Magico S5 vs Tannoy Westminster Royal SE

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.

ARC Ref 2 phono, Ref pre, Ref 150 amp. These are not such out of this world electronics that they are the reason for the magic......but the Basis Debut Vac and Basis Vector arm do help.

This is such a pointless thread which predictably became a Tannoy love-in, then derailed into side discussions. These are two completely different speakers. The Tannoy fans will swear black and blue the Westminsters kill the Magico's in every metric, the Magico fans will say the Tannoys don't touch the S5's. Pointless, pointless, pointless.