Magico A3

[ozthepoz]

I thought the Magico A3 at last night's KJ event were very impressive.  They played a variety of tracks from a server with DCS and D'Agostino equipment.  They are definitely a full range speaker - a really big soundstage, great bass.  

I thought perhaps they were a bit 'thinner' sounding than my S3, but very little in it really.  Alon Wolf stated that the S1 is still a better speaker than the A3, has better drive units and crossover.  He said that if you want refinement you should get an S1, but if you want a more full range speaker, then the A3 is what you should get.

I think if I were in the market for a speaker now I'd just buy the A3 over equivalents from Sonus Faber, B&W, ML etc but all of the first large batch of A3 sold out in 2 days apparently, and there won't be any more for 5 months.  

I don't think anyone would be unhappy with the A3, I couldn't really hear anything to criticise at all.

Hi - I was at the demo too and agreed that it sounded great. I didn't hear enough to do a proper review, but the A3s certainly presented music on a big scale - huge soundstage and loads of presence. Very clear, natural and dynamic.

I though the mid-range driver really shone (Alon Wolf - "yeah, we're known for that") and the bass was decent; I listen to a lot of acoustic type music and am not a big fan of a boomy bottom end. The A3s weren't boomy, as such, but the more refined two-way S1's would probably be a better option for me (subject to £, of course)

Really hard to see how you could beat these for the money - excellent value, particularly given the build quality and lineage. I can really see the point now of all the engineering that goes into those cabinets - the only thing that moves is the driver, as it's meant to. 

Other things worth mentioning - the Q series is being phased out and the A platform is likely to have other speakers joining the A3; it all depends, apparently, on volume. Presumably the margins are lower, so they'll need to sell more to make it worthwhile. And they want to keep the price point reasonably low, according to Alon, otherwise what's the point of an entry level speaker?