speaker upgrade fever

The KEF Reference 1, as well as its bigger siblings, have been objectively measured to a very high degree of accuracy and are natively about as neutral a speaker as you can find.  The Reference family of speakers (excluding the 4c center channel, which has a bit more deviation with some rolled-off treble) is within 2dB of the reference level frequency. If you want a warmer tone, that's fine, and I'll second the Legacy Audio products as a great fit there, but if they are coming across as bright, that's far more likely the effect of your room and/or your electronics imparting that brightness. Before investing in new speakers, look at your space and see if you need to adjust your speakers' toe-in or put in some treatments to knock down the highs a bit.

Pure Audio Project open baffle speakers. I have/breaking in Quintet 10's with Heil AMT Tweeters.  Many options and configurations. Talk with Ze'ev--great guy.

Without a doubt, Fink Team KIM. Efficient, glorious mid-range, electrostatic-like tweeter but maybe better, some eq adjustments on rear of speaker, not a big box and beautiful German-made cabinets in a wide range of finishes. Fabulous reviews.

I have a private email asking

Where did you send your 2905. I have 3 of 4 crackling ? mylar repair?? I live in MInnesota.

I cannot reply to private emails on Audiogon, so my answer must be public.

I pull the panels out myself, which requires some mechanical and soldering skills.  I then send them to John Hall who lives near Melbourne Australia.  He gives a five year warranty on panel repairs and charges about A$300 per panel.

I used to try to identify which panel had become faulty, and get them fixed one at a time.  I think I can pull a 2905 apart in my sleep.  The reality is the glue used was defective and all panels fail at about the same time after 10 years.  John reckons you might as well repair all the panels at the same time and I now agree with him.  The last 3 of my 12 panels are currently being repaired.

I did try to repair panels myself, but could not find a way to coat the mylar with the required slightly conductive film.

Obviously the panels are much lighter than the entire speaker so it may be viable to send them to the antipodes for repair.  Not sure if John wants extra work though ...

@larseand I’m a Vandersteen guy through and through so please take what I say with a grain of salt. Get the Treos. Obviously, if you have a chance, go listen to them first but I think you’ll find an incredibly well balanced and detailed speaker that prioritizes the music. Yes, the carbon tweeter is much more detailed but it does so without being analytical. And you’ll get some of the benefits of time and phase alignment with the Aesthetix gear. The soundstage will be deep and wide with pinpoint accuracy. I can fall away into the music and forget the speakers are even there. Setup is important so if you have a local dealer willing to help with that it’s a valuable thing for them to come set them up but I set mine up on my own and with trial and error and some input from Richard himself, I got them in the correct position for my room.

Remember that the speakers are the single most important part of your setup. They define the greatest portion of what the sound will be. I’m not sure where you live or if it’s feasible for you to go hear the things you're speaking of but if not, take a trip somewhere to hear all of the options. It will be well worth the cost to make sure you get the right thing.