What is your experience with Magico A3 or A5 speakers and the company as a whole?

I suggest that you expand your search, especially given the price range you are considering. My only experience with Magico is AXPONA, but I have left the room each time wondering what people see in these speakers. They sound dry to me.

Rockport and QLN are excellent suggestions. These sound natural and will deliver the bass response you seek. I would highly recommend attending a show, AXPONA is just around the corner. While not ideal for focused auditions, you will get to sample a large array of speakers, and you will come away with some favorites that you can pursue for in depth auditions.

I do like my aries they are nice . Beryllium is designed to push cone distortion past 20 kHz so they don't distort in audible range. This is why high end manufactures use them. I like them and have a whole set of tektons ulfbrich with be. They are only dangerous if you break them.i have not broken one yet and neither have the grandkids. The suggestion about ps audio fr series is fantastic.i took the tour talked to Chris and Paul about the design. They have a trade in program making the fr 30 20k. I power mine with 1kw mono and flip it with the bhk 600. Fantastic base mid and high.the ribbons are made out of teonix with the modulus sp just below beryllium.go listen to them.the reason manufactures use amt,ribbons is momentum is mass x velocity and the diaphragm is light fast ,responsive.my magico q7 like all magico require alot of watts to perform in my opinion and they sound great. Go to listen to the speakers to decide what is your personal taste.happy listening.

I would like to add Revel to the list of alternatives mentioned. Their Performa F328Be speakers are great and, compared to e.g., Magicos, very affordable.

The F328Be:s will cost about 50% as much as the A5:s.

There's a used pair of Legacy Aeris on usaudiomart right now for like 13k if you want to save funds and audition them.  With the type of cheddar you're talking, definitely makes sense to audition, hopefully in a room that is like yours.  Devore Fidelity 0/96 special edition are often mentioned in these discussions.  Never heard them or the rockports, but those seem fantastic based on reviews and measurements.  Also Perlisten s7t look fantastic as well.  Especially if you don't use ceiling paneling.  Happy listening and best of luck!

I have the S5 mkII right now and love the sound. I did audition the A5's before I bought a demo pair of the S5's. Both sounded great to me, and about the same price since I got a demo pair of the S5's. I paired the Magico's with an Aurender streamer/dac, and an integrated Vitus. By the way Magico's sound really good also with McIntosh since I did audition them first with that gear. I have called Magico customer service and they usually answer the phone and they seemed like they back there product and are helpful with questions.