Quandry: Used Magico V2 vs. new S1

@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)

@Bol, that's true. No loudspeaker can claim to be capable of faithfully reproducing the live event. I also agree throwing money at audio along does not guarantee good sound. I think what you were trying to say is the secret to great sounding audio is system synergy. We're on the same page here. The S5's for example due to their resolving nature and tonality can sound rank with some amps and haunting with others (eg: Vitus). Cables also make a difference. Siltech and Jorma both have great synergy with Magico. In the end it's all about personal taste.

I am from Holland and Siltech is made overhere. I did test many of there cables. To be unnest there not the best. That is an understatement! In a-b shoots I always won. I do not like the filtering in the mid freq. You think you get more, but you get less. Audioguest in superior in timing and also in blacks. In the past I won Always wenn I was with Nordost Valhalla powercables and other shop with Emperer powercabels. At shows we Always were teasing them. We call it overhere Slisssssstech. I hate worse demo's. They were good at giving worse demo's. Then I Always put the mirror in front of you.

Bol, I respect your view of cables as we all have a subjective view of what sounds good or not. I personally find the top Audioquest cables such as Wel bright and lacking musicality. In comparison, I find Siltech's Royal Signature series has much better presentation of tone and timbre, better bass and are the quietest cables i've ever heard. Also, Siltech's metalurgy is the best there is. That is why their cables actually improve, not degrade in sound over time. That is also one of the reasons their cables hold their value so well over time. The other is their awesome design/build quality. Siltech use the same computer program that Porsche use to design their cars and have sota build quality. In regard to Nordost, I have a buddy who has a good ear. He compared Odin to Jorma Prime and preferred Prime in every application except between his turntable and preamp. In that application, he preferred the silver cable for synergy, but he preferred Prime everywhere else. Jorma Prime to my ears are the most natural sounding and musical cables i've heard & is half the price of Odin!