It’s been years since I’ve listened to KEF at a Magnolia Hi Fi demo room before Best Buy bought them but I remember liking the sound. I’ve always preferred the sound of soft dome tweeters though, paired with a great mid-woofer and separate subwoofers I can place in the room where they may perform better.
I’ve built some speakers based on Scan-Speak Revelator drivers and still love their sound today. I’ve always held Dynaudio in the same class, having always liked the look and sound of Dynaudio.
I was finally motivated to get Contour 20’s after putting Esotar 2 450’s in one of my cars and Esotar 2 650’s in another. I would have liked to use the Esotar 110’s but they were too big to make fit. I thought if they could sound that good in a car, imagine how they could sound in a properly set up home system.
The Esotar 2 drivers seem special to my ears. I would have loved to get the Confidence 20’s but am very pleased with the Contour 20’s in the time I’ve had them. I use them with a pair of Scan-Speak Revelator 32W subwoofers and an Anthem STR Preamp that handles bass management and room correction that I can use or disable.
Due to my room I need to move my chair a few more feet away from the back wall in order to get the smoothest response but when I do the soundstage and imaging is as good as I’ve heard.
I’d say my system is tuned perfectly to my ears :).