Mellow speakers

Thanks, DJVerne.  Unfortunately, my room is fairly limiting.  I can only bring my speakers out about a foot.  2 or 3 feet from the side walls.  Not optimal by any stretch. I haven't heard of the Fritz speakers.  I'll read about them tonight.

Larstusor, what state are you in?  And, do you know how to respond with a private message?  I don't see that functionality anywhere on this page. 

educeus, sorry about the delay in getting back to you but I've been out of town and away from my computer.  I'm in North Georgia, on the border with North Carolina and close to Tennessee; 100 miles north of Atlanta, 100 miles west of Asheville and 10 miles east of Chattanooga.  I too am not sure about PM's on this forum. If you're interested you can send me an email to   [email protected] 

Well...I've had the KEF 104/2s in the house all weekend, and it just goes to show how great it is to have a good shop to do business with, so that you can take stuff home and give it a good listen.  The KEFs are going back to the store.  In short, they're simply too much speaker for my room!  Both physically and sonically.  Sonically, they have a pronounced low mid bump...really over emphasizes the bottom end of snare drums and causes a honky, muddy, ringy sound in the room.  I'd have to do some serious room treatment to control it...I'm game but I suspect my wife would resent me throwing out all her furniture and replacing it will room treatment stuff!

After all the reading and wondering, I'm disappointed they are not going to work out for me.  Now that I've placed a floor stander in the room, I better recognize the limitations of my small living room. I may be stuck with stand mount monitors, because they stick up over the tops of the two chairs in front of them.  A floorstander has to go closer to the center of the room so as not to be blocked by the furniture...and that makes them too close together, seriously affecting the sound stage.  I suppose a floor stander whose drivers start about 28 inches above the ground would work. 

The same shop currently has some Audio Physic Tempo III...but no Harbeth, Spendor, OHms, or Vandys.  Maybe I'll give them a listen.  Thanks again for all the helpful comments.

educeus,

The sound you describe is common with most any speakers if your floors are suspended plywood or anything designed to have some give like that.

If so relatively  inexpensive isolating stands or pads solve the problem easily and make a huge difference in sound.

You might want to determine if this is your case or not and address it up front in that most any good fuller range speaker is susceptible unless designed out of the box to provide the isolation needed.

Also note that OHM speakers are sold factory direct only these days (no dealers now for many years) so you have to order direct and take advantage of their extended in-home audition period or find someone local with a pair to sell. Return shipping costs would still apply. OHM is located in Brooklyn NY.