Magico V3 Loudspeaker
$25,000

magico.net

Once in a great while, a product comes along that changes the rules of the game. Such a product not only sets new performance benchmarks in certain sonic criteria, it serves as a touchstone for an entire industry. By pushing beyond traditional thinking and design concepts, the product has the power to inspire designers in other categories to aim even higher. The V3 loudspeaker from Magico is such a product.

Although at first glance it appears like just another conesin- a-box speaker, the V3 creates an entirely new language of loudspeaker design. From the curved aluminum baffle, to the stacked birch-ply enclosure, to the custom drivers made from the same material as helicopter blades, to the fist-sized crossover capacitors, the V3 brings fresh new ideas to a very old technology.

All this innovation would be meaningless, of course, if the V3 didn’t sound much different from other loudspeakers. But sound different it does. The V3 possesses a fundamental musical rightness that’s instantly (more…)

May 29 - The Marantz website is now listing the upcoming AV8003 networking preamp/processor and the MM8003 8-channel amplifier as “coming soon”. Apparently, this could actually be quite soon. Engadget is reporting on rumors that this could be released in Canada as early as next month.

 If this is the case, the US release would either follow very shortly afterwards, or actually be launched before the Canadian release.

Suffice it to say, it appears as if this beautiful pair could be available very soon. Check out some of the features on the new AV8003 and MM8003 here.

The AV8003 is expected to cost $2,600 at launch, with the MM8003 running around $2,400.

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May 27 - Spectron Audio has recently announced the release of their new flagship switching power amplifier, the Musician III Signature Edition Mk. 2. The Musician III Signature Edition Mk. 2 is the latest version of the acclaimed Musician III, to which The Absolute Sound gave an Editor’s Choice Award in 2007.

This new model has made several notable upgrades over the previous version, including new power switching modules, new capacitors in the reconstruction filter, and new hook-up wire. 

John Ulrick, Spectron’s founder, CEO, and chief designer, notes that these amplifiers are ideally suited as fully balanced monoblock amplifiers, which can deliver a very robust 7000 watts of power for up to 500ms over the pair.

A pair of the Musician III Signature Edition Mk. 2 amplifiers won’t come cheap at (more…)

May 22 - The occasion of the Golden Ear Awards causes me to reflect on those special products that I would not only want to keep for years in one of my reference systems, but those that are great values, too. While the SME 20/12 turntable system that I nominated last year certainly merits inclusion on this year’s list, given its superlative performance, it is arguably not a great value—the Clearaudio Anniversary ’table and Helios Omega arm combo that I’m currently auditioning appear, at first blush, to rival its performance in most areas yet cost about half as much.

With highperformance and value “filters” applied to this year’s list, I offer the following select components. One is already a classic, but the others may very well become ones over time.  

Quad ESL-2805 and (restored) Quad ESL-57 loudspeakers
$8999, Quad ESL-2805
$3900, if PK supplies the ESL-57s
quad-hifi.co.uk

These two Quad loudspeakers are of reference quality in transient speed, truth of timbre, coherence, transparency, and low distortion and coloration. With the right amplifier—and I cannot stress how important this matching is—they can reproduce the sound of voices and instruments with such a compelling naturalness and realism that I am more than occasionally fooled into thinking the performers are in the room. (more…)