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Am I no longer allowed to consider myself an Audiophile?

OK, I actually have some pretty decent equipment to listen to. But lately I've been inundated with reviews/opinions about the unmatched transparency of the Magico M9 loudspeakers. But at the same time I have been admiring the new Yamaha NS-5000 speakers (about $15K) which are considered quite awesome sounding in their own right. This brings me back to my 1st wonderful sounding  ADS-810-II speakers (2X 8in. woofers, and a dome-midrange and tweeter). Easy to set up, nice wood cabinets, matching stands, less than $900/pair, with remarkable separation of  instruments, great for ALL types of music, and only minor limitations. Anyway, as nice as the Magico's are, the required room and a whole lot of other things that are necessary to make them play music makes me want to complain about all the over-the-top gushing coming from various experts. It's not the cost of the M-9's that bothers me, but the "laboratory conditions" you almost have to place them in. OTOH, the Yamaha speakers got favorable reviews from the Abs,Sound in 2020, so what more do you really need if you have a living room (a couch, a coffee table, pictures on the wall.etc.) to really "listen" when the music takes over? I find the bewildering complexity involved with scientifically "almost perfect" sounding million-dollar systems to be what it is- an experimental approach rather than a pleasurable way to relax and imagine becoming a part of the performance. So I would want to go to a dealer and audition the Magico's,no question about it. But I would bring some music with me, and I'm certain it would be an enlightening experience. But I wonder if it would change my overall opinion about recorded music. 

french_fries
yyzsantabarbara
5,549 posts
 
  • Yamaha NS5000 (these are great and I tossed out the shipping boxes, so they are not going anywhere)
  • imersiv D-1 DAC 
  • CODA #11 amp (Class A 30 years old, you need clean power for the NS5000)
  • Torus RM15 power conditioner (15 years old). Seems to deliver more bass power
  • Townshend Audio Podiums to place the speaker on top. Improves the bass by a lot on dynamic music.
  • Sonore OpticalRendu streamer. I only do fibre optic streaming.

System only does digital and would sound worse if I added ANY preamp.

I think the Zylon drivers on the NS5000 are unmatched. My ears tell me that Magico does not have any driver as good as Zylon.

jfrost27
97 posts
 

My first pair of decent speakers was a pair of Klipsch Heresy II’s Just a few weeks ago I travelled to see  a very old friend who also bought a pair at about the same time. Mid 80’s if I recall correctly. He still has them. Still loves them. I have long since moved on from mine. My point?  Who cares what others say. You do you. 

dayglow
2,429 posts
 

@yyzsantabarbara    Why do you continually praise your personal system?  I have heard the Yamaha NS 5000, it's certainly not a universal class leader at $15k. Coda amplifiers have a sonic signature that will appeal to some not all. There is no need to validate or convince others unless you sell these brands. Why the need to criticize Magico? 

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
2,447 posts
 

It’s 2026, please don’t drive yourself into psychosis just because the ultra-mega-luxury high-end market exists. You might not even LIKE them that much in person. I’ve heard $500K - 1mil setups that I didn’t like, at all. You’ll see LOTS of show reports to this effect too. They’re not my style and not tuned for me. It doesn’t invalidate their existence, nor the rest of the audiophile market. 

So far only ultra-rich balls-out stuff I've heard that's made me go "ok yeah, I get it" are VAC amps and extravagant R2R tape decks.

yyzsantabarbara
5,549 posts
 

@dayglow The Magico cost about 10x more and I do not think it sounds as good. However, no need to take it personally, maybe my ears are no good.

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