adante

Adante are a great speaker for vocals. They have the same wide and uniform dispersion as the KEF, but is slightly flatter in response in the range of vocal harmonics (2-8K). Where the KEF is maybe +/- 1db in this range, the Adante is closer to +/- 0.5db.

Due to the soft dome, the dispersion is directional above 8K. This makes the KEFs sound like they have more air, while the Adante sounds much more vocal focused, since this increases the relative volume of the vocal range. Also the KEF R3 is warmer and has about 10db more of bass extension.

For the size the Adante sounds smaller than the R3 (less air/smaller soundstage, less bass extension) which is surprising for a speaker with 65% more internal volume than the R3. I would say the Adante’s biggest problem is that it’s just too big for what you get. It’s also about 25% bigger than the Kef Reference 1 but gives up about 15hz of bass extension.

Vocals are without a doubt the worst part about the Adante.  I laughed out loud at that.  Have you even heard them?  Shouty and glaring.  Absolutely rubbish.  I’ve heard them with MANY amp combinations, in two different houses that all other speakers sound great in.  
Again, if they weren’t designed by a like-able guy that everyone wants to respect and (reviewers) get along with on a social level, they would be complete unknowns.

Dont even get my started on the hilariously bad bass, even with the passive radiator and hidden driver gimmick.  Oh, and the excessively huge cabinet.  
Defend your purchases all you want, but there is a reason they’re already discontinued after such a short amount of time.  
Trash.

Aren’t you 1 man army guy who keeps defending the Paradigm Persona and it’s wacky frequency response against the rest of the forum? lol

Actually Wildfoxinn, we also defend the Personas which have no more of a wacky frequency response vs any other major high end loudspeakers,

We have been looking at many highly lauded loudspeakers and many of them have dipped high frequency responses. So it seems that many audiophiles get activated when the top end of a loudspeaker has some rises at certain frequencies but are totally okay when other loudspeakers are dipped down and therefore have a "recessed or polite" top end. 

Most loudspeakers have either a rising top end or a recessed top end, very few loudspeakers are actually flat.  The real key is system matching. 

We have the Personas and the Adantes and the Kef's on display, as well as ATC and many other loudspeakers.

We don't agree with Contuzzi that the Adantes aren't good loudspeakers yes they do have a bit of a peak in their high end response but with the right warmer electronics they also sound very good.

We have demoed the Adantes vs many of the best $2-2,500.00 monitors and they are in some ways quite remarkable, especially in their deep bass response.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ ATC, Kef, Paradigm, Elac, dealers

At $1500 a pair (the close-out price) I think they are interesting because while I think the R3 is better overrall, it's an extra $500 for a smaller cabinet and better bass extension. It certainly adds a lot of pressure in the $1-2k market.