Magico A3 vs. Joseph Audio Perspective vs. Spendor D9

The midrange seemed slightly forced and ever so slightly edgy / shouty. Horns sounded artificial and lacked transparency. Noticed this on every occasion. Could have been the source (analog tape at each playing)? but I was not impressed.

 

Just as a quick update, I am going to be a Spendor D9 owner soon! Thanks to everyone for their help in this discussion.
The Perspective's and the A3's were very tempting but ultimately I thought that the D9's would fit my ears best. Though I only heard the D7's, it gave me a glimpse of how good the D9 will be. I'll update with feedback when I get a chance to set them up at home.

 

congrats!

 

Ohhh yesss..

 

You know components and especially speakers are 1)All about personal taste and 2)Very dependent on the synergy with other components in the system.
Accordingly I personally would never post saying “get these”. Living in a rural area (in East Texas) I don’t have dealer within 100 miles so rely on second hand thoughts etc. This year my wife and I went to RMAF in Denver. Here are a couple of off the wall thoughts that came out of that visit. Please these are just personal thoughts.
1)I heard several Magico speakers at the show and found them to be hard to listen to for longer than about 15 minutes. Very fatiguing. I wanted to like the brand you understand but just didn’t. There were people in those rooms “oohing and ahing” so it really is my very personal view here.
Did not hear the models that you are considering.
2)The Vandersteen room had excellent sound and has a speaker at many price points. Richard Vandersteen is a speaker guru like no other and has dedicated his life to getting his product right. I read the Vandersteen web site for a while recently and the theories on there are just so “right” in my mind.
3)My favorite room/Sound was one containing a brand of speakers called Rythm. They are Indian in origin. Driven by a 25 watt per channel tube amp and cabled with super cheap (anti cable I think they call it) connections the Rythm’s sounded out of this world to me. Price was around $10,000 but they have models below this price point. I spent a couple of hours over the 3 days in that room. Not covered by the hi fi press of course.

Good luck with your project. Don’t let anyone tell you what to get. You have to live with them 24/7/365.

 

Firstly, very happy with the aesthetics of these Spendors. Great match with my living room, very presentable and refined. Not only is the color a good match with the TV cabinet, the cabinet finish is beautiful as well.

 

Congrats! Santa came early this year!

Don't forget to keep us updated on your listening impressions.

 

Your set-up looks very nice! Could you describe your impressions of the D9s compared to the A3s?

 

Congrats on the D9s!

 

You can hardly go wrong with Spendor. I love my 2/3s! Enjoy your happy holiday,

 

Gotta love those flawless, perfectly book-matched veneers.

 

Early first impressions are that the detail retrieval on the D9's rivals that of the A3 but the A3 does it just a tad bit better. Granted, I am not listening to the A3's on my home setup but my first thoughts are that the D9 does not trail very far behind at all at the top end. Very good detail portrayal on the D9's without ever sounding harsh or shrill. Very easy to listen to speakers that still give that detail fanatic satisfaction.

Midrange is gorgeous. Love guitar, piano and jazz playback on these speakers. So smooth but again, without losing that detail. I know it is so subjective to dub a speaker, "musical", but that is the word that I would describe the D9's as.

Much better low end on the D9's than the A3's in my personal opinion. This is without spikes on hardwood floor. Solid thump that is tight but with impact. I'll be adding the Gaia II's and assessing the difference after I install those shortly.

At the same time, I'm testing out the difference in power cables from the wall to my power conditioner (Niagara 1000). The cord that I am auditioning is the Audioquest Thunder vs my Pangea AC9SE Mk II. First thoughts are that the Thunder lowers that noise floor ever so slightly. The level sounds higher on the Pangea however... As a result, it sounds a bit more "dynamic" but the Thunder performs slightly smoother without any of the rolled highs. Still evaluating but the Thunder is a solid, solid cable.

 

Indeed! I am satisfied with Mr. Christmas this year See my post above for initial listening impressions.

 

Earlier this year I was in a similar situation to you. While exploring potential upgrades to my Ascend Acoustics Sierra Towers (NRT tweeters) I auditioned Spendor D7, D9, Magico A3 and a few others. My listening impressions were almost exactly the same as yours. The presentation of the A3 was very impressive, with incredible resolution and imaging. I liked them a lot, but I preferred the D9. They do a great job on challenging material while still maintaining a touch of warmth. It's a nice, full sound that I think I could listen to for long periods of time without fatigue.

Also, your speakers look beautiful. They look great on their own, but they really look incredible in the context of your room. Nice job!

 

I have A3's at home on loan this weekend. CONSIDERABLY more bass than my Devore Nines, and a bit "dryer" than the Nines in the midrange which we prefer. The bass goes low, and is tight, but my room is objecting with some boominess. (Our room is all hard materials; no rug, no curtains, a good bit of furniture but it's mostly wood.) It's amazing what a room contributes, and thus I'll never buy speakers without the chance of an in-home audition! We really want to go with A3's, and at moderately low listening levels the bass is not TOO boomy. I think we can sort that out.

 

Very nice! Would love to hear these someday. Congrats.

 

Congrats! I love your set up. It’s pretty much what I’m someday aiming for when I can pull together the finances. I’ll stick with my Yamaha A-S2100, but replace the Oppo 105D with the DirectStream Jr and replace the Boston M350s with a sweet pair of towers like you just bought. Love the care you put into the looks as well. With as many speaker choices as are out there, we have the luxury of finding sonic bliss and something nice to look at.

 

That is great that you were able to score an in home audition of such an in demand speaker. I would have loved to do that but had to settle for being able to bring my amp in for the test. Your description fo the dryer mids is consistent with my thoughts as well (in comparison to say... a Harbeth?). The room has a huge factor on overall sound so I hope you can find a way to keep the Magico's. They are fantastic.

 

You will love the Directstream Junior. As my source, I can't imagine a better DAC/Streamer out there (although I am curious about the Directstream Senior and the Aurender A10). Snowmass firmware update is coming soon for the DSJ as well which by all accounts, makes a big difference (improvement). Thanks for the comments on the looks. I had to be careful here because these speakers go into my living room where we spend all of our time and our guest's would see the setup right away as they enter. It kind led me to narrow down the field rather quickly as there were some other great suggestions out there that wouldn't have been a good aesthetic fit in my home.

 

Sounds like the exact same path I took! I think you may have mentioned previously (or maybe I'm mistaken) but did you end up with the Spendor D9s? Your experience with the A3's sounds pretty well identical to mine. Both are fantastic speakers but I loved the strengths of the D9's more than the A3's at the end of the day, in my home. No fatigue to speak of from the D9's. Just incredible musical enjoyment. I look forward to getting home to put on some music just so I can listen to them. I think that's a mark of a good setup/speakers. No regrets for not going the A3 route.

 

Exactly my philosophy... I would have been happy with the D9 or A3, no doubt. I was actually leaning towards Harbeth SHL5+ but ended up taking a leap of faith and trying an Audio Note setup. The corner placement design was a big factor because of my room. So far, so good... I find myself looking forward to listening to all types of music, and not thinking much about the equipment.

 

We moved them back much closer to the rear wall (12" from the wall) and the boominess disappeared! I've been pulling them back forward a half inch at a time to get more of the soundstage back. I'm pretty sure I'm going to put down a deposit and have them order me a pair. I'll spring for the optional grills. They really are lovely!