E-S I 100% agree with you about the S1 Hearing it twice at shows confirmed how mediocre they are. They made the large orchestral Pictures at an Exhibition sound like postage stamps at an exhibition Using behemoth amplification (1000 watts into 2 ohms), they were so quiet and undynamic that only vocalists and guitars had any life to them. YUK! I was sitting about 8' away from them.
As to the larger M and S lines (3s, 5s) I've heard about 15 times, sometimes they sounded dreadful (mushy, closed in) being driven by the likes of Jadis amps, or else sounding sterile with VAC amps or just weird sounding with guitars sounding like ukeleles (possbily poor choice of recordings). My wife and I have never experienced any joy listening to Magico speakers. The Rockports killed them using similar equipment.
Speakers with less than "perfect" design and construction with some flaw(s) sound can sound great; hence, our love for von Schweikerts, Lumenwhites, lower end Focals, lower end Martens, older Legacy's and a host of other speakers that are just more enjoyable to listen to long term. Even Harbeths are fun to hear although they aren't the speakers I can live with. I would rather have large Magnapans than Magicos and I used to be an stat owner of Acoustat Xs, 2&2s and ML Monolith iiis. .