David, I've been following your decision making process here and at the AVS Forum. All of the suggestions in this thead are excellent. I've heard a number of the above speakers, but ended up with the 101E's as well as the MBL 6010D preamp and a pair of 9008A monoblocks.
My room is a 15' x 35' x 10' multi purpose living room that bleeds into a kitchen. There is a 6' wide open archway on one side wall that leads into another 15' x 25' x 10' room (i.e., totally open floor plan) so a lot of sound escapes. Behind the speakers is a half wall, so essentially there is a wall behind the right speaker but not the left. That's more open space leading into another room. On the other side wall there are a pair of 6' wide sliding glass doors. No blinds or curtains, just a thin layer black felt material hanging loosely to block out the light. There are no room treatments at all other than a large area rug in front of the speakers. In other words, there are plenty of reasons why these speakers shouldn't sound good, but they're simply amazing!
My personal speaker evolution in this room is from Martin Logan Aeruis to Newform Research R645 to Talon Khorus (also had the Peregrines set up in here at one point). Each of these speakers have significant strengths, but I always felt that the room limitations kept me from getting to a point of nirvana. Now that sense is gone and it kind of scares me a bit (in the sense of just how much further the 101E's can be taken) because I know that the room presents many serious "issues".
The only reasons I haven't treated this room are: 1) I've always known that one day I would build on a dedicated HT room so it would be throwing away money to treat a room that I will one day abandon, and 2) some of the issues, like the open archway, would not be easy to deal with even if I was determined to do so.
It could be that my previous speakers and electronics just haven't been up to task, but the Talons in particular are outstanding performers. A more likely explanation in my view is that, contrary to what seems to be popular opinion these days, the MBLs are not very room/position sensitive at all. This may presuppose that you have a fairly large room to work with, and that you can get them sufficiently away from the rear and side walls (which I can). But they're not bouncing off everything and creating all sorts of nodes. In fact, they pretty much sound equally good no matter where you move within the room. There is absolutely no such thing as a "sweet spot" with these speakers.
Mind you, I'm not intending for this post to be gushing praise about a new toy. I'd like to think I'm above the fanboy stuff, and I'm not here to pat you (or myself) on the back for making this decision since there are so many other equally good speakers that each have their won strengths. Yes, I'm quite happy with the 101E's in terms of the sonic characteristics that you've described (dynamics being chief among them, and what impressed me most at the show I heard them at), but I knew that I would be before I got them.
So what I'm getting at with this post is that what has really surprised me most, and in a very good way, is how well they've integrated in a much less than optimal room environment. Of course I know that they can and will get much better in a well designed and treated room and that day will come, but I'm much relieved that the construction project doesn't need to start tomorrow. You should be comforted by this as well given that your room os of similar size.
