Speaker advice for first hi-fi setup - Monitor Audio Gold vs. KEF R series!

not what you want to hear, but you are barking up the wrong tree if you mean what you say about warm and listenability

proac

spendor

harbeth

Well, the Monitor Audio did sound warm to my ears I guess.
Out of the three you mentioned, I had listened only to Spendor A4 and A7. I had enjoyed the speakers but felt that the treble was jumping out a bit. The cymbals on the drums had a bit too much sibilance.

Which Harbeth speaker would you recommend around the $4k mark? I’m based in Singapore and will have to see if there is a dealer available. 

Those Kef LS 50 W are pretty good speakers and great for apartments. Have you thought of adding a sub to the mix?

Absolutely, I really enjoy listening to my KEFs. They are in my study. My post was more around a new setup that I want to do in the living room.

I’ve owned many Harbeths and Spendors. My keeper of all of them is the Harbeth P3ESR. The specs are very deceiving (75 HZ). The base is sufficient without using a subwoofer. With a nice pair of stands they will fit into your budget.
You should be able to find a dealer in your neck of the woods. You can google the many reviews on this outstanding speaker!
https://harbeth.co.uk/where-to-buy/dealers-asia.php

The Proac DT8's are real sleepers, but very much worth bearing in mind.  Check them out.

In the end, it's questionable how much relevance is to be gleaned from other's preferences and someone else's interpretations of adjectives like "warmth" and listenability. Personal preferences, partnering equipment, and the room all make one listener's nirvana another's purgatory. In the rooms and setups I've listened to, I found Harbeth and Spendor lacking a certain sense of liveliness. As they have so many fans, its likely setup and partnering equipment was lacking in synergy. In my second system and room, I find KEF R500's to have an ideal balance between musicality, warmth, imaging, and treble information. I've heard them in other rooms with expensive solid state amplification and they weren't nearly as communicative and involving. I had to experiment with three amplifiers before the KEF's "clicked" into focus and displayed all the virtues I'd read about in professional reviews. It would be wonderful if the path to the perfect system were straightforward, but unfortunately it usually involves detours and a learning curve. Good luck with your quest!

Hey guys,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Will see if I can audition some Harbeth and ProAc speakers and check their sound.

@photon46 

Agreed! A lot of subjectivity involved here. Out of the many speakers I listened to over the past couple of months, it was the Monitor Audio and KEF that piqued my interest. While I may attribute that to things like ‘warmth’ or ‘kick’, it could be any number of subjectively perceived reasons that these speakers appealed to me.

As phototon mentioned,remember you were listening to 'A System' when you were auditioning.Find out what components and cables were matched with the speakers you liked.Choose carefully!

You might enjoy the Klispch Cornwall 4s. Bass is there.

harbeth compact 7 or super hl5

newer spendors may have a little more sizzle, they like other classic speaker makers try to stay current with a 'modernized' sound

try spendor sp1/2

@parabola82 - Agree 100% with pjr801 on the LS50s.
I have a pair that, after some placement adjustments, sound great in terms of warmth and a bit of weight.

On another note, I also have Harbeth SHL5+40th Anniversaries that do what the LS50s do but better, bigger and a bit more refined.

If you absolutely cannot make the LS50s work for you, I strongly suggest the SHL5+s for your room size.   I got mine used for close to 4k.  
The C7ES is another good choice.

Good luck in your search!

@hleeid

The LS50W work every well for me and I thoroughly enjoy their sound. My post was actually seeking advice for a new hi-fi setup that I am planning for my living room, a much bigger space. 

With all the Harbeth recommendations coming, I really need to arrange a few demos!

@jtcf 

I hear you mate!

But there are practical challenges here also. All the brands I auditioned are with separate dealers. Each dealer runs it with their choice of amps and cables. For example:

- The KEF R7 were hooked up to NAD M10 and a high-end AccuPhase power amp.
- The Monitor Audio Gold 200 were hooked up to some economical Marantz amp.
- The Revel F206 were hooked up to a BlueSound Node 2i.
- The Focal Aria were run thru a Naim amp.

While I was paying attention to all of this, I could not objectively attribute impact of amp vs. speakers vs. cables to what I was hearing.

So my approach is to choose speakers first. For demos, I try to ensure that speakers are not hooked up to very expensive amps. I will then move to amp next. By the way, none of the dealers here in Singapore have a return policy - once the speakers leave the showroom and get unpacked, there is no room to have a change of mind. 

Fingers crossed...

As others have mentioned, you are auditioning systems, not speakers, at the dealers.  I think your best approach would be to determine the best system within your budget at each dealer.  A good dealer should be willing to spend time with you swapping amps, preamps, streamers, etc. in order to best match components to produce the sound you want.  Once you've determined the optimal system at each dealer, you can then choose which entire system to purchase. One thing in particular that the dealer should consider is any limitations your room puts on speaker placement.  Good luck!

Speakers make no sound until hooked up to other components.  Often overlooked by many who make declarations about how a speaker sounds.  The room being the biggest factor and of course cables..ugh.  KEF makes great sounding speakers at a fair price.  I have fond memories of my old C5’s.  Get a pair and enjoy...and don’t look back here for validation...too many nutcases!

Thanks for the input guys!

So many speakers (systems!), so little time (and money).

Guess the journey is as much fun as the destination.

Monitor Audio ard KEF are good choices, I use KEF in home theatre and have a pair of Monitor Audio Platinum PL300II for 2 channel. I have heard all levels of MA from bronze to gold over the years and find them to be a very musical speaker. When I want a blast from the past I just switch out to my Klipsch LaScalas.

I have Kef R300s bought 5 years ago. I bought them after side by side listening compared to LS50s for 4-5 hours in a shop. If they changed the amp they ran both speakers thru it. I found 2 key things. First, the R300s had more bass than the LS 50s to my ears but otherwise sounded almost the same in midrange and highs. The electronics placed in front had a HUGE impact on the overall sound of BOTH. I bought a Marantz PM8005 to go with the R300s. It was nice, warm and could run direct or thru the preamp. It was also broken in as were the speakers. I was told both would take 50-100 hours to break in. Since I lived 4-5000 miles away from the shop this was a key thing to know and I respected that I was told this upfront. They didnt lie. The Kefs took a good 100 hours to break in as did the Marantz. During that period, I also swapped out the amp at home using 2 other pieces I had from McIntosh and ATI. Ultimately, I loved the McIntosh combination the best and used it for months. The Kefs were ruthlessly revealing but mostly neutral. I learned I had some really great sounding CDs. .Meanwhile I ran the Marantz through Spendors and Ohms and eventually that broke in fine. When I finally reunited the two "modern" pieces I was surprised at how good they sounded. Each had gotten to the point of mostly being broken in. I found even more that the combo was very revealing. To this day 5 years later I like both pieces but am thinking of upgrading the amp... to see what might deliver even more of that neutral sound. The speakers are keeper unless I buy better Kefs. I do like the full Reference series but that would require a few investments to deliver....
Moral....buy what you like, listen as much as possible for synergy and assume breakin...