With a few false starts and some patience, I now have a new pair of S1s in my room. I'll post again when they have burned in a bit and have them dialed in, but here are a few first impressions.
Day 1: Literally cold and just plopped down where the B1s were, they were bright with bass MIA.
Day 2: At room temp, they were a bit better already. Moving them back 6" made a huge difference in bass response. I think I am not quite at optimum position yet, but already bass is very adequate. Compared to the B1, they are down several dB below 100 hz (by ear) but they have good extension. The 32 hz spec is realistic.
After a few days of listening to various types of music and in comparison to the vivids...
Soundstage: The B1s give an amazingly life like presentation of the singer. Very stable center image. Off center instruments and vocals become a bit diffuse. To be fair, this is a property of my room, which is only 12' wide so I have diffusion at first reflection points. The S1s don't have quite as solid of center image, but have more clear placement across the soundstage, extending beyond the speakers, and are a bit more three dimensional.
High end: Both very good, but neither 'perfect'. The B1s have a quality that could be described in a positive way as 'shimmering' or in a negative way as 'squeaky'. S1 have more extension and are brighter and I would describe as a touch 'splashy'. If the new diamond coated tweeter fixes this, they are likely very, very good. Break in may help.
Bass: B1s overloaded my room a bit and bass was a bit exaggerated. Placement had to be within 1/2 inch of the best position for them to sound really good with smooth response. Was very enjoyable when dialed in though. S1s seem to have about the same extension, but level is quite a bit less. However, the resolution of the speakers makes it easy to focus in on the bass line. For example, I was perfectly happy with Geedy Lee's bass Guitar on the Hi-res version of Moving Pictures. I could easily hear every note.
Listening fatigue and long term happiness: Stay tuned.
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