Best Speakers Series: Magico M7 Loudspeaker Review

Well Done!

LOL. The buyers at this level generally don’t appeal to “knowledgeable” folks. They are busy making money. They simply buy the best based on the appeal.

You are paying for diminishing returns over something like a KEF Blade Meta or B&W 801 D4, and I can easily build an world class audio system for $350,000.

Great review...$375K for anything in Audio is ridiculous, and I have a pricey system. I can buy a ferrari for the cost of these speakers. I can't imagine the profit Alon makes on these considering the R&D and materials are nowhere NEAR what it would take to create Ferrari. Ridiculous

The Magico Q7 V2 was 2015 and was supposedly the best sounding speaking in the world - now can't even sell for 30%.

The M7 has a list of features....for $375,000 one of those features better be giving me the best BJ's on the planet, on request. No at that much i shouldnt have to request.

Again...1st test must be your hearing. If hearing not perfect..."you shall not pass."

Just buy used high end.

oh, you. how relatable! i will keep this in mind the next time i have $375k for speakers. thats what i love about you, always giving valuable insight that the "everyman" can appreciate. the overwrought and flowery descriptions really sell me on it.

Rockport is much better than Magico

Masterclass review.
Thank you sir.

This was another terrific review. I really like the general approach of these reviews, which is “ why this product?” What’s special about this product that makes it worthy of extended discussion?
Not just another piece of gear review .
This is one thing I always liked about Robert E Greene’s reviews in TAS.
He always made it clear at the outfit why he had selected that particular speaker or piece of gear to discuss. What specific unique or informative feature made that piece of gear somehow important.
And I think Tom is doing an excellent job articulating the rationale behind all the design choices, as well as the Sonic results.

Thanks for this review which really was refreshing because it was based on real knowledge and understanding of how to design a loudspeaker and what is important.
Will follow...
Alon Wolf is probably THE best of the five best loudspeaker designers worth listening to.

Cut your bloddy costs in half! Life is truly not fair if only privileged rich dudes can afford "hifi"

A really excellent review. You say that it was a long one--I say I don't see what part(s) could have been done without.

How would you describe the M7 in comparison to the M9?

Speaking of "vivid" and "value" you should review the Vivid Audio Moya. ;-)

I had no idea, $375k for speakers!! I would build a killer man cave house with that money..😁

Like that youbgave us options. That was perfect as i am looking to upgrade to a great speaker and one that will be my final upgradeiititts

Believability? In what? That the sound you’re hearing is what the engineer heard when he mixed 30 tracks recorded in different rooms at different times? The absolute sound is a worthy standard, but a vanishingly low percentage of music is recorded live in a room in one take. So why try to create believability in what almost never exists among available recordings? If we abandon this misplaced goal, any speaker pair under $50k will do just fine. Which? Select the subset you can afford, listen to them, and if you like the sound, buy them. Selling the mythology of the perfect or the real when so much source material is assemblages of composite parts that don’t exist in the real world is misguided.

I enjoy and value the content but give us a smile once in a while, make it fun?

Tom, Let me correct you. You said in your intro that the M7 will appeal to "knowledgeable music lovers”. I think you meant to say that it will appeal to “wealthy music lovers”. There are plenty of knowledgeable music lovers that would love to own the M7s, but if they aren’t also wealthy, they won’t own them.

These reviews are very solid and show respect for the intelligence of the audience.

I may sound like a socialst, but I think audio products in this price range are a bit distasteful because they are a reflection of the extreme economic inequality in today´s world.

My hand truck is only rated for 500 pounds.

Tom, I'm a knowledgeable music lover and an audiophile, my system is worth $91,000 and I have never liked magico I find them very cold and clinical and analytical sounding not musical and warm like instruments and voice are in real life so if that's the kind of sound you like so be it I prefer a more natural real-life sound which the magicos are not even close to being.

"... bass roll-off of planars"
Planars are fine, it's the dipole implementation that elicits the challenge!

What a load of BS. These speakers are also powered by an array of electronics worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. On the other hand, well designed horn speakers have a dynamism akin to live music, can be powered by affordable electronics and enjoyed by people who do not light cigars with 100 dollar bills

You mentioned a Wilson Audio Watt Buddy as competition for these. I also read why your reviews are just subjective. Now, GR research just did a video on the Wilson where they identified horrible edge diffraction due to the design--completely destroying high frequency reponse. They fixed it with a form placed around the tweeter. Why have no subjective reviews identified this easily measured abnormalitie? Is it not audible? Could you not hear this? Are reviewers blinded by the cost and reputation of Wilson. Or is it like Toole identified, "reviewers" are behind people off the street and salesmen in ability to identify good speakers?

$375K a pair is crazy. Of course it’s a deal compared to their $750K speakers. I think I’ll pass on these and keep my house instead. Speakers for the Elons and Bezos of the world. You aren’t responsible for the pricing. Thanks for the review.

Apparently the listening test was done at the Magico facility in Northern California, instead of Tom's listening room. I say interesting, because Tom normally uses an Audio Research Reference 6SE tube preamp, while the Magico listening room is all solid state using a Solution 727 Preamplifier priced at $78K. I wonder what Tom would say about the sound of the M7 using the Audio Research tub pre-amp.

People complain about the price, but understand that there are 30,000 people in the world who have investable assets of at least $100 million, and 625,000 people with assets of least $30 million worldwide, so that the price of these speakers (and associated equipment) is no big deal to these wealthy people. No one is suggesting the average person go out and buy these speakers.

this is so interesting and weird at the same time.
i'm reading the comments below, and noticed that most of the guys don't mention the price as they're are totally OK with that !!!. a pair of these cost 375.000.00 Dollars !. not 350 bucks... are they embarrassed to say anything ?. but rather they pretended to act cool . oh sure that's some chump change . money no object 😁🙄... i wonder how many here can afford to buy a pair of these speakers ?!?!?!? .
are they worth the money?. absolutely not.. they sure are GREAT Speakers. however, WE ALL KNOW that the mark--up on audio equipment is HUGE. and the losses you take when you sell them is HUGE as well. i bet the value of these in the used market in a couple of years will be worth Half of their cost.. anyways. THANK YOU Tom for the review .

How much are these guys getting paid for this?

How many speakers of this model are sold in a year? What causes this thing to be so expensive from material standpoint not R&D.

I think this is an outstanding review and a lot of work went in it. Maybe it would've been helpful to listen to these speakers in a neutral environment as I know this speaker has issues in finding the right components to work with it and maybe this should've been a focus.. Believability was focused on toward the end of the video I guess most speakers don't offer believability. Believability may be easier to achieve if you don't know what you're missing. So the argument goes never ever listen to these speakers. Remove yourself from the garden of Eden immediately refuse to go into the room where the speakers may be. Never ever Open Pandora's box. Remember the Nazis when they opened up the box near the end of raiders of the lost Ark. It was a mistake. I have a Bowers 802d3 for some reason you're written review couldn't listen to them because they weren't available which was really odd that was about eight years ago.

I looked for a review about sonus faber il cremonese on absolute sound. And when I saw something it basically was a press release issued by sonus. Did you ever review this speaker and I know it goes back a number of years?

>stunning engineering - his M9 has in-house designed active crossover symmetry - 'Passionate Engineering'

>i never heard the description 'lack of colouration' i suppose can be part of voicing but not entirely - thanks 4this M7 review.

Wondering if there is an online shop to buy that CIS Model 6 power conditioner?

It's obviously outta my budget by $69,000 😅👍🏼

I personally prefer Rockport Technologies. But my budget has always been $10k-$30k. And I have always got magnificent results.

Just purchased an active ATC SCM 100 active and above- 95% of the sound quality of a Magico. Auditioned Magico A3 and they were not impressive at all by comparison with an ATC SCM 50

Another brilliantly detailed review. Again, I feel as though I have listened to theses speakers after watching. Thanks Tom!

Thanks for the great review. I have been a subscriber of the Absolute Sound magazine for around a decade and my Dad before he passed was a subscriber since the mid seventies. I used to read his magazines as well. Thanks for all that you do.

Mmmm . . . this was highly interesting! Magico DOES push the state of the art but for a cost. I HAVE heard the M7's and they ARE lovely. I have also heard Dynaudio's Confidence 50 speakers at ONE SEVENTH the cost of the M7's . The 50's do NOT go QUITE as "low" as the M7's - but I would literally have to have the two speakers side by side to be able to suss the extremely subtle differences they MAY have in terms of a quality experience - let's face it: when it comes to the ABSOLUTE SOUND we really ARE ALL chasing our tails to a certain extent because no matter HOW much we spend on recreating music in our homes we will ALWAYS hear the difference between that and a live performance 🙂

LOL . the World has gone MAD !. 375 K ??!!!! . this is how much i paid for my house in Europe !!.
how much better are these speakers supposed to be in compare to a 100K speakers?, or are they sooooooooooo much better than a 50K speakers.
i don't get it... however. one thing i do get is the HUGE MARK-UP . since they sell a few pairs of these a year.. (a Porsche dealer may sell 1 car per week. where by Toyota sells 50 cars per week).
also. it must be very painful selling these speakers in the secondary market.. talking about HUGE LOSS.

as you said in your introduction:
" Price isn't always a good indicator of sonic quality to the degree that you might expect ".
" it will appeal to knowledgeable music lovers " .

my take on this is 1. it may not sound as great as i expect. and 2. i am a knowledgeable music lover . but will these speakers open a whole new world for me about music ?. i don't think so...
while i do APPRECIATE the quality and the R&D that took God knows how long. i can not justify spending 375 K on a pair even if i had copious amount of money.. let alone spending maybe around 1 Million dollars worth of Gears to complete the entire system... anyways.
thank you for the review .

After going to hear the M7 speakers on 2 occasions with different setup - I am amazed this reviewer has done such a fantastic review of what I heard ! Stunning me completely and/spot on the same feelings conveyed here by Tom which I think has almost the same ability as the speakers to convey feelings and perceptions on these speakers which seem so true to my feelings

It’s one of the great wonders of the audiophile world

The M7 Speaker

Summed up by me when I turned my head whilst listening after I heard someone to the left of me - no it was on the recording

I was stunned - play it again - there it was - a voice projected 20 ft infront of the right channel

Amazing

When someone finds themself at a place in life where they manage to RATIONALIZE spending $750,000 for 2 speakers I wonder what "value" they place on living a "Godly" life.
Explanation - Rationalize: attempt to explain or justify (one's own or another's behavior or attitude) with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate. You see how easily it can apply to religious faith?
Point - Investing whatever is required to find oneself contemplating or deciding to purchase something like this is a clear indication as to what/who is most important in the MOST PRECIOUS thing we all possess, our life. If you believe this life is all there is, you are mistaken.
Good Luck getting buried with these speakers!

Just an excellent review in many ways. "Realism" is such a tired and promiscuous adjective and "believability" is a much better term, especially because it surfaces the listener's participation in the overall judgement about the sound. My question is: how do Magico speakers compare in terms of this "believability" factor? I'm sorry if I missed it, but it would be a very valuable thing to know, especially for those of us who cannot afford the M7. Thanks.

Very detailed introduction.
What did you think of kharma Veyron EV4 speakers? Thanks 🙏