Care to offer comparisons? Wilson, YG, Magico, Stenheim, Rockport, Audio Note

I see a couple dogs on the list and some names missing.

I’ve heard Magico A3 and didn’t care for them. To me they sounded dark, veiled, boomy and the overall presentation wasn’t engaging. I couldn’t get into it. I could also hear cabinet artifacts when they were pushed hard.
The sound reminded me of the original SF Cremona but in a bad way. The Cremona, despite sounding dark, were excellent speakers with a seductive and engaging presentation. 
I ended up with Wilson Sabrina and haven’t looked back.

I have a fair bit of experience with Wilson and Magico, as well as Joseph Audio.  In a similar price range have also heard a few Sonus Faber and Borresen models.

Have not heard the Stenheim's or the YG's or the Rockport's.

The best Wilson I've heard (multiple times) is the new Alexia V's owned by a friend.  They replaced a set of Alexia 2's.  The speaker is basically full range, very dynamic, with excellent sound staging and overall good tonality/timbre.  It can be slightly boomy in the mid bass and may well excite room modes in the bass more than others, either by design (ported) or by it's sheer size.

I've owned a Watt/Puppy 7 system 18 years, and while it images well and has shares most of the dynamics of larger Wilson's, it's dated drivers are NOT nearly as good as current Alexia V's - which feature a new tweeter and midrange.  Note only the upper level Wilson's have these new drivers (Sasha DAW and lower do not as far as I know).  The current DAW does not sound nearly as good as the Alexia V to my ears, possibly due to it's prior generation tweeter and midrange units.

The Magico's in comparison are less sensitive speakers and require more power to strut their stuff compared to Wilson's.  The Magico's sound less dynamic at low volume.  I own the A5, and would say that it's most significant flaw is that need for power (current).  Otherwise it can sound a little lifeless.

That said, in most other parameters the Magico's are fantastic.  Feed then power and they come alive, with startling dynamics, detail, resolution and transparency.  They are REVEALING, so a good source is mandatory.  Imaging is fantastic as well - they basically disappear with good recordings.

A friend owns the Magico M3, and limited exposure to that model confirmed to me that in terms of driver technology and implementation, Magico is at or near the top.  It is a more resolving sound than even top Wilson's, just more information with lower distortion.

Sonus Faber models in the $30K range also sound very good.  Plus they LOOK beautiful as well - for some that is important.

Borresen's were a surprise to me.  Auditioned several briefly; in short, their Z line is very good at somewhat sane prices (below $50K).  I think the Z3 may be the sweet spot, as the upper tier models quickly escalate to the price of a small house.

Lastly, I own Joseph Audio Pulsar 2 Graphene's in a separate system.  JA's have beautiful sounding drivers and are highly resolving without being analytical or hyper detailed.  I believe the sound is basically similar but gets bigger as you move up the line to Perspective's and so on.  They are also rather low on the sensitivity scale, closer to Magico's.  Hence they like power, and maybe powerful tubed units.

Would like to hear the Stenheim's some day.

Hope that helps.

@bobbydd Very, very helpful. Thanks!

@jeffseight 

I see a couple dogs on the list and some names missing.

I am only mentioning things in my area I might have access to, but what would you add to the list? Which are the "dogs" and why? Thank you.

@hilde45 audition some of these and let us know what you think as well.