need recommendations for standmount speakers

So what did you think about the sierras, and what did you decide on?

I think I made the right choice. They went well with my small-ish room. 

They have good low extension and tight punchy bass. There is a good amount of bass, so much so that I could even run it without my REL sub and still be happy with the sound. 

The raal ribbon is quite impressive; so much clarity and air up top. 

I have no regrets going with the 2ex. The buy was sweetened by the fact I got them during the introductory/holiday discount. 

Thank you, everyone, for all your suggestions! I'll be honest, some of the brands mentioned, I've never even heard of. Looks like my work will be cut out for me and I've a lot of reading up and listening to do. 

The Quad Z2 look interesting. Only experience I've had with Quad is with the 11L and that was so many years ago. 

I've really got to try and find a Harbeth to listen to. Never heard one in person all my life... 

How do you quote people/replies on this forum?? 

Thanks again, everyone, for taking the time to reply. I see Raal ribbons are quite popular. 

The ascend acoustics Sierra 2ex look nice and I've googled and read some reviews. Not sure if I can source or even audition them locally.. Will see if they have a distributor here in Singapore.

I've also actually tried emailing Tekton as I'm looking at their double impact full towers to replace my lounge set Dali Ikon 6 mk2 I think they're due for an upgrade.. But unfortunately they have not replied me.

Have auditioned the Klipsch 600m and I actually prefer my 606 and the Buchardt S400 over the 600m.

Will Google Selah.. I've not heard of them till now.

I've heard the dynaudio s40, excite, evoke and they sounded great in the showroom but they were well spaced out and far from the back wall. There was one dynaudio (can't remember which model) I auditioned which was close to the back wall and the sound was a bit of a mess, muddy and congested.

Copy, what you want to quote, by right clicking on it. Open a "post your response" box and paste the text you want to quote. Once the text is pasted, right click on it again and highlight it. Once the text is highlighted, click on the " just above the top left corner of the "post your response" box. That will turn it into... 

Hey thanks! I think it works. 

Anyways, was browsing through some speaker reviews and was curious if anyone here had any comments on the Kef R3. 

Thank you for the Wharfedale suggestion. My last speaker from them were the Diamond 9.1. The 4.2 I've just found out are available to audition. So will be adding that to my list during my walkabout. Thanks! 

I just wanted to give a quick update.

No more speaker recommendations needed for now as I’ll have my work cut out for me trying to demo some of the speakers above.

Yesterday i managed to audition the Dynaudio Special 40 again.

The Dyn S40 was hooked up to a Hegel 190, with the same speaker cables as my own (chord epic) and similar stands. The speakers were about 10 cm away from back wall and in a small cove ie not much space to right and left of speakers. Speakers placed about 5 ft apart. Room was smaller than my own.

Wow! I was blown away. These are some pretty amazing speakers.. So dynamic. Very clear highs. Super sweet vocals. I seriously thought there was a subwoofer connected, because the bass was just so deep, full, punchy and textured.

Hegel volume display was at 60 so I think lots more headroom to go, but speakers were already plenty loud.

If this is the first speaker in the list.. I really hope the rest of the speakers are just as good.

Price for new is around usd3240. Grey cabinet..

In the same showroom I saw the new Confidence line. They’re really huge speakers! Much bigger in real life than I thought, with the price to match.

I checked with the dealer yesterday; there were no foam bungs in place.

Went to audition the Focal Aria 906. They were connected to a Naim Uniti. Mids and bass were good, but occasionally sounded a bit muddy and congested when passages were complex. The highs sounded a bit too rolled off for my preferences. 

I went to the Kef dealer to try to audition the R3 but he was a bit of an ass and just didn't want to hook up the speakers, even though there was no one else in his shop and he was just playing on his phone. Asked me to come back over the weekend instead.. Whaaat? I'm trying to spend some money here and you don't even wanna get off your ass to hook up two speakers? I got annoyed and left.

Not sure if it was a loss to me as I just read a thread on avsforum where this guy did blind a/b test between kef r3 and ascend Sierra 2ex and the 2ex won.. 

Close to pulling trigger.. 

Hi everyone. 

Just an update. I decided to pull the trigger on the ascend acoustics Sierra 2ex and they are arriving today. Took about 4 days to ship from usa to Singapore via DHL. Had to fork out for some hefty shipping, PayPal fees, cc conversion and import tax. I do hope they were worth it!

Thank you for all the advice given. It is very much appreciated.