The Finnish dealer/importer Mareksound arranged a chain of highend events towards the end of 2009. In one of them, three distinguished speakers were demonstrated, all of them more or less new to me. Because of this I was particularly keen on hearing what they could deliver sound-wise in Marek’s excellent, SMT Level 3 –treated listening room. Level 3 means that acoustics is almost as good as it can get.

In what follows I will not provide any technical description of the speakers. There is more than enough techno info on the manufacturers’ web pages, as well as in other reviews. Instead I’ll focus on their sonic performance which is what most enthusiasts are interested anyway.

Of the three speakers/systems available, two are reviewed below. The source was Blacknote CDP-300 or Hegel CDP2A CD, preamplifier Hegel P2A and power amplifier Hegel H4A. The cables were by Inakustik. The third system was a combination of Adam Audio’s Tensor Gamma active speakers together with Nagra’s CDC-player but I drop this system out of this review because the front end was not comparable. It is, of course, impossible to say exactly which sonic characteristics are caused by the front end, and which by the speakers or by the room/speaker -interaction, but at least a fair speaker comparison could be made with the two first-mentioned systems, one with Revel Ultima Salon 2, and the other with Magico V3 speaker.

As such, the Adams appeared to be excellent active speakers, and they will surely give Genelecs a good run for the money. The two actually were sonically quite near to each other. However, neither Adam nor Genelec based systems could compete with the two systems in which Revel Ultima Salon 2 or Magico V3 were in charge. The same could be said about the British Quad ESL-2905 setup with Nagra electronics on display in another room. That system sounded to my taste and vis-à-vis the American trio Revel Ultima Salon 2, Magico V3, and my personal reference Wilsons, too thin and less comprehensive favouring narrower-bandwidth music.

For critical assessment I used the same set of test CDs as always: George Duke: After Hours (Warner 947073-2); Diana Krall: Love Scenes (Impulse IMP 12342); Dvorak: Cello Concertos (Harmonia Mundi HMC 901867); Respighi: Belkis, Queen of Sheba (Reference Records RR96CD); Burmester Test CD 3; and Pink Floyd: The Wall Live (EMI 5240762); Mahogany Rush: Live (Axe Killer 3065028). Here are the results.

Revel Ultima Salon 2 Setup

The position of the speakers was carefully chosen and further experiments did not produce any real improvements in this respect. The low frequency compensation switches were in the normal position and the tweeter level adjustment was set at 0 dB.

As always when the speaker of high calibre it took only a few tens of seconds to become conscious about the high sound quality of this speaker. Despite of these very positive first immediate impressions I naturally went through my collection of test-CDs and spent quite a bit of time with this system. To me the most distinctive feature of the Revel system was its smooth and very high-level overall performance. It was almost impossible to trace any faults in the sound and all characteristics appeared to stay firmly at a high level. Resolution, balance, timing and coherence were excellent as exemplified especially by classic music. Piano music, for example, revealed very consistent phase behaviour and correct tonal balance.

The bass had honourable punch and dynamics. SMT Level 3 room is consummately damped in the bass region and many speakers have difficulties in delivering enough energy for low end in this environment (see below the review of the Magico V3). The Revel Ultima Salon 2 together with Hegel electronics passed this test very well albeit the music’s lowest registers could have been still a tad more rapid and explosive. The tone colour of the bass notes was splendid.

Not surprisingly the system performed well also in the critical region of midrange. Pianos and vocals sounded very correct showing only a hint of occasional nasality. There were no signs of excess sharpness or other anomalies contributing to listening fatigue. Instead there was an interesting and rarely met mix of warmth and wonderful resolution paving the way for a good amount of low level details. The front end was competent enough to reveal music’s subtle textures, and at the other end of the system the Revel Ultima Salon 2s pulled them out easily.

I liked Revels’ treble performance a lot, including its fantastic speed on attacks and natural decays. The speaker is capable of creating a true illusion of real-life highs with great intensity. For instance, the metallic nature of cymbals was very obvious, missing only the last tiny step of truthfulness and airiness, as compared with some other reference systems I’ve heard. This “maturity” of the sound, which could also be described as concentration to the essence, characterized the whole audio spectrum. So the performance of Revel Ultima Salon 2 was logical and consciously engineered aiming to a uniform music reproduction.

As to the soundstage, the Revel system produced a huge transparent sound. Spatial information stored in records was ably reproduced. This vital feature for live-like listening results is often understated but not in this case. I do have heard even more credible systems in this regard but only slightly so. The system’s ability to focus and image sonic information was also good. Instruments and performers stood where they should and their proportions were correct. I’ve experienced similar performance only in absolute reference setups.

Magico V3 Setup

Of the six models available, V3 is probably the most popular of Magico’s speakers. V3 turned out to be a slightly harder case in terms of identifying the ideal position for the speaker in the listening room. But once the listening session eventually began, it began with a great success. A reference-class sound was immediately obvious, just like with the Revel system. The sound proved to be even more transparent, revealing and detailed than with the Revel setup. On the other hand, the overall performance was not quite as smooth as in the Revel setup, or in my own reference system. But if the V3 sacrificed something, it didn’t sacrifice anything musically meaningful. The tonal balance was slightly on the light side but still quite neutral. The sound had a great speed, coherence and timing accuracy throughout the frequency response as evidenced eg. by clean pitches of piano notes. I’m fully convinced that Magico V3 is one of the most revealing and transient faithful speakers on the market independently of the price.

The bass reproduction had a good speed and control but lacked extension, dynamics and weight sounding quite dry to my liking. My guess is that the ultimate bass trapping constructions of the listening room rendered very high quality bass resolution but prevented the V3 from delivering richer and fuller low register. I’d say that the V3 would benefit from a listening room with heavy walls and floor, which would compensate the “lack” of bass energy. To my ears having slightly more bass energy would be more important in the bigger picture than trying to achieve the very last bits of accuracy and control.

The midrange had ultimate clarity and was very well assimilated into the highs. Tonally mids were very natural only occasionally showing slight coldness and tendency to nasality. The last mentioned phenomena were not very distinctive but noticeable especially when listening to vocal music. The sound of a piano suffered much less and was reproduced quite deliciously. In the end of the day I think it is a personal question what weight this slight tendency to hardness should be given in the whole.

I’ve noticed that very often the speakers that sound transparent and authentic exhibit either a very good treble or exceptionally good treble. Magico V3 belonged to the latter group, although there were signs of excess with some music samples. Otherwise the highs were exceptionally pure, clear and beautiful, and blended imperceptibly with the mids. No micro details were hidden. As to treble performance, Magico V3 is hard to beat. I can remember only a very few systems that have reached the same level in this respect. Some systems have perhaps shown a touch more airiness, and been a little more true to the metallic tone of cymbals but the difference is very subtle.

The Magico V3 system created an excellent soundstage. The sonic picture was very transparent and three-dimensional, but not the biggest one I have heard. Spatial information of the recording was wonderfully reproduced. With organ music (track Nr. 8 from Burmester test CD) a mental picture of an authentic church concert was immediately obvious.   And in general the players and soloists clicked very nicely into place and were also scaled well.

I made my second visit at Mareksound when, instead of Hegels, the burned-in Spectral DMC-15 preamp and the DMA-100 stereo amp were harnessed to drive the Magico V3s. All I can say is that this visit not only confirmed the listening results of my first visit but also made them more undisputable.

Conclusion

Both setups delivered a super performance. There were differences of course. The sound of the Magico V3 setup was more sensational with regard to many areas of the sound. The sound of the Revel setup was smoother in general terms. Which one to prefer, depends as always on individual preferences. If the aim is to have an impressive full range sound the Revel Ultima Salon 2 is the right choice. If extensive timbre textures and micro-detailed performance are ranked high on the individual preference curve, then Magico V3 is it. For my own listening room I’d choose the Revel Ultima Salon 2, also because overall flatness ranks high in my preference order. But naturally this does not diminish the merits of the Magico V3’s quite sensational sound.