well what separates the likes of Magico and Wilson from the cheaper stuff? I may never get to hear them so I won't be able to find out directly.
I have been fortunate to listen to loads of great speakers, and own a few over the last 20 years and am happy to share my two cents/experience:
1. Any speaker, big or small, ludicrously expensive or pocket-change cheap...can make magic. A well selected system properly set up can make serious magic...both musically and in the 'audiophile-way' (highs, lows, decay, transient response, linearity, soundstage, etc)
2. What has made [some] of the big boys [some of the time...when set up well] have superb magic, transformative powers of music-making are:
a. effortless, effortless, effortless...at any volume, volume 1 or volume 100...they never strain, never stretch, never wobble or get edgy...and even at volume 1, you hear EVERYTHING...from lowest bass thwack to the whisper of a flute...in fact, this is DANGEROUS...the best systems can play SO loudly...you literally shout and cannot hear yourself...but you are NOT cringing from the volume...normally you cringe from DISTORTION...but when it is effortless, undistorted and loud, it can be deceptive...and then you go deaf. Literally. I have a good audiophile friend who wears two hearing aids after ONE day listening to SOTA big boy speakers at concert levels in a small room for 5 hours...his hearing never came back the next morning.
b. linearity and coherence from top to bottom...unlike a mid-market bookshelf with padded bass to make it feel bigger than it is, the best of the best delivery the full spectrum of sound with grace and power...and they do it so that you cannot tell which is the tweeter and which the mid...it is all there, as music. you dont think about the cones or the ribbons
c. detail/decay...you really do find that you heard things you NEVER heard before in the same recording...when i was fortunate to get to a certain level of equipment (all second-hand), i found a universal comment from visitors is always...'wow, it is so clear, and i never heard that part before...cool' Usually, this is in pop recordings, hip hop, rap...not brilliantly recorded stuff (like MA Recordings)...but you start to hear contrapuntal themes, chorals in the background, whispers, tings/dings/mini-beats that are synchopated in the background)...and again, i am talking about hip hop, rap, rock, etc, nevermind an FIM K2 HDCD Remaster.
d. speed/complexity...part of effortless is the speaker's ability to fire off a gazillion staccatos bursts and keep them all independent of each other...while playing a single long violin note at the same time. It is quick off the draw with superlative waves of power...extremely difficult to do BOTH...while it can also maintain complex orchestral passages with delicate bits going on at the same time...that do not get drowned out by the waves of powerful music coming over the top.
e. transparency...meaning you really feel like what you stuck in...came out the other side. In some of my earlier speakers...Celestion SL6si's...i always liked what i heard coming thru them...but it always sounded slightly golden hued...no problem cause i liked it...but it was colored. and it was a touch slow and got super-confused with super-complex passages. With the big boys...you really hear the differences in recording styles, the difference between real echo...and reverb implanted at the recording studio. You also hear the difference between equipment, originals vs remasters of CDs, cables, etc, etc. And the great thing is (that is a LOT of fun for an audiophile)...is that it is not hard to do it...you dont sit there brow furrowed trying to guess about what you're hearing...you go to your laptop to surf around...and start playing an album you've not heard on your latest upgraded system...and you turn around when the track comes on...and realize the guy's not singing in a live venue...the reverb is fake...it so obvious, you realize 'i never heard that before'.
Those are my personal notes, and reflective of the discovery of where i have come from to present day. A lot of fun. And its still all about the music...well, okay mostly,..the equipment is cool too.