Wilson Alexia 20x15 Room

I've heard the Magico S5 in about 5 different systems. They sounded better driven by the Absolare Passion 845 PSET than any other amplifier.2nd best IMO was their match with a Constellation amplifier. It was just okay with the VAC amplifiers. It's truly subjective of course.

I auditioned 2 days ago the Rockport Aquila with the Absolore
best pre amp with their monoblocks. ( 50 watt) This was also
not the best combo in control and authority. You could not
play that loud. You lost control, tweeters became difficulties
and the overall sound became less involving. Sensitivity of
the Aquila is 89db.

When you have no option to audition it at home you need to
bring in your own stuff to the shop who sells them. Here you
can see if the combo is a good match and you will hear if your
set can drive the Wilsons well.

There is one thing I want to make clear. I have tested many
cables in over 16 years of time. These days it is a lot easier
to create a higher endresult with expensive and stunning
cables with less expensive poweramps. This against a very
expensive poweramp with less espensive cables for the same
amount of money. I have proven this in many blind tests. My
focus is always on the endresults. This counts most.

I give you another example; I use the latest Audioquest
Redwood with the brand new AQ Wel Signature xlr cables and the
Purist Audio Limited powercables. These cables give a superior
level in details, blacklevel, dynamics, differences in height
of a recording and a much more physical 3d image against the
Meteor and Sky interconnects. This difference is huge.

With these cables you can reveal details which will not be
there even if you bought a very expensive set of speakers.

Most people who have this as a hobby play at an average level
in % of the whole capability what a speaker is capable of. In
16 years of time I have showed many people that they miss a
lot of what their speaker is capable of. You need a good
balance in how you created your system. The most common
mistake in audio is that peopole spend a lot of money on
speakers against less money on their equipment. Be aware of
this!!

I always marvel when a person asks a specific question about a specific speaker folks chime in to offer opinions about other speakers! Its an interesting phenomena. Is this an example of cognitive dissonance? In any event one of the Alexia’s strengths is its ability to play well at low levels and still have an extremely rich sound. This combined with its ability to be tailored to a variety of listing positions makes it ideal in almost any “normal” listening room.

Your system with Alexias will sound fabulous. This is a very popular combination and for good reason. Wilson uses ARC among others in their listening room and ARC uses Wilson in theirs. I've used various Wilsons (Sophias, Watt Puppys Sashas) with various electronics over the past decade or so and, for me, ARC is my favorite tube combo with Wilson and D'agostino my favorite ss combo. In fact, I like the Wilson/ARC so much that I have gone for 3 years without a change in my electronics which for me is an eternity. Not that I don't always keep my ears open. I might add that I have heard your exact system at a dealer and was awed by the presentation.

@Charles, I agree and not sure what I was thinking when I mentioned Vac. Lovely amps yes, and a better choice than ARC, but in valve amps they would be my 3rd choice with the S5's. In tubes, I would rate the CJ Gat and Art mono blocks 2nd (particularly in a bigger size room). But for similar money, I would personally go for a Vitus SS-102 and SL-102, together with a Vitus SCD-025 for synergy with the S5's. The SL-102 is a true balanced linestage which has a serious optional phono stage, pre-out to integrate with a surround sound processor & one the best metal remotes i've ever seen. Horses for courses as they say.