$10K Budget for Speakers: Martin Logan Masterpiece vs Tannoy


For much under $10K I can get a pair of Martin Logan Masterpiece’s Classic ESL 9 (the new ones retail for $6.5). Alternatively, I might go ahead and get a used pair of the top-of-the-line ESL 13 with all the bolts and whistles the modern electrostatic speakers offer: an unbelievable 3D-almost-surround-like staging and very detailed, life-like sound. Those Martin Logans speakers do have a huge speaker emission surface (the sound radiating "panel") emitting the sound bi-directionally and these speakers are almost the human hight tall.
The same $10K would also get me a top-of-the-line Tannoy Arden speakers (8K per pair). On the used market, if I am lucky, I could get a pair of Turnberries. Tannoy, while does have some unmatched style and a "company history-story" factor, apparently doesn’t even come close to be able to give the same sound experience Martin Logan speakers do. Tannoy speakers radiate sound from a single 10", 12" or at best 15" driver. The speaker themselves are significantly smaller than Martin Logan ones. They are barely hip height.
The esthetics and design is a huge factor for me, I do love Tannoy speakers. But, from a practical standpoint, and because the main reason I am getting the speakers is still the SOUND, and not the speakers design, I am heavily inclined to get a less-by-my-opinion-styled speakers made by Martin Logan. Because MLs, regardless of the price, offer a wider, cleaner, more life-like sound than Tannoy speakers do.
If the sound reproduction is the only concern, why would I choose a smaller, a single driver Tannoy over state-of-the art technology implemented in Martin Logan?

esputnix
@esputnix If ML works better for you, what other say or think is irrelevant. Go for it. Keep rocking brother.
i have never heard speakers that sucked me in to the music more completely, than that magnificent pair of tympani IIIs i heard @ definitive audio in '82. the largest ML speaker did not impress me one iota at least in comparison. 
You should listen to the monitor audio gold 300 generation 5 and the Platinum 200 generation 2 that AMT Tweeter is so incredible very natural.
@emrofsemanon 
I bought that pair after listening to Stanley Clark's School Days on them. I later had to sell them after moving into a small apartment and regret that I've never had a listening room since that was large enough for Maggies. I still have the Stanley Clark LP though.