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It's been a while since I had a pair of speakers in house for review that weren't broken-in (the earlier Magicos had come from a TAS reviewer and were already played in).
The new S5 Mk. 2 arrived from Magico's factory in CA with about 48 hrs or so under their belt---not to mention the individual driver break-in time-- for Q/C assessment. Fresh out of the box--or more appropriately shipping crates--the S5s sounded pretty good.
The new model's improved quietness, settling time, transparency and linearity from top to bottom was immediately apparent. Where the older speakers lost a little of the transparency magic and resolution as you moved into the midrange, the new model completes the picture (a combo of the new graphene drivers and the midrange enclosure originally used in the S3s).
The speakers came mounted on casters so as to allow for "gross" room placement; at that point, the wheels are removed and then the "fine" tuning begins. In the end, the new speakers ended up close to where the earlier model S5s were located. While the new four point spiked base lower the speaker's COG and makes them more stable, moving around the new 220 pound speakers for fine tuning is much, much harder.
So what did I hear? Probably one of the most significant changes that happened early on was dynamics, especially in the low end. Then the tweeter started to settle in. The slight illumination went away.
But it was changes in the low frequencies that surprised me the most. Despite my positioning attempts, there was still a little lumpy feeling to the bass. Sometimes standup basses were just a little too full. A little too boomy. As if there was a bad room interaction. But I remained patient, continued to let the speaker burn-in and that patience was amply rewarded. At around 300 hours, it was like someone waved a magic wand over the speaker. All of a sudden, the bass started to sound far more linear. The boom and bloat went away, replaced by more quickness, responsiveness and detail. So the take home message is that one really needs to be patient and let their speaker completely break-in before attempting to fine tune the speaker's position. Something that probably applies to many speakers.
Now I know some pooh-pooh equipment break-in (I believe burn-in is a both a physiological adaption and a physical equipment process). But even a recent experience with my VPI Vanquish continued to reinforce my belief in break-in. Here, all that I did when installing the new turntable was remount the direct drive/platter assembly into the newly set-up turntable. The tonearm wire was burned in on the audiodharma Cable Cooker. (the only reason I didn't burn everything from the cartridge pins to table RCA outputs was that wanted to use the table during the 48 hour burn-in time). So the only thing that wasn't burned in was the little section from where the armwand plugs into the junction box to the RCA outputs. And the connectors and solder. Alas, the new table sounded a bit bright and thin to me. Being the inveterate audiophile, that brightness worried me. So much that I even commented and complained to Mark and Andre about the issue and that the edginess was really bothering me. Then all of a sudden after about two weeks (around 50 hours or so of playing), that edginess disappeared and the table became much, much easier to listen to. So when I install the next arm, it's breaking in from the pin clips to the output or tonearm wire.
The new S5 Mk. 2 arrived from Magico's factory in CA with about 48 hrs or so under their belt---not to mention the individual driver break-in time-- for Q/C assessment. Fresh out of the box--or more appropriately shipping crates--the S5s sounded pretty good.
The new model's improved quietness, settling time, transparency and linearity from top to bottom was immediately apparent. Where the older speakers lost a little of the transparency magic and resolution as you moved into the midrange, the new model completes the picture (a combo of the new graphene drivers and the midrange enclosure originally used in the S3s).The speakers came mounted on casters so as to allow for "gross" room placement; at that point, the wheels are removed and then the "fine" tuning begins. In the end, the new speakers ended up close to where the earlier model S5s were located. While the new four point spiked base lower the speaker's COG and makes them more stable, moving around the new 220 pound speakers for fine tuning is much, much harder.
So what did I hear? Probably one of the most significant changes that happened early on was dynamics, especially in the low end. Then the tweeter started to settle in. The slight illumination went away.
But it was changes in the low frequencies that surprised me the most. Despite my positioning attempts, there was still a little lumpy feeling to the bass. Sometimes standup basses were just a little too full. A little too boomy. As if there was a bad room interaction. But I remained patient, continued to let the speaker burn-in and that patience was amply rewarded. At around 300 hours, it was like someone waved a magic wand over the speaker. All of a sudden, the bass started to sound far more linear. The boom and bloat went away, replaced by more quickness, responsiveness and detail. So the take home message is that one really needs to be patient and let their speaker completely break-in before attempting to fine tune the speaker's position. Something that probably applies to many speakers.
Now I know some pooh-pooh equipment break-in (I believe burn-in is a both a physiological adaption and a physical equipment process). But even a recent experience with my VPI Vanquish continued to reinforce my belief in break-in. Here, all that I did when installing the new turntable was remount the direct drive/platter assembly into the newly set-up turntable. The tonearm wire was burned in on the audiodharma Cable Cooker. (the only reason I didn't burn everything from the cartridge pins to table RCA outputs was that wanted to use the table during the 48 hour burn-in time). So the only thing that wasn't burned in was the little section from where the armwand plugs into the junction box to the RCA outputs. And the connectors and solder. Alas, the new table sounded a bit bright and thin to me. Being the inveterate audiophile, that brightness worried me. So much that I even commented and complained to Mark and Andre about the issue and that the edginess was really bothering me. Then all of a sudden after about two weeks (around 50 hours or so of playing), that edginess disappeared and the table became much, much easier to listen to. So when I install the next arm, it's breaking in from the pin clips to the output or tonearm wire.
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