Magico S5 review

Originally Posted by KKF1

David,
My personal opinion is my personal opinion. Not, unreliable biased comments as you suggested. Many audiophiles have the same opinion about Avalon house sound as I do.
You personally like Compas and plan to purchase it?
I can only say congrats on your choice and enjoy it if you like it. I won't call you unreliable and biased because I disagree with you regarding preference towards one loudspeaker brand or another...

I think we can move on from this, but I stand by my view that your comments about Avalon are clearly biased toward the negative, and therefore not balanced and objective. Your description of the Tesseract as "Butt ugly" is just one example. Yes clearly not your cup of tea. I have not said I will buy the Compas, only that they are on my short list. I am defending those speakers because I have actually gone to the trouble to get the facts about them, and it annoys me when I hear people speak from ignorance, and worse, bias. I don't have a problem if you don't like Avalon as a brand. Hell, you can put an Avalon dart board on your bedroom door if you like. But I think most members would prefer balanced, objective commentary.

[jsli]

Originally Posted by Bodhisattva

But I think most members would prefer balanced, objective commentary.

Correct--which is exactly why I enjoy KKF1s comments and observations.

[rlacoste]

I am not sure how you can love the Estellons and hate the Avalon. The basic premise of all Accuton based speakers is similar. From an engineering perspective, the Estellons are not nearly as interesting as the Magicos, and I would not consider them a "state of the art" product. Their form, come way before their function which make sense, after all they are built by a design company, not an audio one. Look at the distance between the midrange and bass driver… Or how about, according to their website, a “simple” 2nd order XO, which on these ceramic drivers, with their nasty breakups, is a suicide. If you are after that kind of aesthetics, the Vivid will be a much better solution, IMO.

[jsli]

Originally Posted by rlacoste

Or how about, according to their website, a “simple” 2nd order XO, which on these ceramic drivers, with their nasty breakups, is a suicide.

This is a very interesting observation! It certainly does bear scrutiny. Thanks rlacoste!

Originally Posted by rlacoste

I am not sure how you can love the Estellons and hate the Avalon. The basic premise of all Accuton based speakers is similar. From an engineering perspective, the Estellons are not nearly as interesting as the Magicos, and I would not consider them a "state of the art" product. Their form, come way before their function which make sense, after all they are built by a design company, not an audio one. Look at the distance between the midrange and bass driver… Or how about, according to their website, a “simple” 2nd order XO, which on these ceramic drivers, with their nasty breakups, is a suicide. If you are after that kind of aesthetics, the Vivid will be a much better solution, IMO.

I agree with your comments Rlacoste. Avalon are using newer, even more advanced Accutons in the Compas Diamond than the Estelon X Diamond. They are using special OEM Graphite coated versions of their sandwich/honeycomb long-throw bass drivers & the latest CELL concept midrange & Diamond tweeter, including a graphite coated version for the midrange. They are incrementally better than the previous generation, and further modified by Avalon to increase their performance. The first thing you notice is the midrange drivers don't have the familiar cutouts. That's because their dome breakup is above the audible range and well damped, so no dome cutouts are required. The new CELL concept drivers also have perfect signal settle and piston behavior of the dome (even close to the dome resonance) & steady decay of higher order harmonics. And the BCC (black coated ceramic) versions also have higher stiffness to weight ratio which moves the resonance peak up further & better matches the speed/transparency of the diamond tweeter. So very good.

To be fair, i'm sure the Estelon's are very good as well, and the X Diamonds should be better given they're $20k more than Compas Diamond, however it is always wise to question and look at the facts no matter what your budget.

[KKF1]

Originally Posted by rlacoste

I am not sure how you can love the Estellons and hate the Avalon. The basic premise of all Accuton based speakers is similar. From an engineering perspective, the Estellons are not nearly as interesting as the Magicos, and I would not consider them a "state of the art" product. Their form, come way before their function which make sense, after all they are built by a design company, not an audio one. Look at the distance between the midrange and bass driver… Or how about, according to their website, a “simple” 2nd order XO, which on these ceramic drivers, with their nasty breakups, is a suicide. If you are after that kind of aesthetics, the Vivid will be a much better solution, IMO.

Valid points from technical point of view.
Just... Did you audition Compas and X Diamond?
Btw, I will compare S5 and X Diamond before final purchase decision.

[KKF1]

David, in EU markets Avalon Compas Diamond and Estelon X Diamond cost almost the same money.
Magico S5 is by far the best buy from price/performance ratio IMO.

[jazzhead]

Originally Posted by Bodhisattva

I assume you are talking about the Compas Diamond? That is a silly comment given the $20k price difference. That is like me saying "Did you compare 2013 BMW 125i and 2012 BMW 325i"?

Your responses to KKF1 are downright rude ... . Easy now , lighten up and enjoy the music .

Originally Posted by KKF1

David, in EU markets Avalon Compas Diamond and Estelon X Diamond cost almost the same money.
Magico S5 is by far the best buy from price/performance ratio IMO.

Firstly, quoting Euro prices is just silly. Of course Estelon (which are made in Estonia) are going to have a favourable Euro price compared to US-built Avalon speakers which face steep Euro price hikes. In the US, the standard Compas costs about the same as the S5's, and I was told directly by Avalon that the Diamond version will be "a bit more money than the Eidolon Diamond, but the conventional Compás will be less". A quick check of an old price shows the Compas Diamonds were $6.5kUS more than the standard Compas which is what I would expect knowing the price of the Diamond tweeter.

[jsli]

Originally Posted by Bodhisattva

Firstly, quoting Euro prices is just silly.

Why? If that's where he lives, those are the prices he pays. Nothing silly about that.