What is your experience with Magico A3 or A5 speakers and the company as a whole?

@deep_333 

I don't disagree with the gist of your post, but nothing in it proves that proprietary drivers necessarily outperform those from specialized brands like Accuton or Morel who do this all day.

Chances are, a large part of developing proprietary drivers is the manufacturer's desire to control the supply chain.

As an owner, everything else being equal, I would rather my speakers were equipped with off the shelf drivers; the odds of finding a drop-in replacement 20 years down the road are that much higher.

Speaker design is more about the enclosure than the drivers anyway. As an example, the acclaimed Kii Three ($15K) rock basic Peerless woofer and midrange (the latter you can get off Digikey for $14) and SEAS tweeters. But the enclosure and DSP are extraordinarily evolved.

We were on our way to listen to a Magico speaker but stopped along the way to hear the Yamaha NS-5000. Bought the Yamaha’s. 

I auditioned the A3 with ML gear, very good electronics. I had some issue with the coherence of the sound from the A3. I felt like the bass was not nicely integrated with the rest of the sound. Not really a big deal but not perfect.

I then went to demo the NS5000, and that demo was the worst in my life because the room was a nightmare. However, I listened to the speakers like headphones and came way, thinking this maybe a lot better. As I was driving home with fatigued and burning ears, I kept thinking this could be a great speaker. I eventually bought it and my intuition was correct.

BTW - the drivers on the Yamaha are likely the most advanced, better than Beryllium. Same specs as Beryllium but without the negatives. The 12-inch woofer is made of the same material as the tweeter and mid-range. Ultimate in coherence.

Clearly Deep_133 suffers from Wilson Derangement Syndrome.  

The issue here is no loudspeaker is perfect. The 5 notable High-End US speaker manufacturers Magico/Rockport/Wilson//YG and Von Schweikert all excel in different ways. Despite Wilson Audio being the least desirable IMO, of the 5 companies mentioned they retain the highest resale value due to being an aspirational brand.