Fed up with my speakers

[Sailor4W]

I agree that the aforementioned Britisch speakers look a bit outdated. But many find that a charm. And be aware, and here I want to stress, the technology in these speakers is very recent and very up to date. So you have classic cabinets with modern speaker technology.

Then next, the main thing about Kef is that their tweeter is in the middle of the mid-range (uniQ design) which gives them the clean integration. And about floorstanders or not: there is not one 'class' that is better than the rest. In fact, contradictory of what has been written above, many speaker designers will tell you that a two-way design is almost always better designed than a three-way design since the latter is much more complex in the crossover. It's often better to have a two-way bookshelf, if needed complemented with a sub for larger listening rooms, then to go for a large three-way design. Of course some think otherwise.

Finally, to my ears, in case you really care about authenticity to the source then you should go with Dynaudio.

After my experience with ATC, my first reaction was to stay away from British speakers. But I admit that this is maybe a bit crude an attitude. I do like the design. My first encounter with HiFi was when I was at high school (a loooong time ago) and at that time all speakers looked that way. I 'grew' up with this classic design of British speakers. And I do not know if I like nowadays design better. But essentially, I find British speakers mostly to be too expensive for what they are. I am under the impression that one pays tradition and not necessarily performance. But, again, this might be over simplified!

One exception to British tradition seems to be KEF, that's why I am interested in them. But I have never heard any of their speakers. The R3 got some raving reviews, but which speaker hasn't?

Floorstanders: I am not absolutely against them, just, they shouldn't be too large. Speaker like the ATC SCM40s would be way too dominant in our living room. Spendor, for example, has the A2 and A4s and they look like reasonably sized and very well done. These speakers could very well be my 're-entry' into British speakers!