Sam's System

[Axel]

Axel,

The speakers that I tried in my own home included: Sonus Faber Olympica II, Focal Sopra 2, B&W 804d3 and Bryston Middle T.  The other speakers were auditioned using my Devialet 200 and the listening rooms in the three dealers I visited were very close to the dimensions of my room since I always insisted that the systems be set-up in their smallest listening rooms (after an initial visit of each dealer to verify the listening room dimensions).

For the Magico speakers, I love the look and built quality and was really excited to audition the Magico S1.  Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned before, I was not impressed as they sounded muffled and the bass was lacking (I like bass).  Mind you, this was the Original version and they now have a MKII version with upgraded drivers and crossover.  The reason I only auditioned the S1 was due to the fact that these were a dealer’s demo model and they offering them at almost half price.  Anything above the S1 was just not within my budget.

The Wilson Audio Sabrina speakers really impressed me a lot.  Since I don’t have a big room and there’s no way my wife would allow me to place the speakers out into the room, I too have been staying away from rear ported speakers.  For this reason I really like the ProAc bottom port design or a front ported system like the B&W 804d3 speakers.  However, I would have liked to demo these in my room but they were not within my budget, so I didn’t bother asking (but maybe one day…).

Summer is now around the corner and I really enjoy being outdoors during our very short summers, so for now the system will stay as-is and maybe I’ll resume my search next winter…

Looks like I'm in for a long ride to better my loudspeakers, but you have made some choices for me, so thanks very much for your feedback.  Enjoy your summer!