Site Links

Feel the Emotion

Posted Sun Apr 6, 2008, 9:44 AM ET — By Wes Phillips

Emanuel Lafleur had a pair of his $8000/pair (estimated final price) stand-mounted two-way X1 monitors set up in the press room. Great for reaching the press, not so great for good sound, since the press room was dominated by a huge roundtable right where the sweet spot would have been. Nevertheless, the X2s sounded impressive enough that both John Marks and I were captivated.

Built by laminating cherry plywood, the cabinets are impressively dense and are quite lovely. The sound was balanced and detailed, but not fatiguing. The X2 had lots of body and a surprising amount of "jump." Lafleuraudio's website is under construction.

Permalink  ::  Blog Home

Previous Post | Next Post >

Reader Comments 

Posted Sun Apr 6, 2008, 1:35 PM — By Pete

Is it just me, or does this "new" speaker seem extremely duplicative (in more ways than one) of the Magico Mini (which is much more expensive). I guess success does breed imitation.

Posted Sun Apr 6, 2008, 8:36 PM — By I'm no Alon Wolf but

It's not just you

Posted Sun Apr 6, 2008, 8:43 PM — By Zombie

That was my immediate reaction too!! At $8K they appear to lack the fancy drivers of the $22K Magico, but that cabinet sure looks familiar. Hmmm...imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Posted Sun Apr 6, 2008, 10:57 PM — By suits_me

Pen Audio did that kind of laminated cabinet first (Baltic Birch?), and probably others before them...it's a beautiful look.

Posted Mon Apr 7, 2008, 1:15 PM — By Ben

Hey Emanuel, Alon Wolf called, he wanted his speaker concept back. He was kinda pissed you undercut his price by a factor of 3, also. And try to have your website ready to go next time you get some free promotion, eh? ;-)

Posted Mon Apr 7, 2008, 1:30 PM — By mike

Mini ripoff looks, Wilson ripoff name. Nice!

Posted Mon Apr 7, 2008, 4:44 PM — By Steven

I had the chance at the FSI to listen to the X1 model because a friend of mine knew M. Lafleur. Wow, That is impressive! it sounds at least 30% better than the Magico Mini for sure.. and if you want the Magico Mini you have to import them from Italy and cost 22 000$ ( the Magico Mini always crack after a while when you import them... Don't know why tho.. ) . At this price ( around 8000$ )no wonder it is a good ratio quality/price. Cut the price by factor of 3 then improve the sound of the Magico Mini, why did I have not think about that myself before. haha.

Posted Mon Apr 7, 2008, 5:29 PM — By Mike

A $8000 pair of speakers built by cutting and gluing about 2 or 3 sheets of 25mm ply at 20quid a throw. Just looks like glued ply to me. Not saying they're not good, but is anyone else tired of being ripped off, or is it a UK thing?

Posted Wed Apr 9, 2008, 8:06 PM — By anon

Steven, Magico is based in San Francisco, not Italy. Is there any other misinformation in your post you'd like to clear up? The X1 may indeed be a fine speaker, but you do a serious disservice to M. Lafleur by trying to bring down his "competitors" with such transparent slander.

Posted Fri Apr18, 2008, 9:51 AM — By Bill

I think those speakers look very good and look alike Magico for sure. But go to the lafleur wesite ( www.lafleuraudio.com) and they wrote the speaker is there since early 2006. So wich one was first Magico or Lafleur

Posted Fri Apr18, 2008, 12:19 PM — By Robert Deutsch

I asked Lafleur about the speaker's resemblence to the Magico Mini, and he said that he did not know about the Magico speakers until someone at this show told him about them.

Posted Mon Apr21, 2008, 2:15 PM — By Dr.S.

the youngster is a gambler....

Posted Thu Apr24, 2008, 10:08 AM — By Bravo

Very nice hope to ear them soon

Posted Thu Apr24, 2008, 10:17 AM — By Emmanuel

I would like to respond to some of the recent posts so that i may clear a few things up. The speaker was not on the website in 2006, in fact the website did not exist yet, i received the first plans from the guy transfering my drawings to autocad in June of that year. Though I had built and sold loudspeakers prior. I would like to thank Mr. Deutch for his comments, it may have been my broken english but i did not mean say that i had not heard of the Magico till the show. A friend told me about the Magico after they were featured on the cover another US based audio mag. For reason of clarity an english speaking friend helped me compose this response. Thanks to the Stereophile guys for the great show coverage, Emmanuel LafleurAudio

Posted Sat Apr26, 2008, 12:18 PM — By Robert Deutsch

Sorry if I misunderstood your comment about Magico. I guess what you meant was that you did not hear about Magico until the design of your speaker was well under-way. Like Wes, I was impressed with the sound of your speakers, heard under less-than-ideal conditions.

Posted Tue Apr29, 2008, 5:37 PM — By Bill

Anybody know about the electronis ( CD and AMP) driving those speakers ?

Posted Tue Sep 9, 2008, 11:25 PM — By Angleena

In addition, Gary Winnick funds student scholarships at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, his alma mater, and restored the Post Mansion and transformed the main cafeteria into the Arnold S. Winnick Student Center, named in memory of his late father.

Posted Sat Oct11, 2008, 6:29 AM — By Rexona

In order to communicate through Top Cell Phones successfully, there is a vast range of cell phones brands and models. In the beginning, cell phones were very heavy to carry around and were not in abundance like today

Posted Mon Oct27, 2008, 10:25 AM — By oyun

oyunlar free online games sohbet odaları Thanks for the its much appreciated

Posted Tue Nov11, 2008, 2:33 AM — By 单向轴承

单向轴承 耳环

Posted Mon Dec 8, 2008, 5:12 AM — By Tod

Looking for this article and found it at this great site... cheap xenical

Posted Mon Dec22, 2008, 7:35 PM — By Kemal

I had the chance at the FSI to listen to the X1 model because a sağlık friend of mine knew M. Lafleur. Wow, That is impressive! it sounds at least 30% better than the Magico Mini for sure.. and if you want the Magico Mini you have to import them from Italy and cost 22 000$ ( the Magico Mini always crack after a while when you import them... Don't evden eve nakliyat know why tho.. ) . At this price ( around 8000$ )no wonder it is a good ratio quality/price. Cut the price by factor of 3 then improve the sound of the Magico Mini, why did I have not think about that myself before. haha.

Posted Thu Jan 1, 2009, 10:48 AM — By battery

http://www.batteryfast.com/

Posted Sun Jan 4, 2009, 8:25 AM — By qectory

Very cool design! I find very interesting information at this article, thanks. lipitor

Add Comment

Name (Required):

Email (Required, will not be shown to public):

Comment (Required, max chars: 1024):

You have characters left.

Type the characters you see in this picture

  

Sponsored Technology Center

Credit Card Bill me later
Please send me special offers and exclusive promotions from Stereophile's premiere partners.

Stereophile    ::     Home Theater    ::     Ultimate AV    ::     Home Theater Design    ::     Shutterbug    ::     Home Entertainment Show
Home/News • Subscribe • Give a Gift • Sub Services • Digital Subscription
Recordings • Back Issues • Buyer's Guide • Print & Web Media Kit • Privacy • Terms of Use • Contact
RSS News & Reviews • RSS Blogs

Copyright © SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA All rights reserved.