Hi I know this question was 5 months ago now but it may be helpful to other people.
The first thing I would say is that a speaker's sound is so subjective so the next person may completely disagree with me as I can only speak from my my sonic perspective.
About 2 years ago I thought I would buy myself a nice pair of speakers, easy I thought if I paid a enough money, I couldn't go wrong
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So I started off demoing at Hi-Fi shops I must have listened to about 20 different brands/models and I came away with a short list consisting of speakers with at least a 15cm + woofer and several manufacturers that I liked the signature sound of, especially KEF and monitor audio. So I bought some new, took them home and then return them in a week!! They just did not match up to my 30-year old JPW's costing a tiny fraction of the price (which I was using as my reference).
Cutting a long story short I started to go down the used speaker market route in order to have a proper length of time with them at home (selling anything I wasn't happy with) buying relatively modern designed/component speakers. None of them worked for me!
Untill I came across the (not so modern, but not as old as my JPW's) KEF XQ20's. - That was it, this was the sound I was waiting for.
I would guess that I have tried about 20 sets of speakers at home, with something always a miss.
BBC LS3/5a - not enough energy.
KEF Q350 - Too much energy!
Spendor - to gentlemanly/lack of sparkle.
KEF LS50 - lack of bass.
KEF R300 - too dark.
Ect ect.....
For my ears the KEF XQ20's has it all. The biggest difference between the XQ20's and a lot of the other newer KEF's (including their replacements, the R series) is that the xq20's are very open and clear. Where as a lot of the other KEF's I tried were dark, closed and slightly nasal.
The problem I had with the very sweet sounding British sound speakers such as Spendor and the BBC licenced ones were a lack of punch and dynamics.
I really liked the KEF q350 it had a fabulous dispersion of sound especially in the higher frequencies but I found them a little dark with a base that was very hard to control even using bungs.
The Xq20's have a fabulous mid-range harmony that is just chilling sometimes. The speaker has great clarity and good base extension.
For movies I use a subwoofer and when listening to just music I sometimes have to double check I have turned the subwoofer off.
I find it very hard to find fault with these. But no speaker is perfect and if I had to point to one thing it would be that they are slightly bright. But that suits me fine as I have quite a dark amplifier.
So I would highly recommended these speakers, just choose an amp with plenty of power and a slightly dark aspect to it. Or alternatively just use an EQ!
Also they are fabulous looking speakers.
As to price it is a used market so it is flexible pricing. All I can say is that I have tried and dismissed speakers with a market price of several thousands of pounds in favour of these.
- Now I have a problem I am hoping someone can help me with.
After finally finding my speaker we have had a living room RE- design and now my beloved XQ20's no longer fit the physical space.
So I have been trying to find a replacement for them that I like the sound of just as much AND would fit on a 25cm shelf close to a wall and still sound good.
With the proximity to the wall I have been looking at closed box speakers and perhaps front ports. By looking at this post you would have gained an idea of the sound that I like- good mid-range, light and airy highs, 3D sound staging, help me! can't bear the thought of going through the whole process again
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Thanks in anticipation
