Short story, bought the KEF's - amazing!
Longer version... Started of with B&W 707s2's, unfortunately they didn't get the 703's in time but this at least gave me an impression of the top end of the B&W's without the separate tweeter housing. Sounded good, clearly not much body and low end but to focus on the top end it was detailed and probably what you might term bright. On the last track I played on them (Kodaline Love Like This, there is a harmonica (I think) and that really sounded harsh.
Next up was the MA Silver 300's, these straight away you could tell sounded different, none of the brightness/edgyness - I think you'd say these were very polite and non-fatiguing. Voices were a touch subdued but still very good, bass was not quite what I was expecting but my point of reference at this point was only my own setup in my room.
Overall I could have bought these and listened to them for a long time, but I think subdued is probably best to describe them. But I would have wanted to listen to some Dali Oberon 7 or Opticon 6's though against these I feel, not a gut feeling from them that just said buy.
Next up were the KEF. Well pretty much from the first note I was a weird mix of smiling and jaw open! You could tell these were something else to the other 2. Voices were so open and clear, treble I believe you'd label as insightful but not even remotely a harsh edge to them. Bass, far better than the MA's. These were such an incredibly smooth speaker, sound stage was far more evident and on every track I played just sounded fantastic.
I'd ruled out the R5's a long while back based on the spec sheet numbers, how wrong was I to do that. So glad I saw them in the shop the week before, noticed how striking they looked and was like yeah we'll add those to the list why not!!
Overall the KEF were smooth and everything about their presentation was what I was looking for, these speakers knocked the MA's for six. Now, given the price it's probably fair enough but that was the purpose of this trip establish how much gets you what quality essentially.
And then lastly were the 702s2's. Having just heard the difference between the MA and KEF I was excited to roll these out as their price is another level again. However, whilst they sounded different to the KEF, it was not better different. Voices very good, treble very detailed but it was closing in on the cusp of harsh on a couple of tracks. Certainly not edgy like the 707's (though I suspect they would be on poorly recorded tracks), but these were no doubt a bright presentation. Don't get me wrong I liked them a lot, and if I hadn't listened to the KEF I might have bought these, although truth be told I think I'd have gone MA's over these because of the money. These didn't in my mind justify the extra which is almost 3 times at list price over the MA.
They had a good fullness to the music, reasonable bass (i.e about the same as the MA, worse than KEF), but I was sat listening thinking these just don't sound as good as the KEF. Each track just lacked a little something, smoothness I think and also the overall brighter tonality that may have grated over time.
I swapped back to the KEF after just to be sure and it compounded everything I'd thought, back to grinning like an idiot and it was no question I needed them! Not even tempted to try anything else at the price point, these literally sound exactly how I'd imagine my next speakers to be in every way and are without doubt the best speakers I've heard (yes I do know I'm pretty fresh to this!)
If there was anything I could have considered to compare them against it was the R7's basically. They didn't have any there but in the end I think the R5's are the sensible choice. Bass would have been more again sure but I'm not sure I need it, the bass on R5's was very good and easily able to deliver what I need for 99% of music I listen to. And when you consider the location of my speakers in my room it is not completely ideal and is probably why I get such strong bass from wall reinforcement now, so there's a a real chance the R7's could make things overblown in my room (3.5mx5.5m). Reason being is my speakers are sat in a sort of large recess at the end of the room where the stairs come across over the top of the left speaker. It also means I'm height limited as the taller the speaker is the narrower the width between them becomes as I have to move that speaker inboard to get clearance above and the R5's are a tall speaker as it is so right at the limit of what I measured really before the width gets compromised. I have a BKXXLS400 to use for times when I'm feeling uncouth anyway and the £600 difference between them also all but pays for the R2C which I'll look to get in the next month or so. (I mis-measured and the R2C will fit my cab!)
This was all run through my Audiolab too, didn't apparently struggle to drive any of them and whilst none of it was level matched I was adjusting the volume at will. You could tell when you swapped speakers as the volume did need changing, I think it was the 702's that required the least volume (90dB sensitivity on them) so makes sense. So I don't think you need hundreds of watts to run them like I've seen suggested.
The Audio-T guys were great also, bringing the speakers in and leaving me alone to listen away. No hard sell at all or bias to any product either.
All in all very good day and hoping next weekend I'll be back to pick them up