How does this make sense, any sense? Any sense at all??

The "Big Room" thing always mystifies me...where are the Big Room people listening? 50 feet away from the speakers? My listening space is relatively large but I sit 8 or 9 feet from the speakers because that's where they sound best for me...not 30 feet away (which I could do I suppose)...my 2 little subs can rock the walls I guess but they aren't required to, and unless a room is full of inebriated dancers who cares? I can wheel out the pro stuff for that (and have for house concerts). If I want "big room" sound I get it from the concerts I mix for hundreds of people using thousands of PA watts for clarity with actual musicians (pre corona of course). In Goodwins "large room" listening area you aren't standing 100 feet away from the Magicos, nor should you.

The ls50 is bettered by the inexpensive $449 Wharfedale 225’s

And those are made better by inexpensive cap upgrades. :)

where are the Big Room people listening?

In the large listening rooms I have set up or listened in, the listening distances may be the same or a little greater then tooms you are used to. But listening to a small speaker, even at 9' away in a large space, is very different then listening to the same speaker in a large space. All speakers play with the room. Small rooms can be overloaded with sound (energy). Larger rooms can be underloaded(?), whereas there the room itself is damping the sound by the lack of reflection.

That’s not possible the ls 50 is very good for a under $2k speaker granted, but the drivers are night and day better on their reference models ,as well as much more robust for added SPZl levels ,
whoever put Thst together was smoking someth8ng good ,please remember too , these writers are making a general assessment
not in absolute terms ,the speakers may be on the same team ,
but are not the All Stars.  I have read many references through the year in class A-C categories that I totally disagreed with ,thy will sell 50 LS50 monitors for every 1 shasha,or Ref5 sold ,plenty of a Volume sales in that marketing pitch.Please also remember magazines make NO money selling their magazines ,it is by a long margin the Adverts and recommendations that pay the saleries .   A full page ad maybe $3-5k.
when I owned a Audiostore 12 years ago I was paying a grand for a half page ad. Magazines or reviews are just a guide if you see several good reviews from different sourses Thst holds much more weight and your ears are by far your best guide to the synergy in your system,too many variables I have seen reviews and comparisons with different cables being used to review equipment that is just Plain Stupid  so compare and view equipment being used  Synergy is most important in Your system.

audioman58...I can hear your third grade English teacher crying....