The sweet thing about the S5 MK.II speakers are that they kind of hit the sweet spot of being a reference point for sound and price. At $43,300 MSRP (with the optional SPODS footers), they are not at the cheaper end of Magico’s range nor are they near the top end of it. And when their top end model sells for $172,000, the S5 MK.II is a bargain. Everything about these speakers scream high end. From the massive built and finish (220 lbs each!) to the high quality drivers used and the reference sound it projects, the S5 MK.II was clearly designed to bring a “live” experience to your sound room. And we got nothing less when we listen to them. The bass energy was simply awesome and delicious. The punch was tight and fast and the corresponding mids and highs, transparent, clean and detailed. Each speaker is a four driver, three way design with one 1″ Diamond coated Beryllium Dome Tweeter, one 6″ Graphene Nan-Tec Cone Midrange and two 10″ Bass Aluminum Cones. To get an idea on its internal structure, look for the Stereophile review where it shows a cutout of the speaker and the engineering that went behind the making of the aluminum enclosure. Frequency response is 20 Hz to 50 kHz with a nominal impedance of 4 ohm and a sensitivity of 88 dB. Magico recommends a minimum of 50W to drive them but if you can go higher (up to 1000W), we would strongly recommend you take that route. We tried them with a pair of 250W monoblocks and they literally “tore the house down”. Speakers currently sit on the supplied castors which made moving them around a breeze but we also have the original spikes and the optional SPODS footers that the previous owner paid $1,500 for. The dimensions for each speaker are 48″H x 14″D x 15″W.
Cosmetically, the speakers look good. Minor scuff marks from use and from the steel grille cover’s magnets that attach to the front of the speakers but nothing major. We don’t have the original crates so local pickup from our store preferred or we can strap them on to pallets and have them shipped as freight.
