I'm coming 1.5 years after your original post however wanted to share my experience with my KEF Reference 5's and center. I absolutely love them. Initially I tested other speakers (B&W and Sonus) but the KR5 (for my ears) have the best soundstage, bass, highs, and overall reproduction. And it's true that if you give them an inferior source they'll be reproduced as such. My living room setup is not measured as I have speakers about 15 ft apart from each other and about 12/15 feet from my sofa. I chose to accommodate based on the available area. The KEFs do not disappoint. They are powered by an MC205 and Marantz AV8802A. My sources come from an Oppo 205 and Rega RP8. While far from the ideal stereo pre-amp setup for LPs, when I play an LP, 45rpm, direct from analog tapes (e.g. Illinois Jacket, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck) it is an incredible audio experience. Just amazing. At the same time, with a 3.1 setup multichannel sound just as good. The balance of soundstage, bass, and overall dynamics is just astounding. I am going to upgrade my amplification to three MC611 or Hegel H30 if I can hear them locally. I just wanted to share that the KEF Reference 5 speakers are, to my ears, unmatched in that price range. Oh, and I love the aesthetic aspect too.
New KEF Reference 5 speakers
After many months of auditioning speakers (and probably testing the patience of several salesmen) I finally decided to get the KEF Reference 5s. I just loved the wide sound stage and almost holographic imaging, among other things. They were delivered in February and I’ve spent many hours listening. At first I was disappointed. They just didn’t produce the same imaging at my house with my equipment as in the store. Also, they sounded bright and harsh with violins and high end music. The dealer came to my house along with the regional sales rep from KEF to provide advice. They urged me to allow more break in time (at that point they had been played about 100 hours). After many more hours, I am becoming more acquainted with them. They are still improving with time. Them break in period seems to be very lon. They’ve played several hundred hours and are still improving. They are extremely source sensitive—meaning that a poorly engineered record or CD will sound terrible and a well recorded one can be great. I suppose this is a good thing with the KEFS-that they reveal flaws so well says something about their accuracy. Unfortunately there seem to be more bad recordings than good ones so I’m finding many of my CDs and records very difficult to listen to. I am still experimenting with speaker placement, learning which recordings are really good and which aren’t and other tweaks. Not totally convinced it’s love but we are at least in like and the relationship is moving in a positive direction. I’ve delayed posting anything until now because I didn’t want to share any premature conclusions.