Monitor Audio Platinum or Magico A3

Andrei if you're dealing with Audio Reference NZ did you get a chance to listen to the Canton Reference K model in your price range?

I certainly did jackd.  I have also auditioned them twice.  I have Triangle Cellos and the Canton K3 were similar in presentation but just all round better.  (The same thing can be said for Focal Sopras).  In a sense the Cantons (or the Sopras) would be a safe bet.  They both do everything better.  In fact I was singularly impressed.  
In the end I have decided that I want something different as well as something better.  Speakers like Spendor D9s or the Triton Reference bring more refinement (compared with the Cellos) to the table.  I would not consider the Tritons because of their looks.  I have the Spendor D1s in my office and I am familiar with their delicacy and I extrapolate that the D9s would give the bass that is missing in the D1s.  I could live with the D9s I'm sure.

But back to the Cantons - they pretty much have it all.  I also like their looks.  In fact it is still not too late to back to them.  I took my brother to Audio reference and we auditioned the Cantons and Magicos - he had a preference for the Cantons!  The second time I took my son - he had a preference for the Magicos!

Some of the other speakers mentioned such as the Dalis and ProAcs look interesting too and I am happy for these ideas.  

Terry at Audio Reference was selling some Magicos - something higher up the tree and said he was likely to get some Monitor Audio PL500 II s as a trade.  Would I be interested?  Interested yes but they would totally dominate my lounge / listening room.  Never mind WAF - also BAF (Buyer acceptance factor!)

Glad you got to hear them as there is actually no stocking dealer of the Reference K line in the US with the exception of the bookshelf K9.  Up to a three month wait for them to be built and shipped.  One dealer in the NE has a pair each of the 1's, 3's and 5's but they are for show only.  They seem to get rave reviews from every publication in the EU. After considering taking a chance of the Canton's I bought Verity instead. The D9's do also seem to be a great option.  I don't know about availability in NZ but Vandersteen Quatro CT might be an option.

No question, audiophiles do weird things, but you have to be out of your mind (I guess a typical audiophile;)) to sell a Magico S3 for any MA, which is a mid-fi speakers manufacture, better compared to Paradigm and such.
(Yes, yes, I am sure you think they sound MUCH better than blah blah blah...)

In any case, I will give some objective assessment on the MA (can’t do that on the A3, since I have not seen any measurements). This is taken from of SP review;

According to a Monitor Audio white paper on the design of the Platinum II series, AMT tweeters typically have a null in their frequency response at 40kHz, with a –3dB point at about 28kHz

But if you look at the measurements ( https://www.stereophile.com/content/monitor-audio-platinum-pl300-ii-loudspeaker-measurements ), you can see that much nastier nulls start much lower, around 10KHz ( JA can’t measure distortion, so we do not see the heft of this problem). That is a real trainwreck ( JA, always “soft on the brits” hardly mention that; what a fraud). Whatever they think they fixed, created an even a bigger problem.

Their First Platinum tweeter exhibit some of the worse THD measured results of any tweeter I have ever seen: (https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/measurements/speakers/monitor_audio_pl100/).
I am not sure the new one is any better. But as always, someone may like it ;)
I am ready for the flames, but only objective data will be worthy addressing. You all have the right to listen to whatever your mind fancy, it is your pocket.