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Magico A5
#31
(17-Jun-2021, 01:05)Delija Wrote: Magico A5 SAM profile is added.
https://help.devialet.com/hc/en-us/artic...thly-basis-

Great news- thanks!
Kind regards,
David.
Shy
Currently: MacMini with Tidal, Qobuz Roon via RAAT / Cat7 Ethernet cable / Devialet 1000 Expert Pro CI (the BIG dogs!)/ Analysis Plus Oval 9 cable / Hyperion Audio 968 / Cheap cable to homemade, 12 inch powered subwoofers.
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#32
Stereophile review now available:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/magi...oudspeaker
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
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#33
I have now had the opportunity to listen to the A5s with two further amplifiers.

The first is the Denon AVR2310 home 7.1 home theatre receiver, it being the only thing immediately available when my D-Premier died last week (power supply problem, smoke of doom, a molten chip, arranging a recuperative spa holiday to France for it at the moment).

With the Denon I can report that the drivers move and sound is produced, and sometimes it is even recognisable as music. If I devised a scale of musical satisfaction of 1 to 1000 and placed the D-Premier+A5 at 1000 I would have to place the Denon+A5 at about 5. Of course this is a completely unfair comparison but it was a shocking forced reminder for me of the quality of the amplification I'd taken for granted for many years.

The second amplifier is the 1000 Pro. This drives the A5s in much the same style as the D-Premier (which is to say jaw-on-the-floor) but every single aspect that I have enjoyed about the D-Premier is cranked up to new levels with the 1000 Pro.

I don't think I've fully figured out SAM yet. Engaging it with the A5 profile adds absolutely crazy levels of bass in the 16hz-26hz range. I mean so much that I can switch my REL Studio III off and not notice. Reducing the SAM percentage down from 100% makes no difference; only switching SAM off entirely on the middle-button menu makes any difference. That's a shame because I think a level of about 30% would be nice, if actually selecting that did anything. This is not a complaint: the Pro - driven A5 does not need SAM to shine very brightly and that bass at the very bottom of the bottom octave can be easily brought up with a little EQ, and/or a deep enough subwoofer with a low crossover such as the big REL.

(Later note: I had not understood SAM properly at this point. SAM works fine on the A5, and adjusting the % does make a difference)

On the topic of EQ, sweetroom is totally effective and is very welcome at it has allowed me to move my room mode notches onto the Devialet so now I can have EQ'd vinyl playback.

The A5s continue to astonish by how much they just get out of the way of the music. Those who like cuddly speakers with their own "character" will want to steer well clear!

But back to the thread topic - Magico A5s: wonderful with D-Premier. Double plus wonderful with 1000 Pro.
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
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#34
Yep, the D1000's ability to drive these speakers remains astonishing.

I have a pair of A1s driven by a 220 Pro in my second system and that is very sweet too. But not at all at the same level I am getting with my main system with the D1000 and a very thorough optimization of all the components (and different speakers also).
Room: Gik Acoustics | Vibration: Townshend pods | Power: Shunyata Omega XC + Everest + Sigma NR v2 + Sigma ground cables | Source: Mojo Audio DejaVu EVO linux server running Roon core (Raat) | Ethernet: Sonore Optical module + Melco S10P with dedicated LPS + Shunyata Omega Ethernet x 2| Synchronous: Mutec MC-3 + USB (Paul Hynes SR7T LPS) + Cybershaft OP21A (Shunyata Omega USB, AES/EBU, clock cables) | Dac/Pre/Amplification: Devialet D1000 Pro CI (Chord Sarum T RCA-RCA link) | Speakers: Chord Sarum T cables + Wilson Benesch Act One Evolution P1
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#35
Fourth amplifier I've tried with the A5: 250 Pro. Half of my 1000 Pro reconfigured, of course.

Part of me was concerned that this experiment might have led to regretting the extra expense of the dual mono when the single stereo might have been just fine. Well, the 250 Pro *is* just fine - way more than fine, just like the D-Premier. Good enough to live with happily ever after. Unless, that is, you've heard the dual mono. I had intended to get to know the 250 Pro in depth over a few evenings, but the urge to go back was so strong I lasted only about an hour before succumbing.

The surprising thing was just how noticeable the difference was even at whisper-level. Much greater realism, depth, width, height, atmosphere. Almost the last word you could use to describe the presentation of the Devialet stereo amps is "flat", except when you hear one of them directly after hearing dual mono.

So IMO the A5 is highly transparent to the improvements of dual mono.

Devianet relative musical satisfaction scale with Magico A5:

Midrange home theatre amp: 5
D-Premier: 1000
250 Pro: 1300
1000 Pro: 1900
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
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#36
(12-Oct-2021, 14:39)devianet Wrote: Fourth amplifier I've tried with the A5: 250 Pro. Half of my 1000 Pro reconfigured, of course.

Part of me was concerned that this experiment might have led to regretting the extra expense of the dual mono when the single stereo might have been just fine. Well, the 250 Pro *is* just fine - way more than fine, just like the D-Premier. Good enough to live with happily ever after. Unless, that is, you've heard the dual mono. I had intended to get to know the 250 Pro in depth over a few evenings, but the urge to go back was so strong I lasted only about an hour before succumbing.

The surprising thing was just how noticeable the difference was even at whisper-level. Much greater realism, depth, width, height, atmosphere. Almost the last word you could use to describe the presentation of the Devialet stereo amps is "flat", except when you hear one of them directly after hearing dual mono.

So IMO the A5 is highly transparent to the improvements of dual mono.

Devianet relative musical satisfaction scale with Magico A5:

Midrange home theatre amp: 5
D-Premier: 1000
250 Pro: 1300
1000 Pro: 1900
Thanks for the update, Devianet. Please let us know of any tweaks you come up with, including speaker positioning?.
Love to hear any further comments on the A5 compared to other speakers you've had on the same amps?
I am STILL waiting for my A5s- 25 weeks now!!
Kind regards,
David.
Shy
Currently: MacMini with Tidal, Qobuz Roon via RAAT / Cat7 Ethernet cable / Devialet 1000 Expert Pro CI (the BIG dogs!)/ Analysis Plus Oval 9 cable / Hyperion Audio 968 / Cheap cable to homemade, 12 inch powered subwoofers.
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#37
Like the A3 before it, the A5 is very unfussy about positioning due to the sealed-box design and evenness of its off-axis response. I have a reflective tile floor and a reflective glass roof so this is very important in my case.

My room is not dedicated to entertainment - it's the main room of the house and includes the open-plan kitchen. It's rectangular, 3x as long as it is wide, with the speakers positioned about halfway down the long axis, 4.5m apart, either side, firing down the long axis. So there is no rear wall behind them, and they are approximately 30cm from the side walls. Toe-in is about 10 degrees on one side, 30 on the other, adjusted by ear. But I hasten to add there is no noticeable "sweet" angle, just a very minor preference change.

The 30-degree speaker is "forward" of the other. This is due to room layout as the seating is concentrated on one side, 3m in front of the speakers, and the other side forms the main passage through the house - between the speakers! Depending on exactly where I sit, I use a mild balance adjustment.

On paper it's not an ideal situation for audio but in practice works very well. I've heard the A3 in a treated room and don't feel that I'm missing anything. The biggest problem is some huge modes at around 100hz. Every speaker I've used has excited these, acoustic treatment is not practical and so I've used parametric EQ correction to great effect. The A5 is very powerful in this frequency region but not excessively so; the correction needed is very similar to that for the A3 and the Quad ESLs, so it's clearly the room that's the problem not the speakers. I'm now using Sweet Room to do this and am very pleased that Devialet have made this available.

I have not tried the "constrained layer damping" feet yet, but apparently they make another improvement. I do however have the grilles, due to the room situation. To my ears they do not degrade the sound at all, and I do not feel the need to remove them for listening, even though this is very easy due to the excellent design with self-locating magnetic attachments.

I have noticed mine sounding better over time. They did not have many hours when I acquired them. So some of this may be break-in, but some of it is likely just getting accustomed to them, and improving the subwoofer integration.

I still struggle to describe just what an incredible speaker I think the A5 is. Others who have heard it here have also been amazed. The best I think I can do is go back to my Quad ESL benchmark. After getting used to them, I could hear the box coloration in every cone speaker, and the beautiful liquid coherence of the midrange - where most of the music is - was never replicated. It took the D-Premier, by the way, to fully realise that midrange. Because of these strengths, I could tolerate the weak bass, rolled-off treble, and low dynamic potential.

The A3 was a big surprise as to my ears Magico solved the box-coloration problem at a (somewhat) sensible price. The weakness of the A3 versus the Quad was that the midrange, excellent though it was, only got to about 70-80% of the perfection of the ESL. Still an amazing achievement for a cone driver. For bass/treble power and extension the A3 was of course hugely better. Overall I felt the A3 was the one I wanted to live with, and sacrificed some of the midrange purity.

Then along came the A5. After having spent the time with it I have, I'm now quite confident that the A5 has a substantially *better* midrange than the ESL. Even with the D-Premier (which I had used for the Quads and the A3s) I heard new things in *every single track*, even at low levels, and enjoyed the music more than ever before. That's before we even consider the crazy levels of precision and clarity in the bass. For this I can compare the A3 - which for me was a benchmark in bass - and rightly so. Compared to the A5, the A3's bass is mushy and ill-defined. You can follow every bassline perfectly, there's so much music down there.

There's no weakness, nothing missing, no artifact to draw attention to itself, no lack of capability to get in the way of the music. They're just so good they're actually intimidating. There's a sense of awe at having the privilege of living with such an amazing creation. It's very hard to stop listening, skipping tracks as they come to an end is painful as the perfect illusion of the venue bursts, and they do their thing perfectly at -60db on the volume for late-night listening.

And they seem to thrive on the ADH amplification, the more exalted the better!

I think you'll be absolutely delighted ICUDoc, and you'll soon forget the long wait. I think the group of listeners who'd be disappointed will be those who want their speakers to add colourful euphony, charm, and magic to the sound, to sing along with the recording, and be their cuddly friends. That's fine if it's what they want, but they probably won't be Expert owners anyway. The A5 is at the opposite extreme - all about no coloration, hyper-realism and transparency. ​I know which camp I'm in.

Mine will be pried from my cold dead hands. (If I could pick them up, which I can't)
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
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#38
Great to read, devianet, thanks very much.
Kind regards,
David.
Shy
Currently: MacMini with Tidal, Qobuz Roon via RAAT / Cat7 Ethernet cable / Devialet 1000 Expert Pro CI (the BIG dogs!)/ Analysis Plus Oval 9 cable / Hyperion Audio 968 / Cheap cable to homemade, 12 inch powered subwoofers.
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#39
No probs! Very happy to ramble on, I just don't want to bore people too much!

I'll be interested to read your first impressions of the A5, and how they develop over time. Do share!

I remember when I first heard the Quad ESL2905. I thought the sound very recessed and lacking in midrange. But after about a week I realised that I was missing all the distorted junk that they weren't adding. I've never looked (heard) back since that realisation.

When I first heard the A5 my ears had been trained by the Quads and the A3s. My thought was - "oh this is pretty good". But it did take weeks, and months, to get a true handle on the depth of their capability.


Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
   
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
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#40
Quick update on SAM.

I'm now using it with the A5s, but at 0%, so just the phase correction, not the EQ. I do prefer it on to off; there is a marginal increase in image size. Bass extension is already taken care of as I use the big REL subwoofer (visible in the photo above) for 8Hz-26Hz with a sharp upper rolloff, now driven at line level courtesy of the Expert's subwoofer output.

Despite my previous comments, there isn't any issue with the SAM implementation for the A5, I wasn't listening carefully enough and using the right test material. That's what happens when you have two new shiny toys and jump through lots of music, changing lots of things at the same time!

Subjectively, SAM on at 0% brings up the <25Hz bass from the A5s substantially. Increasing the SAM percentage increases this further, too much for my tastes and the reflective room. Also, much above 0%, when playing sustained heavy-bottom-octave music (pipe organ 32ft) at real-world levels, SAM woofer protection kicks in. Whereas, at 0%, there is plenty of headroom on the woofer excursion.
1000 Pro / Magico A5 / REL Studio III
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