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Suitable amplifer for Magico A3 speakers


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Hi All, I am considering buying a pair of Magico A3.

According to Absolute Hiend, there are many happy Magico A3 owners already. What amplifier are you matching it with.

The Emotiva XPR-2 DR amp reviewed in Hi-Fi News Oct-18 seems pretty great for the price/power.

Or does it really need to match with hi end amplifier.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Lenny

 

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I've had an Emotive amp on my speakers at home once. It wasn't bad but nowhere near as good as my Devialet amp. I'm not saying you should buy Devialet but it does indicate there's quite a difference in sound quality between the two, hence the price difference. 

 

I haven't heard the latest Emotiva amps and they might be better now so you should at least give them a listen. You could either save a lot of money or end up wanting better down the track. Listening is the only way to find out.

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  • 3 months later...
Guest deanB

ATC make very well built and very listenable power amps (if that's what you're after). The P1 is 150w @8ohms and the P2, 300w @8ohms 450w@4ohms

If you want an integrated, there's the SIA2-150 that is similarly powered to the P1 and I've seen a quote claiming 289w at 4ohm for the integrated so the P1 would be similar. ATC bias their amps heavily into Class A then on to A/B.

I'm a valve amp devotee who has owned an ATC SPA2-150 power amp and listened extensively to the P1, they're very, very good amps.

  

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I'd love for all the naysayers to partake in a listening experience where a number of amplifiers are included in the line-up, Emotiva as well, in suitably controlled conditions and then report back their observations. 

 

This is a good example of price influencing people's perspectives. 

 

Spend ten thousand on speaker cables and you'll have ten thousand reasons to think they do something to the sound. 

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7 minutes ago, ghost4man said:

I'd love for all the naysayers to partake in a listening experience where a number of amplifiers are included in the line-up, Emotiva as well, in suitably controlled conditions and then report back their observations. 

 

This is a good example of price influencing people's perspectives. 

 

Have done.

 

I was more excited about Emotiva coming on board than I was McIntosh and Devialet. 

Wasn't a single piece that I liked or even thought was competitive at it's price point (not such a good price point in Aus).

 

I stand by my comment in that Emotiva in this instance would be like putting bicycle tyres on a Ferrari.

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23 minutes ago, initforthemusic said:

Scrimping on Amplifier is a big mistake. The Emotiva's at least that I've heard won't do justice to Speakers of that calibre.

So you are saying you have heard this combination together?

 

@Bunno77

 

Just to clarify, are you saying you have heard the different setups, that is an Emotiva coupled with the Magico's, along with the Mcintosh 

etc without knowing which was which?

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So you are saying you have heard this combination together?
 
[mention=141213]Bunno77[/mention]
 
Just to clarify, are you saying you have heard the different setups, that is an Emotiva coupled with the Magico's, along with the Mcintosh 
etc without knowing which was which?


No and I would never hope to. I did however compare it to lower end gear without knowing which was which.
Emotiva was found lacking.

When a piece of equipment performs poorly on still good but cheap and lower end models of respectable brands it would be foolish to expect it to perform on better performing and more demanding gear irrespective of cost.

Agian there are so many things to liken this to.

Does a Formula One team use tyres designed for a commercial van on their race cars?
Do you expect them to have performed this test? Maybe even without the driver looking?
Would you find it unreasonable to learn that they haven't?

You have done similar with your own set up. Why don't you use a $500 receiver for everything? Why don't you have a $2 shop DVD player to spin cds? Why don't you use a smart phone's headphone out into the receiver to stream from? Why don't you have some Bose satellites?

You don't because you know the difference. That's why you have beautiful Maggie's. That's why you've done better than your already great Plinius and are building your own amp (super cool). That's why you had made a super cool Minidsp box, modded an Oppo, have a very nice DAC.

Out on a limb I'd say these are the same reasons you don't own the relatively cheap and easy Emotiva products in your own system. They're not good enough for your Maggie's and nor are they for the Magico's. They have their place and it's not here.
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On 15/12/2018 at 2:45 PM, Pim said:

I haven't heard the latest Emotiva amps and they might be better now so you should at least give them a listen. You could either save a lot of money or end up wanting better down the track. Listening is the only way to find out.

Agree ; nobody it seems has an inkling or mentioned how different the 3 emo generations are from one another . The latest gen3 are class H with a smps earlier ones class AB with a toroid . Are the Magicos a low impedance hard to drive speaker that needs real current to give their best  ?  Stereophile has interesting comments on the Emo [imagine that ; stereophile mag reviewing the bottom rung :) ] depending on its synergy with speaker type you can see which it favors..

 https://www.stereophile.com/content/emotiva-xpa-gen3-two-channel-power-amplifier

Edited by cwt
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I'll relate my experiences with Emotiva XPA-2 Gen1. & 2. I bought a Gen.1. many years ago for a Home Theatre which never eventuated. With a budget to mid Speakers the Amp sounded quite good. It's when I tried it on my Revel Ultima Studios that it was found to be out of it's depth. It was easily outclassed by all my admittedly more expensive Power Amps. Same when I tried it on my System Audio Ranger Masters, it was out of it's depth. For a heavy in weight Amp. it is a bit "lightweight" in sound. I paid under $1k direct when our $$ was stronger than US. For that price it was an ok buy. The sound was not offensive, it's just not up to the better Amps. I lent it to my mate, who bought Richter Dragons. He then bought a GEN.2. About $1200 landed. Reasonable value at that price. Sound virtually identical, although Gen.2 is a bit nicer cosmetically.

 

IME, if the OP is on a budget, he is far better off, getting better Source and Electronics and lesser Speakers. Rather than what the OP appears to be doing. Lesser Source, Lesser Electronics, Better Speakers. A Speaker, no matter how potentially good,  can only reproduce what it is being fed. This is a common mistake among the inexperienced (and some experienced). Potentially Good Speakers let down by Lesser Components.

 

And when I say Lesser and Better this doesn't always correlate to price.

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A Speaker, no matter how potentially good,  can only reproduce what it is being fed. This is a common mistake among the inexperienced (and some experienced). Potentially Good Speakers let down by Lesser Components.


I reckon these would sound sublime with even my 20yo AVR powering them.

88711f96e8dc171c367decd69d16154d.jpg

Buy the best speakers you can afford. You’ll eventually catch up with the rest of your gear, no rush, it’s a journey.
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54 minutes ago, barn door said:


In case you have $500K burning a hole in your pocket, they’re MBL Radialstrahler 101 X-treme.

Which is why I’ve never bothered to audition them, even though I like the design and technology.  I couldn’t justify spending that sort of money on speakers.

 

i guess if I was worth a billion I’d consider it, but then you don’t get to be worth a billion by spending that sort of money on speakers.  For that much money I could go to a lot of concerts and see and hear the performances live.

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1 hour ago, barn door said:

 


I reckon these would sound sublime with even my 20yo AVR powering them.

88711f96e8dc171c367decd69d16154d.jpg

Buy the best speakers you can afford. You’ll eventually catch up with the rest of your gear, no rush, it’s a journey.

 

Nice Speakers. So you own these, or at least heard them?

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