15’ X 21’ X 8’ Room with a corner open to stairway- Hegel H-80 amp.
Can buy different amp, but would rather not.
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The KEF, B&W and GE are at different shops about 3hrs apart, so not able to directly compare.
Listen to Little Feat, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Allman Bros. Lyle Lovett. Moderate volume.
Open, tonally accurate sound is my goal- like detail, but musical midrange and smooth treble equally important. Accurate, tight bass more valued than quantity.
50/50 Music / Video.
Carpeted basement room.
Please share your experiences with these speakers, especially with the Hegel amp. |
These 3 speakers will all sound very different from one another and it will just come down to personal preference. They are probably comparable in quality and I would venture that if you got 100 responses from folks who had heard all three, you’d get at least 25 votes for each.
Go go listen to each and tell us what you think.
I think Spendor D7 in same cost range is better than any of those but that’s again just my personal opinion. Go listen and don’t worry about what others think (because it doesn’t matter).
If I had to choose among these three, the 702s for me probably. But I spent 6 months listening to many (20ish, I forget now) speakers in this price range (u can search my posts if interested the impressions are scattered throughout) and again for my ears Spendor was clear winner even better than step up 803d3 Bowers.
I will say say that if I were buying Bowers my $ would go to the 702s (better bang for buck than 803s imo |
full disclosure - I listened carefully to the Bowers 702 over 2-3 sessions, but did not hear either of your other two choices exactly, though I heard multiple speakers from Kef and GE within family. I heard most of the GE speakers other than 1.R and didn’t care for them personally (others will disagree and they review well in the mags - this just my opinion), as the 1.R wasn’t yet released when I was looking - it is reputed to be better than previous models so check out. Re Kef, I like their sound, but it wasn’t in my top 25%.
Generally, Kefs have very wide dispersion and good imaging, making them great for a wide listening audience or if you’re moving around a lot while listening rather than continually sitting in sweet spot. GE’s will probably be good for home theater and if music is only 50% of your use case, that is a significant factor. In my haphazard ranking of all of the speakers I listened to, the Bowers were probably at about the top 30% level for me, older GE’s bottom 20%, and Kefs estimating top 40%, really pretty close to Bowers for me - just different sound. But I only cared about music and knew I’d be using a warmer sounding amp than Hegel. I also knew I’d be using a REL sub to supplement bass so the integrated subwoofers of GE were superfluous for me.
See what you like. Everyone is different.
I was surprised at my experience. I tend to hold my gear for a long time - 15-20 yrs. My last speaker purchase was 18 years ago and just as thorough in my search, and at that time I ended up with B&W, with Kef being the runner up. So I went into it this time expecting again to like those brands above all others. But either their sound changed over 20 years or my preferences (or hearing ability) changed, or both. Now I prefer the sound of Spendor, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, Vandersteen to Kef or B&W. Who knows where I’ll be in 15 yrs when I go through this again?? haha |
Op we sell both the Kef and the Golden Ear and have heard the B&W.
Personally we feel that the Golden Ear Tritron 1R are an absolute steal and when setup properly will outperform any $5k set of loudspeakers on the market.
The KEF R series are very well balanced and have a wonderful big and focused soundstage, an excellent midrange and very tight deep bass for the money.
The Tritron 1R throw an equally big soundstage with a bit less focus, howerver their deep bass is mismerizing and can bring alive music that has a great underpinning with bass.
Also the fact that the Golden Ear has adjustable bass can help the speaker really perform optimally in the space.
The Tritron 1R are just amazing sounding, we heard them at Axpona and they were the most compelling speaker demo under $10k after walking almost the entire show, we concluded that the Triton 1R are just too good to compete against and begged Golden Ear for a dealerhip, they are that good!
The Trition 1R are a huge improvement over the older models which did not have the seemless integration of the midrange and the tweeter.
The new Reference class drivers are just in another league than the olde Tritions.
If you run the Trition 1R with good gear you will be rewarded with a transparent, dimensional sound iwth fantastic deep bass and a smooth midrange. Just draw dropping for the money and we sell many of the best loudspeakers in that price range from Quad, Paradigm, Kef, ATC, Legacy, PSB,and a few others, the Trition 1R are just unbeatable for the price.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Golden Ear and Kef dealers |
I second audiotroy. If you want an even better experience, get the Triton References like I have. Miles better than the Triton One R and the Triton One. The Spendor D7 has quite lightweight bass. |
Stereo5, I respectfully disagree and find D7 to have ample bass, but I drive them with Audio Research DSI200 which is known for having a ton of low end slam
spendor d7 are more than $5k though so if op’s max budget is there, d7 won’t work new but would used.
I didnt hear the 1.r but found the goldenears I listened to (models up to 2+) lacking in refinement both at hi and low ends. I will have to try and listen to the 1.r sometime.
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I’m probably being too harsh on GEs and it’s not helpful especially when OP considering 1.r which supposedly better
and regardless just bc one person (me) didn’t find them to my liking that shouldn’t deter others from listening to them. After all they for most part get fantastic reviews.
Its so subjective gotta listen for oneself |
Spendor D7 sounds better than any of the above.
R11 is metallic sounding
Triton 1R is the best of your bunch but does not have top level transparency or driver coherence.
B&W 702 lack refinement and can sound edgy.
The D7s will sound phenomenal after break-in. |
Actually Avantl the Triton 1r are very transparent Heil Amt tweaters are known and prized for exactly that.
We would argue that the non reference Tritrons were lese coherent the redesigned 1R are quite coherent.
The Triton 1r have been receiving incredibile reviews because of their overall performance is so high.
They have far deeper bass coupled to a much larger soundstage, greater sensitivity as well as having adjustabilty in the bass over the Spendors.
You should really listen to a pair the 1r were rated as the best affordable loudspeaker at Axpona.
Also the new Kef R do not sound metalic.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Golden Ear and Kef dealers |
@avanti1960...……………………….
The Triton References at 9K do not have any of those attributes you are complaining about.
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I just heard these side by side today, and was really surprised, the B&W just plain sounded better, the KEF sounded like it had a veil over it. Now to be fair the R11's were not placed ideally, the B&W were in a better spot, but I do not think that would account for the difference. And I want to add, I have not been a fan of B&W , and was considering the KEF R7's, now I have some thinking to do:) |
I really have tried to like b&w speakers, but for whatever reason they always sound colored. My experience with kef has been capable speakers that aren’t plug and play. The tweeter is a double edged sword since the wide dispersion can sound bright if to close to side walls. I’m a big Hegel fan. Your room acoustics could end up deciding for you what you buy. I’m currently using meridian in one room and a hegel driving Vienna acoustic beethovens in another so no dog in the fight when I suggest checking out Dynaudio also. |
I appreciate your recent responses to my OP. It has been awhile since I've listened to Dynaudio, but whenever I have they were warm and smooth ( a compliment).
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