Rockport Avior or Magico S5

Phil, what state do you live in? I can promise you that the 7's bass is about as good as it gets when it's cooking. The one thing that impressed me about the upper end Vandys when I started to give them a shot a couple of years ago was their FAST, detailed, tight, but mainly natural sounding mid bass. We all know that it's the mid bass that is so critical to get proper sound from any speaker. That's why if a smaller speaker can nail that part of the spectrum, then you can listen to them for a long time and enjoy the music.
Personally I just don't ever make a true judgement of any component at a show. Too many variables, but if I hear something special I certainly put it on my must audition list, that's for sure. We probably should have started an original thread, however folks got their thoughts out on the original and started to add a few other options in that range. Doesn't that happen all the time?

Vandersteen start you own thread.

"The poster was asking opinions about the Rockport Avior vs. the Magico S5. Somehow this thread got diverted to discussions on the merits of various Vandersteen models"

Yes, that tends to happen when ctsooner comes on the scene. We are used to it by now......

Shakey

Ebm made a good suggestion. That may steer this thread back on its original track.

I'm as much to blame as Ctsooner for taking this in a tangent direction. I just thought it would help the OP see my course of listening to several speakers - Lansche, Magico, Vandersteen and Rockport before deciding on Rockports and why.

Ctsooner - if you would like, just PM me through Audiogon and we can continue to discuss my Vandersteen experience.