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...
Moral....buy what you like, listen as much as possible for synergy and assume breakin...