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

I have Magico S3 MKII.   Damaged a beryllium tweeter.  I am still alive and healthy. Scott Walker of Anaheim's team came and replaced the driver.  I didn't send the speaker to the factory.  Now I keep the metal grills on all the time unless listening.  They attach with magnets. Don't know why you couldn't get the grills as well.  I have a PS Audio BHK pre and 250 Stereo Amp.  Not really happy with the bass, considering giving them a little more current.  Maybe monoblocks. I agree with one other commenter that they reveal the flaws in upstream equipment which I have been gradually improving (sources).   However, I also suspect my dreadful" room" that has halls and stairwells.   The most "musical" the S3MkII have been for me is with vocals and jazz.  I auditioned the Legacy Aeris.  Bigger drivers, bigger sound.   Made me cry, the sound of a simple piano solo was so beautiful.  But it could have been the associated equipment and the terrific room.  So many variables.  I agree with others, take the long journey and listen to a lot of speakers.  For me, floorstanders are just so heavy and unwieldy that it is not an easy swap without trying to improve the audio chain first and even the room. 

Take this for what it is worth. I have auditioned a LOT of speakers and I bought a demo pair of tidal akira’s, as they worked best for what I wanted and my system (Nagra HD amps and preamp) the M6-M7’s were extremely high on the list. Magico makes an excellent speaker, that being said they are very unforgiving of source equipment. Good equipment (and slightly laid back) produces spectacular results. Wilson felt a bit less cohesive but still an excellent speaker. I think Tidal, Magico and Marten are all in the same category, pick your favorite as it relates to your system and preference, Wilson and a number of others fall slightly below that category, but certainly not a poor choice. 

Buy high end speakers really requires listening and people will have quite different opinions.  This is good as it reflects the diversity of the high end community.

Not quite 3 years ago I decided to upgrade older speakers. I listened to quite a few.  Personally, I did not like the Magico A series very much.  However, I listened to the Magico M2 and liked them a lot.

Then I compared them to the Sonus Faber Serafinos.  To my quite pleasant surprise I preferred the Sonus Faber at well less than half the price.  I listen to classical music almost entirely and I found the Serafinos to be more musical.  I have had them over 2.5 years and enjoy them every day.

I pair the Serafinos with Simaudio 891 preamp and a pair of Simaudio 761 amps bridged as monoblocks.   Straight Wire Expressivo 3 interconnects and speaker wires. All very expensive, but sonic bliss.

So, to me the Magico A series are just one more set of speaker. The M2's are great if you prefer the more clinical sound of Magico to the more musical of Sonus Faber.

Happy listening.

I have owned the A-5 for 3 years.  It is in my second system.  I like the sound a lot and the bass is amazing for a speaker of its size.  It does not image as well as my main system speaker the Wilson Alexx V.  Magico service is just ok.  I think I would also consider the new Sabrina V.

I find the sound of the magico too “sharp”, not so pleasant. But it’s just my personal taste. I compared them with Wilson Audio and I went for the latter