Focal Sopra No 2 vs Magico A3

I agree Harbeth speakers don’t have the best crossover parts and best tweeters on market, but that Radial polymer midrange may be the best plastic midrange on market right now. We have to give credit to the designer. And we cannot forget that he has to build a product to a price point, so choices must be made in selecting parts. He has the right to make a living like everyone else who owns a company, so we should forgive him if he does not put a pair of Scanspeak beryllium revelators in his Shl5...

Sure , carbon, aluminium, titanium, beryllium and ceramic composite are more modern driver materials and they have their pros and cons.

Nevertheless, the first time I eard a pair of classic Spendors bookshelves I was very impressed by that midrange naturalness ! Only the bbc thin wall design can give you that kind of sound... Is it perfect , no. But it sure sounds special with voices, brass, winds, acoustic instruments.

In my yearlong search for a new pair of speakers I stopped at one dealer and before they he fired up the first pair of speakers the salesman asked me if I prefer "analytic" or "musical" speakers.  I thought about it for a second and thought "musical" was my choice.  He characterized the Magico S5's I was about to hear as "analytic".  I'd characterize the Wilson's I've auditioned in the same group. 

I would probably place the Sopra's in the "musical" group.

Some people like "analytic" some "musical".  I just happen to be in the latter group, if you are in the former, good for you too!

Hearing music “the way it was recorded” is an absolute rubbish argument.  The entire recording chain is “colored” right down to the microphone, let alone the act of capturing a live event on a mic.  If the holy grail as described by you is just an instrument into a microphone, then why do we need mastering engineers?

Because they make the music sound better, more touching, more emotional, more connection to the artist.  A great pair of speakers can do the same thing, and which speaker does that for you is personal.  

So you are saying that because the recording process is “colored” to begin with, you are OK with adding more, and this time gross (like MDF vibration), coloration on top?

Unlike my “rubbish argument” yours is brilliant...

BTW, the job of a good mastering engineer is not to "make the music sound better", but rather to preserve, as much as possible, the original intent of the performance. A process that involved the artists. That is the where the "connection" is made (or not). The job of a loudspeaker is to convey that intent as truthfully as possible.