Magico vs the world

I read over some of the other replies above. At AXPONA last year I heard the Vandersteensn in their listening room and granted it is hard (some would say impossible) to get an accurate audition of a speaker at AXPONA, I will say that they were impressive. I had already purchased my Magico A3s from my local dealer before their price increase. The A3s are well designed and well built. Some say they sound clinical. I say accurate. This is a matter of taste. If you desire warmth get a tube amp or preamp. If you want blacker backgrounds get better cabling and power management. Also make sure your listening room is acoustically ok per your liking. I have space constraints. So the A3s meet my need in that regard. The Vandys or S3 mk2 would not fit. Plus here is the kicker. I live in a 4 story townhouse. Guess which floor my listening room is on? The A3s each weigh 100 lbs. Anything heavier isn’t going to make it to its destination without help from the Chicago Bears offensive line, though I imagine with some N95 masks they might be available. 

One interesting thing is Jeff from soundstageultra downgraded his $400k Magico Q7 system to a $40k system featuring Vimberg Tonda (non diamond). He could have chosen an S series magico for that price easily but he choose vimberg because of the sound. Reading his review it seems he really didn't even give up sound quality compared to the mighty Q7. This is why I think Tidal is one of the clear competitors to magico.

Somebody's put Tekton in the  Magico  thread  What are people thinking   ??

@kingbarbuda,

You have quite an impressive line up of equipment.  The systems must sound wonderful.

@stereo5 Well yes to me it sounds great. Thanks. I treat my listening room a bit like a listening lab. But I suppose quite a few of us do.