Magico S5 vs Tannoy Westminster Royal SE

Stringreen, the Vandy 7 is a better speaker than most on this thead, they are truly a state of the art speaker. That's coming from a guy with lots of speakers but not a Vandy owner, so no bias toward them here. I was not really familiar with their sound when I bought most of my speakers and I don't prefer them so I won't be switching out. Since then, I have heard them for extended periods. If my gear was stolen I would very strongly consider them. They are fantastically pure, very true to life in tonal color, and amazingly dynamic (if you feed them plenty of watts) for a speaker this size and this inefficient. The Vandy 7s are one of the best in the world IMO. They do suffer from the fact that Richard does not tell tall stories about being a NASA designer, a rocket scientist, a Bell labs researcher, or any other of the mostly fabricated stories used by many in this industry. He does not do the mystique thing, or luxury goods marketing. They are just real, honest, great sounding, and refined.

Again, I'm not connected in any way, I am not a retailer, I just love great equipment.

Aldavis, Kingdom Royal are certainly a very good speaker. But not quite as much my cup of tea as the Westminster. I like the mid-to-top area better on Westminster, the Kingdoms are not as natural to me. This is not due to the fact that they are extended and I somehow prefer rolled off speakers. Far from it, I have other speakers flat to 50khz whose upper mids and highs I prefer to the Kingdom. Rather, for me, something is lost in going to the Kingdom. Just my preference, I like the presentation of the Westminsters better.

I'm surprised that WAF hasn't come up more prominently. Having both seen and heard the Westminster Royal SE, all I can say is make sure your SO is on board.

The Royal SEs are 55" X 39" X 22" and weigh over 300 pounds each. Not much different from putting 2 Victorian Era highboy armoires (or subzero refrigerators) in your living room.

YMMV, but I can safely predict how my GF would react, and it wouldn't be positive or approving...

Sonically, I thought Maggie 20.7s or Wilson Sashas easily beat them. Again, YMMV.

I know of nobody who has heard my system that would pick either of those speakers over the Wests. Yes, MMDV (my mileage DOES vary!).

As far as the wife factor, it surprises me how huge an issue this can be. My wife loves music, she loves the sound of the Wests, so no problem. But even if neither were true, she considers everything a partnership. If it's important to me, she'll compromise over something that only takes up 1/4 of the room!

I knew a very successful psychologist who provided his wife with a beautiful house in the best town, one of the best roads, and all other creature comforts. They had a living room that was truly never used. Perfect for audio, cathedral ceiling, great dimensions. But he was relegated to the breezeway (room between garage and house) with his prizef system. No portable heat, he'd have to turn on the portable heater an hour or more before listening, but it would still be cold (part of the country with a real winter).

In my experience this is not such an unusual story.

I, personally, would require a more equitable compromise. Apparently, most others in this thread agree!

When I hear the noise about WAF in families where the guy has this one huge hobby and love, which does not include seeing other females and being out at bars, and where he is the bread winner, I shake my head. High end systems are not exactly greasy, smelly motors being brought into the house for a rebuild. What's the beef? I like the acronym "PWF".

Kiddman Wrote:
I know of nobody who has heard my system that would pick either of those speakers over the Wests. Yes, MMDV (my mileage DOES vary!).

Cool. Please share your pre/amp that's feeding your Westminsters so that we might learn from your experiences.

I heard the Wilson Sashas through a Dan D'agostino pre/mono-amp kit with AR Sources, and the Maggie 20.7 through an AR ss kit.

The Tannoy dealer was running the Westminsters through a Naim kit, which I believe had a Naim 250.2 for the amp. I'm not sure if Naim was the best way to go with the Westminsters, but the dealer specialized in Naim and Rega, and fed the Tannoys with the best he had.

At the end of the day I thought the Sashas through D'agostino were awesome, but at a much higher price point than my own, much more modest, "flat earth" system.