2. speakers
  3. 136873-45461

Auditioned Magico A3 - VERY DARK...

So today after waiting for months to try and listen to the Magico A3, I went to Scott Walker audio at Anaheim and listened to the Magico A3, connected to some VAC Tube amp, being fed from a Sony audio streamer, here are my impressions:

- They look fantastic, I wish they made them in silver too, but they are just great in brush black aluminum
- They're quite small and could fit everywhere
- Fit and finish is impecable
- The bass they generated was nothing but amazing for such a small cabinet, you could hear the drums, the down beats and incredible depth of bass at an amazing level
- Imaging was INSANE, you could literally place everyone and everything...
- Sound was VERY VERY DARK!!! This was a bit of a surprise, the top end lacked for my taste to a quite a degree
- I felt like the combo of the Tube amp and Magico lacked resolution, while bass and mid was great, the top end absolutely lacked resolution
- The sound was extremely laid back, again dark
- It does NEED POWER, like he had to crank the volume up, to get good sound out of this, so be aware of that

Overall, I "personally" did NOT like the sound, it lacked details and resolution at the top end, while it was great at the bottom end.  Now, the rep and I think this is mostly due to Tube amp, and connecting it to a solid state amp would bring back resolution, but we simply didn't have time to do that today.  I look forward to listen to these at another time with some decent solid-state amp, but as-is, I was NOT as impressed as I expected and wouldn't have purchased one and I strongly believe Tube and Magico A3 do NOT go well together! 

Anyone else with similar impressions?! Curious to know what others may think, or maybe there was something else in play?

Thoughts?
alexb76
vuch's avatar
vuch
111 posts
 
The A3's need to be paired with the right speakers in order to get all out of them. Anyone who doesn't think they're some of the very best speakers they've ever heard isn't listening with a proper pairing, period.

I upgraded my amp from a Yamaha A-3000 to Prima Luna EVO 400 power amplifier and the change couldn't have been more dramatic!

I had a buddy over yesterday who was moved to tears while hearing Beethoven Symphony no. 6 in F major with Bruno Walter conducting. Analogue Productions Basie Jam was also pretty spectacular sounding!
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
2,836 posts
 
So we have to pair these speakers with speakers?
vuch's avatar
vuch
111 posts
 
Sorry, the A3's need to be paired with the right amplifier. I was fortunate enough to listen to 5 amplifiers in the system. I preferred the tube amplifiers over the solid state amplifiers by a wide margin. To my ears and other people I had over, the Dynaco ST-70 was an amazing match with the A3's. The noise floor was higher than the Prima Luna and it also could have used more power. A mono block set up with ST-70's would probably been a good amount of power but the noise floor still would have been higher. I'm planning on rolling the two center 12au7's on the EVO 400 with vintage Great Britain Mullard tubes to see how that sounds but there is so much more separation between instruments and vocals with the Prima Luna than with the solid state amps I had in the system. The overall soundstage with the tube amps blew away all of the solid state amps. I also like the ultra linear/triode function on the Prima Luna.
mtbiker29's avatar
mtbiker29
156 posts
 
Old thread I know, but i’m with the OP 100%. I truly want to like them, but they sound like someone threw a towel over them after listening to some of my preferred speakers. Admittedly my ideal sound is much more forward (ala Focal as one example) vs. this.
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,315 posts
 
@mtbiker29,I suspect your amp could be a mismatch with the speaker? I have heard the Focal 1028 and know what you mean.

More to discover