Quote:
Originally Posted by Delmac
Well looks like this thread never took off. I was one of the first to hear the A3’s in my area when my local Magico dealer first got them in. They actually played them 24/7 for a week before allowing auditions.
At the same time though I was also deciding whether I wanted to go from my AR setup to either Naim or Mac. So even though my focus was on both it was more on the front end. My dealer at that time had 12 on order and 1 avail for me if I wanted. I didnt move on it as I had to sell my current speakers first.
So putting my Ref 3’s on the Gon I got some bites and in July thought I had a sale, so went back to listen with my music. Listened front end was C2600, Esoteric CD player and MC611’s. I was then told I could have a pair at the end of August if I wanted to put a deposit on them. I held off awaiting a sale that week which never developed.
Now 4 months later I went back to listen again. Brought in a variety of music, female and male vocalists, 80’s rock, 70’s rock and at the end to really put them to the test System of a Down and Everlast. We did a comparison between the A3’s, Focal Sopra 2’s, Kanta 2 (they didnt have the Kanta 3 yet) and Sonus Faber Olympica 3’s.
I’m not a good reviewer but the A3 seemed to be a better all around speaker than the others. The bass was deeper and very well controlled. The woofers sounded much larger that they were and didnt have that snappy sound as smaller ones seem to have to me. The high frequencies were very smooth, but not so much to not have life and the midrange seemed terrific.
Compared to the Kanta...no comparison. The Kanta seemed very thin compared to the A3. And although it was doing pretty good playing the lower frequencies, you just couldn’t feel it like the A3.
A3 vs Sopra 2...This was a bit closer contest and I guess it would depend on a users ears. Again I like the lower extension of the A3 better but it wasn’t completely blowing away the Sopra 2. The midrange and highs seemed a bit more airy and dimensional on the Sopra 2’s than the A3’s and with Nora Jones they blew the A3 away. But with some older classic rock they seemed on the brighter side. And I do have a lot of less than perfect vinyl recordings,which I think the A3 will be a bit more accommodating with.
Sonus Faber...was just not a comparison. We actually stopped listening to the after just a few minutes. Not even close the the A3 or either Focal speaker.
So at the end for my listening the A3 was really the speaker for me. But here is the catch. They are now 4 to 6 months out for delivery. Ouch !! Especially since I am without speakers now. Going to CAF this saturday and going to listen to the Legacy Signature SE’s, Daedulus, Bache and Salk. So I’m either going to like one of these better or find a cheap pair of speakers and grin and bear it for 6 months.
This was a comparison between just a few speakers, but I have been listening to everything over the last few months and have to say the A3 has been one of the best all around speakers for the price. One local dealer told me I was wasting my time and would never find what I was looking for unless I went to the 30K range, but I think I totally proved that wrong with the A3. So even though there hasn’t been much buzz around here for this little Magico they really seem to do the job.
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If you are going to listen to Legacy Audio, the Focus SE is closer in price to the A3 than the Signature SE.
BTW, at RMAF, the 5th floor room with the Sopra No3 sounded excellent. Used sets are starting to show up at ~$15K.