KEF R11 vs B&W 702 vs Golden Ear Triton 1.R vs?

These 3 speakers will all sound very different from one another and it will just come down to personal preference. They are probably comparable in quality and I would venture that if you got 100 responses from folks who had heard all three, you’d get at least 25 votes for each.

Go go listen to each and tell us what you think.

I think Spendor D7 in same cost range is better than any of those but that’s again just my personal opinion. Go listen and don’t worry about what others think (because it doesn’t matter).

If I had to choose among these three, the 702s for me probably. But I spent 6 months listening to many (20ish, I forget now) speakers in this price range (u can search my posts if interested the impressions are scattered throughout) and again for my ears Spendor was clear winner even better than step up 803d3 Bowers. 

I will say say that if I were buying Bowers my $ would go to the 702s (better bang for buck than 803s imo

full disclosure - I listened carefully to the Bowers 702 over 2-3 sessions, but did not hear either of your other two choices exactly, though I heard multiple speakers from Kef and GE within family. I heard most of the GE speakers other than 1.R and didn’t care for them personally (others will disagree and they review well in the mags - this just my opinion), as the 1.R wasn’t yet released when I was looking - it is reputed to be better than previous models so check out. Re Kef, I like their sound, but it wasn’t in my top 25%.

Generally, Kefs have very wide dispersion and good imaging, making them great for a wide listening audience or if you’re moving around a lot while listening rather than continually sitting in sweet spot. GE’s will probably be good for home theater and if music is only 50% of your use case, that is a significant factor. In my haphazard ranking of all of the speakers I listened to, the Bowers were probably at about the top 30% level for me, older GE’s bottom 20%, and Kefs estimating top 40%, really pretty close to Bowers for me - just different sound. But I only cared about music and knew I’d be using a warmer sounding amp than Hegel. I also knew I’d be using a REL sub to supplement bass so the integrated subwoofers of GE were superfluous for me.

See what you like. Everyone is different.

I was surprised at my experience. I tend to hold my gear for a long time - 15-20 yrs. My last speaker purchase was 18 years ago and just as thorough in my search, and at that time I ended up with B&W, with Kef being the runner up. So I went into it this time expecting again to like those brands above all others. But either their sound changed over 20 years or my preferences (or hearing ability) changed, or both. Now I prefer the sound of Spendor, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, Vandersteen to Kef or B&W. Who knows where I’ll be in 15 yrs when I go through this again?? haha

Stereo5, I respectfully disagree and find D7 to have ample bass, but I drive them with Audio Research DSI200 which is known for having a ton of low end slam

spendor d7 are more than $5k though so if op’s max budget is there, d7 won’t work new but would used. 

I didnt hear the 1.r but found the goldenears I listened to (models up to 2+) lacking in refinement both at hi and low ends. I will have to try and listen to the 1.r sometime. 

I’m probably being too harsh on GEs and it’s not helpful especially when OP considering 1.r which supposedly better 

and regardless just bc one person (me) didn’t find them to my liking that shouldn’t deter others from listening to them. After all they for most part get fantastic reviews. 

Its so subjective gotta listen for oneself