I have heard the S5 on three occasions at a dealer in the past. The first time they were powered by a pair of 2301's, the 2nd time by some 601's and at my insistence the third time by a 275 MK 5.
802's have a Nasty 2/3 octave peak of about 7 db centered at 10 Khz which the Magicos don't have, and accept for a dip around 4oo hz which about and octave wide and 5 db deep are much smoother than the 802. They are much more listenable. [{I preferred the little 275 with the speakers at or about 12 watt levels listing at 12 ft from the speakers. The 275 warmed up the midrange it seemed where the s5 were lacking. The bass wasn't my fav-orite. It just never grabbed me on recordings I was familiar with. The bass was fast for sure , but the output below 50 cycles just wasn't there. And no matter where I went in the room to listen, even standing next to the back wall it wasn't there. In that respect I would take some old Mac XRT 28's any day.
I really enjoyed the tweeter in the S5, it was smooth and accurate with out over emphasizing cymbals, tribute-angle , and electronic synthesizers. Isaac Sterns Violin did screech at me like B&W's do. I do prefer tube amps with the S5, but a 352 is a mighty sweet SS amp and I would think it would make a great partner for the S5.
I imagine with a little help from a MEN 220 all the issues with the S5 I have would disappear easily. To tell the truth I prefer the Snell A7, but they are hard to find. Everything from about 100 HZ up with the Snell is just better. A little more forward sounding. Here again I was listening to 2301's and 1201 amps with either a C48 or a C500 T. Positioned correctly there was definitely bass below 50 HZ, not like an XRT 28 but pretty close.
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