Rockport Atria II or Magico A5

In my opinion the monitor audio Platinum generation 2 is better than both those speakers. That AMT Tweeter is so sweet and open and the mid-range is very natural very wide three-dimensional sound stage.

@fsmithjack 
From your response, I am willing to bet you never heard then either!

I don’t own the Rockports but recently auditioned them. I did not like everything about them but I was very impressed with the separation of voices, imaging and coherence.  The found them a bit thin and forward but my audition was at an audio show so maybe not reasonable that they can do everything right in this environment.

One thing that is great about this hobby; are the many choices, in speakers or otherwise and all at different price points.  I auditioned Magico and Rockport extensively.  I also auditioned many Wilson models.  The Rockport provide me the sound signature that  I was searching for, and thus, my choice.  No one brand is the end all be all; buy what pleases you and replace as you want, when you want.

Good luck in your search and enjoy in good health,
Jose

I have home auditioned Magico S3 and dealer demoed S1 and A3 and heard the Rockport and Magicos at the Munich shows. The Magico sound is quite clinical sounding, and they all sounded absolutely spell-binding on electronic music. I really did not warm to the sound of the Magico on acoustic music or classical. In terms of a rather dry sounding analytical speaker I feel the top of the Wilson Benesh range does it better than Magico. The Rockport, by contrast, sounded a lot more musical. Like a Wilson but to my ears, more engaging. However, whilst the Munich show is good, with big rooms, it is not the ideal environment.

Avalon and Joseph speakers have that very musical (maybe slightly ’warm’?) but still detailed sound too, and are even further away from the Magico sound. From what I heard Rockport sit more in the middle of this spectrum.