Most recent speaker you audited in room and returned? Why did you return it?

LSA 10 statement speakers

I still have PTSD

@grislybutter 

Sorry to hear that the statement failed to make a statement.

I hope all associated PTSD heals over time 😁.

Kef LS50 Meta.I’m not so sure that I didn’t get a bad set though. The left speaker sounded like it was breaking up at volume.

I’ve also owned some sacred cows on this forum from smaller manufacturers that shall remain nameless for fear of reprisal.

@audionoobie

Well, it’s a free country. If a cow wasn’t all that sacred in your experience, you should be able to say so freely and without any reprisal (i.e., it is the purpose of this thread), " I did not like that cow...A different beast worked better for me"...No problemo....

But then I don’t buy speakers just hoping they will just happen to sound good. If my research suggests (absent an actual in home audition) that the speakers have the characteristics that are important to me in the first place, which are supported by user/professional reviews, I buy them and I will dedicate a considerable amount of time, in some cases years actually, to dial them in by finding the appropriate electronics and carefully setting them up in my room. No small feat I think, and I can always sell them if I can’t make them work for me.

@newbee , I don’t fall for that innuendo, i.e., "It’s never the fault of the speaker and the guy who made it. It is always the fault of the guy who bought it". Such innuendo generally emanates more from guys who sell things in higher price brackets. And no, i won’t be sitting around for "years" to make it work. I have a couple of different legit rooms and a few different types of legit electronics. If it underperforms or doesn’t meet expectation, I send the speaker back to speaker’s daddy and move on to something else. It’s quite simple and life’s short.

Sent back Tekton Double impacts. That tweeter array was not for me. Instead ended up with Legacy

@nitrobob , I had the double impact in one of my rigs for a few months before i offloaded it/gave it to my nephew. Of course, the Youtube reviewers/advertisers were singing christmas carols about it. It’s a nice concept in theory....trying to manage the midrange with the tweeter array (small drivers --> improved impulse response, etc), which should technically give a high level of resolution, clarity, etc in the midrange. But, it didn’t.... It could be tricky trying to optimize a crossover network for that type of design.

Although I didn't return them, I was very disappointed in my KEF LS-50s, in my living room, both with and without a subwoofer. I even put them through a thorough break-in to make sure that wasn't an issue. They just just sounded small and lost. Then I realized they were indeed a nearfield monitor, and the critical distance in my room worked out at about 3 feet, my listening distance almost 3X that. So I packed them up and replaced them with a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 300 7Gs. I really wanted a set of Maggie 1.7s, but they are totally unfeasible in my room. I absolutely love the MA 300s. They have the dynamics of a JBL and the character of a well executed British speaker. As for the KEFs, I thought about selling them, then decided to build a nearfield system in my office Consisting of them, a Bluesound Node driving one of Adcom's Nelson Pass designed MOSFET GFA-5200s. In here, they sound great. 

@panzrwagn , +1,  the ls50 could indeed be ideal for near field office/desktop audio (no worries about where separate drivers summed or not).

Always wanted to try a small speaker like the Dali Menuet. Picked up a NIB Dali Menuet SE here in the States, probably the only only left. After what I thought was a reasonable amount of breakin period, I listened and compared to other speakers I had. While it was smooth, had weight and controlled sibilant passages really well, there were sounds in the music that were either so subdued or alltogether missing that I couldn’t accept. In my opinion, it was overly refined. They had great resolution but lacked a commensurate amount of detail. Ended up getting Dali Opticon 1s NIB at half price, also last ones seemingly left at least at discount, and they work much better for me. Not as resolving as the SE but still sufficiently resolving and with the detail I was used to hearing with every other speaker I had or had tried. And works in nearfield or further away in a small room. Vinyl wrapped vs nice wood veneer but works just the same at a much lower price. A lessoned learned.

Returned MA Silver 100 6th gen which was too much in your face and could muddle up the upper middle and high frequencies. Good control of sibilance but got congested at moderate SPLs and at lower volumes, had to constantly adjust volume to hear softer passages but then dynamic swings were just too much. Ended up with Martin Logan 15i and on a sub, gives you the best points of the MA without the issues. Easier to listen with both movies and music but still exciting.

Quad S2, very resolving and detailed, fun with movies but sounding dull with music. It had a a fairly neutral frequency curve after the mid bass hump but I think what made it un-engaging listen for me was the flat stage (totally lacked depth) that made it so. They didn’t disappear in the room and imaging wasn’t all that great, my budget Triangle Zetas were far more desirable with music. The Zetas were far more musical but can have some glare during a sibilant passage noticed mostly with movies. So if a speaker performs well in most areas, I can give up a bit of resolution. Another lessoned learned.

All considered budget speakers and even though I use good amplification, from a Keces E40 to a Hegel h160, doesn’t make sense getting a much more expensive speaker at the SPLs I typically listen too given I have neighbors and no longer want to listen really loud. Not enough to gain for the money, unless I can find something far less than retail.

Sent other speakers packing as well over the years.While better speakers can give more inner detail, texture in notes, finding that in a small speaker is harder to do and as long as tonality is good enough, it works. All three speakers I have are different but nice for me to listen to. Part of the experience i guess.

@agwca , nice post/great chunk of info.

For the past 10 years, I have been set up in a 1600 sq.ft basement, which i finished to get 2 large listening rooms, storage space, etc (got banished from floors above by the sorceress upstairs). Small speakers have always sounded lost in my space and are not my thing. For the type of music I listen to at my spl levels, they all cry and demand to be sent back to their daddy. Most reviewers (advertisers) on YT review way too many small speakers (easy to get them in and out, I suppose!)...and I’d be shocked if those tiny flacid speaker wielding cowboys said anything other than, "it was the best thing eva!". Lol

Cool that you’ve got a Keces amp.. I have been using some of their power conditioning solutions for a bit. It’s not a name you hear around here much.