I heard that Peter Mackay was in town for a presentation this week at Liquid Sound and I, of course, had to be there. Firstly, because I have known Peter for over 30 years and have not seen him for a while and secondly, because I was curious about Magico, the uber of High End speaker manufacturing.
Peter was a competitor of mine in the 70s when I was heading up The Sound Room on West Broadway and he was doing the same with British Sound on South Granville. His next move was to Nakamichi, then to Krell before settling in with Magico. He always associates with great audio companies.
Back to event, there were a dozen or so guests present, some of which I knew from my previous life at the Sound Room and some were new faces. Peter as usual put on a class show and had lots of information sprinkled with anecdotes and detailed descriptions of the elaborate manufacturing that goes into Magico loudspeakers.
I was very pleased to see that he paid particular attention to the speaker enclosure while most companies seem to lean towards the raw components aspect as it entails more exotic materials.
He covered speaker positioning and associated electronics without favoring any particular brand, he talked for a good part of an hour and a half and he answered a lot of questions and ranging from the quality of the questions it was obvious that the guest were well versed in high fidelity.
Then, the moment of truth arrived, A.K.A. the demo.
The sound was as good as I expected, considering that I was at the very back of the room with a dozen sound absorbing bodies directly in front of me preventing layered imaging and palpable high frequencies. I would have liked to have the centre seat on row one but it was not to be, some one else preceded me.
It is not that difficult to make exceptional loudspeakers; however, what is difficult is to find a company that is willing to invest the amount of money needed for R&D and precise manufacturing as well as the dedication and will to go where no one has gone before.
Magico, well done! Bravo!
Ezio Lazzari