First impressions of Magico’s S7 2026
By Roy Gregory
When Magico first launched their S series speakers, it marked a number of notable firsts for the company: the first use of large-scale extrusions in their cabinets; their first foray into a more affordable and competitive area of the market. For many listeners it was a welcome move, but while the S5 quickly gained an excellent reputation and dedicated following, I think it’s fair to say that the original, larger, S7 was a more divisive product. At least on this side of the Atlantic, it languished in the shadow of the more affordable and more easily accommodated S5. But the times they are a changin’ – and Magico (the company and its product line) are changing with them. That shift in direction (or accomplishment) might have started with the wider M series, but to these ears it was solidified in the attractive and far more approachable shape and elegant proportions of the M7, before being reinforced and underlined by the S5 2024. But as impressive as the latest S5 most certainly is, the S7 is a far more capable and, far more significant product. Like I said, the times they are a changin’ – and the high-end audio landscape is changing along with them.
When the original S5 arrived it pitched straight into a popular and heavily contested area of the market, rapidly perceived (and established) as a direct alternative to the likes of the Wilson Sasha, various Avalons and a few Focals, a battle in which it acquitted itself with aplomb. The S7 found itself in something of a no-man’s-land, its higher price and wider bandwidth leaving it with no immediately obvious competitor against which to take a swing. But the ‘entry level’ position in the Magico line has now been assumed by the A series, while the latest S models have moved significantly up-market, considerably upping the technological ante, upping their prices and lining up opposite entirely different opponents in a very different market landscape. Now, it’s the S5 2024 that stands in splendid isolation, just the wrong side of the six-figure barrier, while at $140K, the new S7 pitches in right opposite Wilson’s popular Alexx V – handily undercutting the European opposition from the likes of Peak Consult and Stenheim, especially in its home market. Building on the same advances in technology and design that appeared in the S5 2024 < https://gy8.eu/news/if-it-walks-like-a-duck/ > the S7 adds some serious extra (and all-important) bandwidth to the Magico S series mix. Make no mistake, this isn’t just a significant loudspeaker in itself. It’s an important loudspeaker for Magico, both for what it achieves in the market and what it reveals about the company’s capabilities.
With all that in mind I made a point of seeking out the S7s in Vienna, only to discover a performance that, whilst showing definite glimpses of promise, was otherwise sunk by a narrow room with horrendous bass overhang. What wasn’t in doubt though, was the beautiful finish and the nicely judged proportions. The S7’s raison d’être is bandwidth and, for a speaker that’s big enough and potent enough to deliver a real impression of scale, weight and power, it’s small enough to actually accommodate, while looking smaller than it actually is. The curved and carefully profiled baffle and boat-backed cabinet certainly play their part, but there’s also just something right about the way this speaker looks and presents. Stand it next to the smaller S5, which shares its aesthetic DNA and beautiful paintwork and it’s the S7 that looks the more attractive speaker. Maybe it’s the extra height, or the visual balance delivered by the extra bass unit and top-located midrange unit, but the proportions and disposition of the S7 2026 certainly please the eye. At a time when high-end speakers seem to be getting more outlandish and left-field in appearance, the latest S7 is an object lesson in traditional virtues, beautifully executed.
