I've heard S5 and S1 now at my dealer, but no chance for a direct comparison. The S5 was run by Rogue M180 monoblocks (w/ KT120 tubes) and a VAC Renaissance III preamp; the S1 by an modded (upgraded) VAC Sigma 160i integrated. Same room, positioning, and source (Clearaudio Innovation Compact w/ Magnify & Ortofon Cadenza Red)
The S5 system was very nice. Somewhat surprisingly to me, the S1 system is a killer. I'm a hugely biased Tannoy fanboy, and these S1 are about the 1st non-Tannoy to give me those "everything's right" and "I'd be quite happy with this" feelings.
The treble is just fantastic (they did a great job with that beryllium tweeter), the mids are simply lovely (highly resolving yet organic), and the bass is very well integrated (much more so than with the S5). There's obviously less bass than with the S5, but they did a great job engineering for its size. Soundstage is notably improved in the S1 system.
I don't like the low efficiency of the Magico speakers, but when it sounds so great from 80 Watts/ch, it's hard to complain much. There might be something special to that VAC integrated, but certainly the S1 is also special.
Now I think I'm gonna need to get the supertweeters for my Canterbury SE...
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