Magico S5 vs Tannoy Westminster Royal SE

I find conversations about about the pointlessness of threads to be more pointless...

I find posts about the pointlessness of meta-conversations about pointless threads to be more pointless still...

Eek...would someone please pull me out of this pointless infinite regress...? :^)

A poster wrote: "Magico speakers are so transparent to source, they demand a lot of upstream equipment"

I will add, after much experience with them, "or, they are edgy enough, due to some particular distortions, that one has to be careful about mating equipment to not push them futher and over the edge."

Nearly all products that have gained reputations for being "so neutral you have to be careful not to use the wrong equipment with them" are in retrospect generally agreed upon to have had their own edginess (which is a very nice word or distortions) which made them so sensitive.

Are Magicos more transparent than the new Maggies, which are so much more trnasparent than they ever were, and lower in distortion than they ever were? NO, the new Maggies are more transparent, more detailed, but the lower distortion makes them far easier with mating equpment. The same can be said for the Martin Logan CLX. Now, you don't need to point out the loudness, bass, dynamic advantages of the Magico. That's not the point. The point is that the assertion about products like them that are "so transparent that you need to be ultra careful about what you hook them up with" is flawed. If they get the tweeter/mid crossover solved at some iteration level, and the tweeter fully under control, everyone will be saying "Wow, now they are so much smoother". But it's always after the fact that folks admit the flaws of their pets products.

I now own none of the above, and have no affiliation with any of them, so this is not about favoritism.

I think you may have missed my point Kiddman, I was simply saying the S5's are transparent and revealing of upstream equipment, therefore time should be taken auditioning different amps to see what has good synergy to your ears. Obviously most good ESL's, ribbon or quasi ribbon speakers would have an edge in transparency over a dynamic speaker, but that is only one aspect of it's sound. Tone, timbre, smoothness, balance/coherency, imaging & the ability to scale and realistically convey the full impact of an orchestra (without the need for a sub) are important considerations also.

In general, fast, smooth, tube-like amps sound best with Magico imho. I've had great success running a Vitus amp in Class a which suits my tastes.

Another point to add is, whilst the S5 is transparent sounding. It is also a bit forgiving (certainly more so than the Q3) of less than reference sources and recordings which is a plus. If anything, running high end ribbons or ESL's would demand even more of your upstream equipment.

I piled onto the "Tannoy love fest" here a while back. Still have and love my Tannoys; still stand by what I said. However, since then I've heard the Magico S1 in the same setup I'd heard the S5 (and compared to Kensington SE), except this time with a modded VAC integrated (their current 80 Watts/ch model plus "special" factory upgrades).

It was gorgeous. Not as much bass impact as the S5, obviously, but perfectly integrated and coherent from top to bottom. Superb resolution and top-end extension that enhanced musicality rather than detracting from it. No possibility of fatigue. Best sound I've ever heard from that size of speaker. Preferred it easily over the prior S5 setup (S5's bass struck me as unnatural). I was just shy of being blow away. Of course, the VAC amp may have contributed in a not insignificant way.

This is the first non-Tannoy I've auditioned in a while that I walked away thinking I could be very happy with in my main 2ch. It would be somewhat difficult for me to choose between the S1 and my beloved Kensington SE (similar pice-points, though now the SE is discontinued). When it comes to the musical satisfaction yielded in conjunction with a good upstream, these 2 speakers aren't all THAT different.

S1 + upgraded VAC integrated + Clearaudio Innovation compact and a simple Ortofon Cadenza Red. This is all nice stuff, but holy COW that sounded great together.