Magico has announced its new S3 floorstanding loudspeaker using new state-of-the-art R&D capabilities and taking knowledge and technological advances from its flagship M9 loudspeaker.
The company set out to redesign the S3 MkII loudspeaker to achieve audible improvements in every parameter. With its new enclosure, drivers and coupling system, the entirely re-engineered 2023 S3 model accomplishes far more than the initial design brief.
According to Magico, the technologies and construction techniques leveraged in the new S3 achieve a purity of sound and measured performance that surpassed the company’s expectations.
Featuring a refined and fortified new appearance, the S3’s newly engineered enclosure is assembled from four separate extruded aluminium panels ranging in thickness from ½” to 2”. Each panel, including the front baffle, is carefully machined to take on an overall edgeless-shaped perimeter.
A machined top plate is curved and has an upward pitch to minimize enclosure diffraction and break up vertical standing waves. A thicker and more substantial baseplate incorporates a newly designed 3-point outrigger system with a new foot design that lowers the centre of gravity of the speaker and increases overall stability, resulting in a lower noise floor and increased dynamics.
Magico’s new in-house 3D laser interferometry system measures each S3 enclosure panel, up to 1,000 points a side, and calculated the aggregate SPL resonance of the entire enclosure. This creates a highly accurate analysis to enable the company to compare the enclosure resonance contribution in relation to the acoustical output of the transducers and strategically apply internal bracing and damping techniques to optimise the overall sound performance of the S3 in its finished form. The new S3 enclosure is 30% quieter than its predecessor.
Instead of using an anechoic chamber for its acoustic measurements, Magico used the Klippel Near-Field-Scanner (NFS), which uses a single microphone that rotates around a loudspeaker enclosure that is suspended in free-air. The microphone analyses the environment space first, and then takes fully automated 3D acoustic measurements (on and off axis) in a minimal amount of time without the need for an anechoic chamber. The 360-degree sphere of measurement points are then calculated with the initial room measurements deducted from the equation.
The Klippel NFS provides Magico with highly accurate data and allows the company to predict the in-room reflections and response of each loudspeaker in a standard listening room environment. The new S3 greatly benefitted from this investment in measurement technology. The result is a speaker with clear technical superiority that results in unparalleled sonic performance.
Three years of engineering research brings a new generation of transducer chassis designs that provide improved mechanical and acoustical parameters. New chassis profiles have been developed for the S3’s midrange and bass drivers, which result in ideal stiffness and damping properties to minimise any acoustical contribution by reducing resonant modes while also maximising air flow.
Using key elements of the M9 tweeter platform, the newly designed S3 tweeter features the Magico 28mm diamond-coated beryllium diaphragm. Using state-of-the-art Finite Element Analysis modelling tools, optimised geometry was created, improving the S3’s high-frequency reproduction. This was achieved by leveraging beryllium’s physical properties, making the tweeter closer to the theoretical ideal without gaining the extra weight normally associated with a material such as diamond’s specific gravity. This applied technology allowed Magico to increase the dome diameter from 26mm to 28mm, improving many aspects of performance and allowing even greater power handling and low distortion.
Combined with a neodymium-based motor system, new acoustically improved back chamber, and customised shape to integrate into the curved front baffle, the new S3 tweeter registers the lowest distortion measurements possible today from a high-frequency transducer.
The 5” pure midrange driver in the S3 features an advanced cone material formed of a honeycomb aluminium core sandwiched with outer and inner layers of graphene and carbon fibre to enable wider dispersion characteristics and results in greater midrange transparency. The advanced cone is supported by a customised basket assembly and innovative foam surround, which helps achieve ideal cone/surround integration, faster settling time, and low distortion.
The new underhung neodymium-based motor system uses two extra large magnets to facilitate a stabilised magnetic field and a pure copper pole cap that minimises eddy currents and maximises efficiency.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA) provides Magico engineers with a single platform to assess acoustical, mechanical, electromagnetic, and thermal properties. This meticulous testing helps minimise distortions in the frequency and time domains. The S3’s bass driver has benefitted greatly from this advanced research.
The 9” bass driver in the S3 features an enhanced version of Magico’s Graphene Nano-Tech cone. Graphene, a hexagonal lattice of carbon, achieves 50 times the tensile strength of high-carbon steel. The new cone is formed using a honeycomb aluminium core sandwiched by outer and inner layers of CF Graphene, which combine to achieve the highest possible stiffness-to-weight ratio, ideal damping properties and low distortion.
The new bass unit incorporates oversized components including a 5” pure Titanium voice coil and huge copper cap with ½” of linear excursion. The super-stabilised magnetic field enables the S3 to reproduce superior low bass output (112dB @ 50Hz measured at 1 metre), while maintaining very low distortion and inductance below 0.25m.