Magico S5 vs Tannoy Westminster Royal SE

The Yorkminster, Canterbury, and Westminster SE should all do very well in a
room that size. You may wish for another couple feet beyond that 16' with the
Westminsters...but if I could go for them in that situation, then I'd probably do
so. The 23Hz extension of the Yorkminster (vs. 28/29Hz) was incredible; the
18Hz of the Westminster should be unreal -- and at 98dB/Watt, no less. No
other point source can touch that.

My preferences are strongly Tannoy biased, so I'd take the Kensington SE over the S5, unless it's a very large room. I preferred the former, in the exact same system, for its midrange sweetness and musicality. The bass is quite different between the two; in some ways the S5 is tighter, faster, and punchier than the Tannoy, but in other ways it's also more disjointed and reminds me ever-so-slightly of a subwoofer (a very good one no doubt, but still...). Overall the S5 sounded great; very resolving and tonally very clean/neutral from the mids on up, but my preference was clear. I can understand others going crazy for the S5's qualities.

In medium-large rooms, I'd take the Yorkminster/Canterbury over Kensington. Haven't heard the Westminster, but it seems almost certain to destroy the smaller Tannoys in very large room. A VAC Sigma 160i will pair beautifully with any of the Prestige speakers.

The above demo system consisted of a Clearaudio Innovation Compact w/ Ortofon Cadenza Red, VAC Renaissance III w/ MC phono, and Rogue M180. Granted, the Cadenza Red (nice as it is @ 1.2K) was a bit out of its league here, and the M180 is probably the very *minimum* amount of power you'd want to feed the S5, and certainly NOT ideal. The Tannoys benefit from power up to a point, but don't require nearly as much and can run on far far less.

In short, your 2 choices represent 2 very different approaches to music reproduction! I have a friend that would go for the Magicos.

The Tannoy models with pepperpot/alnico drivers (from Kensington SE on up) are all more resolving than the tulip waveguides (the Churchill being the ONLY possible exception here), but they don't have anything close to a "hifi, edgy" character unless your upstream gear is as such. In fact, I find the alnico Prestige models to be both more resolving and more musical than the tulips -- well worth the extra cost. The aforementioned Churchill was a bit drier in the midrange compared to the slight sweetness of the Kensington/Yorkminster/Canterbury. Though, note that I only auditioned the Churchill once so my impressions on it are not as solid. From the tulip waveguide group I've heard: Turnberry, Genair 10 & 15, Dimension TD10 & 12, Definition DC10 & DC8, etc.

I also think that the Prestige models are more coherent sounding from top to bottom than the S5. The Tannoy bass is better integrated into the music, in my opinion.

I piled onto the "Tannoy love fest" here a while back. Still have and love my Tannoys; still stand by what I said. However, since then I've heard the Magico S1 in the same setup I'd heard the S5 (and compared to Kensington SE), except this time with a modded VAC integrated (their current 80 Watts/ch model plus "special" factory upgrades).

It was gorgeous. Not as much bass impact as the S5, obviously, but perfectly integrated and coherent from top to bottom. Superb resolution and top-end extension that enhanced musicality rather than detracting from it. No possibility of fatigue. Best sound I've ever heard from that size of speaker. Preferred it easily over the prior S5 setup (S5's bass struck me as unnatural). I was just shy of being blow away. Of course, the VAC amp may have contributed in a not insignificant way.

This is the first non-Tannoy I've auditioned in a while that I walked away thinking I could be very happy with in my main 2ch. It would be somewhat difficult for me to choose between the S1 and my beloved Kensington SE (similar pice-points, though now the SE is discontinued). When it comes to the musical satisfaction yielded in conjunction with a good upstream, these 2 speakers aren't all THAT different.

S1 + upgraded VAC integrated + Clearaudio Innovation compact and a simple Ortofon Cadenza Red. This is all nice stuff, but holy COW that sounded great together.