KEF R3
I wanted to love them! They looked and sounded great at the big ol’ Magnolia Audio showroom, and I assumed that if they sounded good there, they’d sound GREAT with real gear (vinyl, tubes) at my house.
But there was something happening around 3Khz that made my ears ring. Some things sounded really alive and exciting, but there was always that sharp upper mid spike clobbering me and forcing me to turn the music down. After a couple of weeks of break-in (pink noise, dynamic music, etc.), I finally gave up and returned them.
2nd Prize: B&W 685 S2
These guys got such universal praise that I HAD to check them out. To be fair, they sounded more full-range than I’d expected (even subjectively deeper and more dynamic bass than my previous Nautilus 805s). Definitely a detailed speaker. But as their manual described,
I wanted to love them! They looked and sounded great at the big ol’ Magnolia Audio showroom, and I assumed that if they sounded good there, they’d sound GREAT with real gear (vinyl, tubes) at my house.
But there was something happening around 3Khz that made my ears ring. Some things sounded really alive and exciting, but there was always that sharp upper mid spike clobbering me and forcing me to turn the music down. After a couple of weeks of break-in (pink noise, dynamic music, etc.), I finally gave up and returned them.
2nd Prize: B&W 685 S2
These guys got such universal praise that I HAD to check them out. To be fair, they sounded more full-range than I’d expected (even subjectively deeper and more dynamic bass than my previous Nautilus 805s). Definitely a detailed speaker. But as their manual described,
"where there may be a significant increase in the amount of detail compared with wha tthe listener has previously been used to; the sound may at firstappear too "up front" and perhaps a little hard"... yes. When the MANUAL tells you this, maybe it’s a sign?It went on to recommend a break-in period of anywhere from 15 hours to a month "or longer." After 3 days, I couldn’t hack it anymore.