[estreeter]

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Hello,
 
Had opportunity to audition KEF Blade driven by PASS gears and DCS source...   sublime.  I preferred more than Sonus Faber flagship Aida + AR gears... The later sounded fine but not didn't touch into my heart.
 
Listened to Grand Utopia, nice sound but KEFs were magical.
 
Cheers..

 
Whoa - rough figures, that's something approaching two million MYR in a single post. Len Wallis Audio in Sydney had the Grande Utopia as their most expensive speaker at something north of 300K, but they have since 'upgraded' to this monster:
 
http://www.lenwallisaudio.com/products/speakers/main/sphaeron-excalibur
 
I had never even heard of the 'Sphaeron Excalibur', but at 495K AUD, those are some seriously expensive boxes. Are they the 'best in the world' ? I'm guessing that very few of us will ever find out. 

 

[Magick Man]

Dollar for dollar, the Wilson W/Ps (now called Sasha W/P). Used Series 8 are going for $12k or less, I paid $11k, and that's an insane bargain for your money. They're so neutral and natural, and with the proper setup in the right room, they completely disappear. It's uncanny.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Had a chance to sit and listen to some Magico Q3s for several hours the other day at a local HiFi shop here in dayton. and they were easily the best speakers i had ever heard. But then again i dont have a ton of experience with super high end speakers.
 
I can only imagine what the Q7s sound like.
 
though they also had the V2s on display, and other than a bit deeper bass out of the Q3s, they sounded very very similar

 

[DaveBSC]

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Had a chance to sit and listen to some Magico Q3s for several hours the other day at a local HiFi shop here in dayton. and they were easily the best speakers i had ever heard. But then again i dont have a ton of experience with super high end speakers.
 
I can only imagine what the Q7s sound like.
 
though they also had the V2s on display, and other than a bit deeper bass out of the Q3s, they sounded very very similar

 
How did you find the treble? That's the issue I've had with the Magicos I've heard, they sounded a bit bright, and the tweeter didn't quite blend in with the rest of the speaker.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

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How did you find the treble? That's the issue I've had with the Magicos I've heard, they sounded a bit bright, and the tweeter didn't quite blend in with the rest of the speaker.

 
To me they sounded very flat/neutral. The treble didnt sound hyped up at all. Though after the first half an hour or so he took me to another room to show me some Focal monitors, that i couldnt stand, for 5 grand. They had some of the sharpest treble I had ever heard.

 

[travisg]

Went to AXPONA in Atlanta, and got to hear alot of high end gear. My favorite was the MBL room. Best setup I heard.

 

[rgs9200m]

So the Magico V2s are good? They are a (relative) bargain used and are available from time to time. Thanks.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

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So the Magico V2s are good? They are a (relative) bargain used and are available from time to time. Thanks.

Other than the lack of the deeper bass that the Q3s had, i would say they were like 95% of the Q3, so yes, a relative bargain -_-
 
but as always YMMV, i know there arent very many Magico dealers out there, i got pretty lucky having one 15 minutes away, so it could be hard for you to hear some ahead of time...

 

[Quest88]

My vote is for the Focal Grande Utopia III. Nice mid-range, good highs (though I could prefer plasma like from Lansache), and the EM technology is really something to talk about.
 
But did the best system I have heard comprise of a Focal Grande Utopia?
Not really.. one of the best systems I heard in recent times had Rockport Arrakis as the speakers, which are also very good. I don't have a personal best here as there are so many good systems out there.
 
The thing about high-end speakers is that the eventual sound depends so much on the room and accompanying equipment, cabling and power that very often you never get to hear them at their full potential except at owner's homes.
 
Showrooms can come close enough, but also have limitations on things they can use - they very seldom use any gear/cable that a competitor sold. As for hifi shows, I've never heard anything that comes close to realizing that potential, and who can blame them? They often only have 1-2 days to set up and have to deal with the large amount of limitations.
 
To me, rating something as 'best' is very personal thing rather than just what you have heard.
I just feel that I could go further with the Focal Grande than with the other choices I have heard - assuming I have the right room for it!

 

[DaveBSC]

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To me they sounded very flat/neutral. The treble didnt sound hyped up at all. Though after the first half an hour or so he took me to another room to show me some Focal monitors, that i couldnt stand, for 5 grand. They had some of the sharpest treble I had ever heard.

 
Interesting, maybe they've gotten a handle on it with their more recent models. I heard some of the older ones that still used the ring radiator, and one with the first version of Magico's own tweeter and didn't really like the treble. JM Labs/Focal in my book is just a big bag of fail. I've heard a bunch of them including the mega Grande Utopia Be. No Focal speaker has ever remotely impressed me.
 
My favorite cost no object speaker company is Rockport, followed by NOLA and Tidal. JM Labs, Wilsons, Peak Consults, and Veritys have generally disappointed me. Rockports and NOLAs are both quite unique in their own way. Tidals follow the usual Accuton driver design playbook, but somehow they do it better than everyone else. Must be in the cabinets and crossovers.
 

 

[andrewmorio]

Infinity Reference (see Absolute Sound).No longer made except by custom order by a former engineer.

 

[J.Pocalypse]

Best pair I've ever heard, which isn't saying much, were the Martin Logan SL3's. playing Eagle's Hell Freezes Over version of Hotel California. That was a great day..

 

[wuwhere]

These Cello Grand Masters by Mark Levinson.
 

 

[Damnfastzo6]

I completely agree In regards to your comments about the room, in my case I constructed a live-end, dead-end room from pointers given to me by the late Mr. Bert Whyte. The end of the room that had the speakers, was treated with carpeting top to bottom, dry wall was removed and a double layer of !/2" chipboard was screwd to the 2-4 studs, the studs were further offset so that the wall on the other side did not directly connect, the sides were damped sheets of eggcarton shaped foam to deaden any reflections. In a further attempt to improve the accoustics I tried to eliminate any resonances by eliminating any cavities so the windows were replaced with glas bricks which were flush mounted with the side walls, the doors were flush mounted with the walls. I was told that every little thing helps. the floor was heavily carpeted. The speakers were set forward from the walls by about 4 feet the listening area had a sofa set about 8 feet from the rear wall, the room was about 13 feet wide by 22 feet long. Speakers were stacked B&W matrix 801s

 

[rgs9200m]

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Best pair I've ever heard, which isn't saying much, were the Martin Logan SL3's. playing Eagle's Hell Freezes Over version of Hotel California. That was a great day..

So you like the MLs better than, say, Quads? 
(Nice album you picked. My fav. is the Eagles Selected works 1972-1999 box set.)