Audiophilepure

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“Starting out with test tones, a low-frequency sweep indicated usable bass extending down to, and even below, the 40-Hz limit GoldenEar cites in its specifications. Such a result boded well for playback of a big blues-band track like Van Morrison’s “I Love the Life I Live” from The Prophet Speaks (24-bit/96kHz FLAC, Qobuz), which was presented with lifelike dynamics and a sense of scale that transported me to a close-up table in an intimate club. While the bass on this track didn’t wasn’t particularly deep, there was a marked fullness to the sound that didn’t leave me wanting. Van’s voice, meanwhile, sounded nicely fleshed-out and free of any “shouty” or edgy character; it also integrated smoothly with instruments in the mix like Hammond organ, brass, and guitar, all of which came across as lush, yet detailed.”

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“Another test favourite, Lake Street Dive’s stripped-back take on ‘I Want You Back’, from Fun Machine [Signature Sounds SIG2032], is also well within the speakers’ comfort zone, and they treat it to deep, tight bass and crisp percussion, combining with the lone trumpet to underpin Rachael Price’s vocals perfectly.

So when these speakers are good, they’re very good, as a listen to the opening ‘Funeral For A Friend’/’Love Lies Bleeding’ sequence from Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road [Mercury/Rocket 981 320-5] makes clear with its combination of atmosphere and serious low-end grunt. However, to hear them at their best, you have to choose your recordings very carefully indeed.”

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“Soundstaging and imaging were very good. The 806 was unobtrusive in the room and effectively disappeared during all but the most high-output playback. Instruments were focused and spread out naturally across a dimensional stage. The defined space and ambience between images made it easy to take a virtual tour around and through the orchestra. Smaller jazz combos and vocals could be reproduced with a realistic sense of scale, but overall scale and foundational weight were reduced somewhat (compared with how I imagine the 806’s floorstanding siblings, the 816 and 826 would perform). But that’s the nature of small two-way compacts. For the most part there were no obvious colorations, though on occasion the enclosure hinted at a slight hollowness—a sense, at times, of images not able to fully escape the cabinet.”

Once in my system, the Maargas brought to it a combination of strengths and weaknesses very different from those of my Altec Flamencos and DeVore O/93s. The Rethms were “airier” and more open than either, with spatial performance that was also superior (especially relative to the Altecs): Images of instruments and voices were more distinct from one another than I usually hear at home, some addressing me from a stage of greater-than-average apparent depth. On the down side, my system’s sense of scale took a step backward—the size of everything was now medium-small to medium—and there was a lack of midrange richness. There was also a bit more upper-mid graininess than I’m used to hearing”

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“Magico’s costlier enclosures employ constrained-layer damping – a sandwich of aluminium and a lossy polymer layer that converts vibration to heat. As one concession to cost, none of the A series has these layers, but with panel sizes as small and (relatively) thick as the A1, any such additional damping is rather less critical.

The A1’s drivers and crossover are all culled from Magico’s development of its costlier ranges. That extremely lightweight and rigid beryllium tweeter – shared across the A1, A3 and forthcoming A5 – uses the same 28mm dome as the high frequency drivers in its M-series, albeit without the ‘diamond coating’. The motor system is slightly simpler, but is still based on a neodymium magnet assembly and 28mm voice coil, and the driver as whole is now loaded into an improved absorptive rear chamber.”

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“As this review wound down I found my admiration for the Chora 806 increasing by the hour. It struck me as a loudspeaker that didn’t attempt to win over ears based on a couple of strong attributes. Rather, it’s an efficiently well-rounded package of solidly engineered performance that touches a multitude of sonic bases and serves the music and the listener well—a fitting reminder that even in 2020, there’s still a lot of life left in the little two-way compact monitor. I can’t imagine any compact enthusiast with $799 to spend being anything but thrilled with the Chora 806. ”