Insider with Robert Harley – MAGICO’s $22K Mini, Cheap Tweak

The Rumor Mill

Dec 14 – Can any mini-monitor be worth $22k? That’s the question surrounding MAGICO’s controversial Mini loudspeaker, reviewed by Jonathan Valin in The Absolute Sound 163 (see also the current issue of TAS for a surprise). In my view, the Mini was the best sound I heard at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This is an extraordinary product, but its price and limited bass extension aren’t for everyone.

I have it on good authority that MAGICO will introduce several new models at this year’s show including some floorstanding units that might just combine the Mini’s magical midrange and treble with a fuller-range bottom-end. 

World’s Second Cheapest and Most Effective Tweak

The world’s cheapest and most effective tweak is, of course, correct loudspeaker placement (it’s actually free). The second cheapest and most effective tweak is keeping the contacts in your audio system clean with Caig DeoxIT contact cleaner. Formerly called Caig ProGold, DeoxIT (or DeoxIT Gold for gold-plated connectors) removes residue and promotes better electrical contact between plugs and jacks. Many high-end manufacturers routinely treat internal connections (jumper pins, ribbon cables, tube sockets and pins) with DeoxIT at the factory as part of the manufacturing process.

I suspect that some improvements listeners report after changing interconnects are actually the result of inadvertently cleaning the plugs and jacks mechanically by removing one interconnect and connecting another.