Quandry: Used Magico V2 vs. new S1

Guys,
Please... Diffractions are caused by corners (which the S5 does not have) not baffle width. In fact the ideal speaker will have an infant baffle... Most, if not all these discrepancies you are describing are due to poor set-ups. These are extremely reveling speakers, and one has to use utmost care in setting them up. Unfortunately, there are very few dealers that takes the time and/or have the knowledge to do that.

It's no quandry, go listen and decide for yourself. Ultimately it's your $$ and have to live with them unless you want Bol to move in. I'm surprise you haven't got a recommendation for Vandersteen, JBL 1400 or Monitor Audio yet. LOL!!!

When I was in the market for speakers ~7 months ago, I demoed Magico Q3 for 5+ hrs at Goodwin High End in 2 systems. One all Spectral and the other MSB Dac, Constellation amp and EAR pre. Spectral system gave me a headache after 30 minutes. Overall I found Q3 is a bit lean in the mid bass region but a nice speaker. It's high resolution, detail and very transparent but just not for me.

I did not say slow, I prefer a faster response in the low freq. Other Magico's were better in response.

@Bol, most high end speakers have some level of compromise, unless you're as rich as you apparently are.

Nothing is perfect, and we are not perfect either. Money often does not garantee you the best sound. It is all about making the right combination of stuff. The art of sound! Audio becomes more clear wenn you know the properties of an amp, source, cable or speaker etc. Wenn you did hundreds of tests you can give every single part the properties it owns. Properties together can create the sound you are looking for. For example: Pass Labs gives a very deep and wide stage. But the individual focus of instruments and voices is not sharp enough. I talked many times about this to the people of Pass labs. So you need sources and cables to solve this. Many times people use stuff with the wrong properties. Wenn a client sends a list with all the parts of his set I know how it wil sound and how the stage will be build. ( wenn I auditioned the things he owns)