Hi-Fi+ Awards: Innovation of the Year

Magico M3 floorstanding loudspeaker

It might seem strange giving any first-of-its-kind of ‘innovation’ award to a loudspeaker, as they are typically some of the most resistant to change products in any audio system, but the Magico M3 is an exception on two counts. First, the company is pushing the envelope in terms of materials science and technology, and second, the lowered distortion of this sealed box loudspeaker sets a standard that shows we can still extract more and better performance out of our loudspeakers. The innovative materials science comes in the use of graphene in the midrange and bass units – this new, molecule-thick form of carbon has the advantage of being stiffer than virtually any other material at a given weight, and can also be made extremely light. The company has also managed to combine diamond and beryllium coatings in its tweeter design. However, by designing a loudspeaker that uses ‘wings’ of aluminium and carbon fibre along its side panels, and a tripod of effectively low-pass filters derived from the company’s Q-Pods, and utilising a ‘no quarter given’ approach to industrial design, Magico has also made one of the most inert cabinets in audio history. As a result, the new M3 offers lower distortion than any other box loudspeaker to date, and this throws down a challenge to other designers to produce better loudspeakers… at all prices!