Magico is pure cabinet and Aluminium chassis manufacturing with subpar sound for the price! 
Literally the most hyped speaker that never ever lived up to expectations in multiple auditions in multiple rooms, shows, etc…
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Same experience, which I described a few times from my show visits
But a bunch of reviewers think different.
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While I have not been impressed with Magico’s sound for the money, the chassis engineering is wonderful.
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I agree… Even if it’s not everyone’s taste, but they (or a similar variant) are essential for the design.
Maybe we all have to take another look at some color/finish or further variations.
Exactly! That’s their core competency, NOT sound. I take any Vandersteen or Harbeth speakers over Magico. Even top of the line Kef and Focal are better sounding.
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I don’t think so, I don’t like it.
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Jim, you could also take the viewpoint that some of these speakers are differentiated by cabinet type, Harbeth being soft wall, Focal having separate cabinets per driver and Golden Ear paired opposing drivers. All key features.
Sonics reflect Harbeth’s exceptional Radial 2 driver, Focal have exceptional tweeters. Harbeth take the view that without exceptional drivers you haven’t got a hope.
The thing about this thread is that if this was an auto site and it was a picture of a new car, it would tell us nothing about how it accelerated, braked, cornered etc. It could be the best car ever or a complete dog that would take you unavoidably into the first lamp post.
All we could really comment on is whether we liked the body shape and the colour. These are features of cars that I would normally expect my wife to comment on. One or two people have got their wives to give their opinion, I mentioned I have not as I know what she would say (although she would have to wait for the AN2 or AN1 before she could bury me in it).
But hey, this is comment 309, and there will no doubt be many more before anyone outside of PS Audio hear it.
Steven, I agree on the key importance of cabinet type. I do wonder about the balance between driver quality and cabinet isolation. Harbeth drivers and cabinets are integral designs and they work as intended. Wilson takes rather ordinary drivers and puts them in exceptional cabinets with elaborate crossovers and achieves a rather different set of objectives. Focal is a fully integrated manufacturer with a definite house sound. I was just wondering the direction PSA is taking and whether each speaker in the family is intended to stand on its own or whether there will be a family resemblance and, if so, what will it be?
Jim K
You are not alone, just scroll up a bit. I like those wooden supports too.
These cabinets are made of MDF with internal bracing. Harbeth and some of the other BBC-licensed speakers take into account the BBC’s research on different woods and plyboards. You may be aware that Harbeth veneer the inside walls of the cabinets so that they flex equally.
I am a fan of Wilson and appreciate that a huge amount of money and effort goes into the cabinets and electronics. PSA’s plan was that AN would design it like a modern Infinity, but sadly he passed away. The features were active bass, servo control, mid-bass coupler, ribbon mids and tweeter. All this was in a line array.
The active bass is there, but plenty of speakers have that. I’m not sure that servo control is there, but other systems do that with DSP (my Devialet does that with Speaker Active Matching and Focal has something called a Tuned Mass Damper). The mid-bass coupler is there. The ribbons are there, but no line array.
When this started I questioned how such hi-end speakers would be developed without proprietary drivers. That’s how everyone else does it. Drivers are core technology. I’m gad to see that they now have propriety drivers.
I suspect a lot of the original design aspirations will appear on the larger models, so I assume they will be attractive to people with fond memories of Infinity and Genesis, brands that did not have a UK distributor. Ultimately, though, people will hear them and make their own minds up.
I also think the legs are really nice. They are unique, and, look like high end solution that doesn’t match every other manufacturers, characterless, safe answer. Stick with your vision!
Consumers will end up voting with their wallets. It’s a competitive marketplace and I wonder what the total size is for speakers that are $20k.
Thanks! We’re not interested in following in the same footsteps as others. Plenty of feet and boxes that look the same.
We’d like to set a new look of more furniture than speaker box and do so in a way that doesn’t compromise sound quality one iota.
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So seriously. Let’s get on with it. How do they sound - how do they spec out. How low do they go. These are drastically different from the axpona pair.
@Paul & @Chris_Brunhaver: I have read every post. FWIW (RE: the “feet”), my only issue with the feet/stand approach is the color/color clash. To my eyes, they simply don’t match/clash with the sample speaker, with the possible exception of the “rivets”/pegs or whatever they are picking up the color of the rings around the transducers. Maybe a function of the photograph…but they sure don’t seem to “go” with the rest of the color scheme.
If the legs/stand were the same color as the cabinets, or some complimentary color consistent with color wheel type matching, I think the aesthetic would be coherent – if not everyone’s cup of tea.
Style-wise, I like the leg/stand design. It would be great if they were attached in some manner so as to minimize floor to speaker and/or vis a versa transmission of vibration.
Can’t wait to hear what people hear and maybe get a chance to see 'em in person soon…
Cheers.
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I’ll bet that some enterprising soul will build a third party outrigger setup for those that really want something different. If the legs can be mounted they can just as easily be unmounted and replaced if it’s that important.
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What ran thru my head almost immediately is that wrapping the cabinets in a teak veneer would complete the mid-century modern vibe.
Oh, yeah…a semi-dark teak veneer would really jibe with the prototype legs featured in the OP’s picture.
Achieving coherent, linear, and uniform off-axis polar response, both horizontally and vertically are critical loudspeaker performance parameters for me. How does the AN line achieve this with multiple layers of diffraction gratings splitting the midrange transducer(s), bumpy structures on the baffle in close proximity of the tweeter, plus grille frames and cloth covers adding even more layers of obstructions which subtract from the ideals of minimizing discontinuities on the baffle? I’m baffled. As there are immutable laws of physics which can’t be repealed, I’d rather see function follow form, not aesthetics mimicking vintage furniture taking precedence.
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