Since your wife modified what was okay based on hearing Magnepan speakers, you might want to also have her listen to the newer 1.7:
MG 1.6 - Magnepan, Inc.
She may modify her opinion yet again.
As to your question on the Salk versus Magnepan, I have not heard Salk speakers so I cannot directly answer your question.
However, I own some speakers that appear to use the same ribbon tweeters as in a couple of other Salk speakers (
Archos Open Baffle and
Pharos HET) and can comment about mine (which are the bookshelf speakers in
this brochure).
First off, those tweeters are superb, and sound as good as any tweeter I have ever heard. (Raal, who makes the tweeters for the models you are considering, is also supposed to be superb, and I have heard someone claim that they make even better tweeters than the Aurum Cantus G2). However, there is a difference in character between a monopole speaker and a dipole speaker, such that a dipole (properly set up) sounds more "spacious" than a monopole. For two channel use, I really like dipole speakers (
these are what I use in my main two channel system); I have had people ask if there were more speakers in the room than just the two. But with surround, this seems less important, as one does have other speakers giving you a more immersive experience than just a pair of monopoles. And there is another difference, in that the midrange and bass are handled by a cone woofer instead of a ribbon or planar driver, and that is less desirable, in my opinion. Hearing just my Aurum Cantus Leisure 2SE (original U.S. version) speakers compared with my Apogee Stage speakers, the midrange, though very good with the Aurum Cantus, is significantly better with the Apogee Stage (and the Stage is also better with the bass, but as you say, that is what subwoofers are for). Now, the Salk speakers you are considering have what is, I believe, a higher quality woofer in them than my Aurum Cantus speakers, so they should sound better in the midrange than my Aurum Cantus speakers (assuming a well designed crossover, which I would expect from a company with their reputation), but I have never heard a cone woofer that I like as well as a planar driver for midrange, so my *guess* would be that I would prefer the Magnepan speakers. But a guess isn't really good enough, so I recommend that you drive to listen to them if you can hear them side by side with Magnepan speakers for comparison.
On the other hand, if you are impatient (which sometimes leads to mistakes), you really can't go wrong with Magnepan, particularly as you already know that both you and your wife really like them. But I recommend patience and going out to listen to as many different types and brands of speakers as you can stand to audition before parting with your money. Unless you have money to burn, in which case you should buy some Magnepan speakers now, and then when you have time, go audition the other speakers, and give away the Magnepans if you decide you like something else better.
One other thing: If you can fit an identical speaker in the center for the center channel, you will have perfect voice matching, which is ideal. In my surround system, I use identical speakers for all channels (other than subwoofer, obviously), and I will never go back to having speakers that are merely "voice matched."
