ceramic driver, but is overall warmer than the Mini. I haven't seen/heard the MKII version of the Mini, so can't say if the new one is different soundwise. I was impressed by the Dynaudio C1 for its outstanding performance and its relative pricing. On my list for sure, but just wondersing what else is out there. Thanks to all for your thoughts.