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Speaker advice for first hi-fi setup - Monitor Audio Gold vs. KEF R series!

Hey guys,

I'm going through the exciting process of building my first hi-fi setup, exclusively for music listening.

I currently listen to music in my study (roughly 12ft x12ft) through a pair of KEF LS50W, hardwired into a MacBook Pro. No external application / DAC is used for this setup.

I now want to have a music setup in my living room, which is roughly 16ft by 20ft, with one side opening up to an entryway into the rest of the apartment. The floor is tiled, with a fair amount of furniture. I listen to old and new-age rock, soft rock, indie, with a bit of acoustic / vocals thrown in. 

I've auditioned a bunch of speakers over the past couple of months, starting off at a lower budget and then moving to the mid-price range to get a better sound. These include: Q-Acoustic 3050i; Dali Oberon 5 & &; Dali Opticon 6, B&W 683, 703 & 704; DynAudio Evoke 30; Spendor A4 and A7; Revel F36 and F206; Focal Aria 936 & 948; KEF R7; Monitor Audio Gold 200 (both 4G and 5G).

The two speakers that really caught my ear were the Monitor Audio Gold 200 (5G) and the KEF R7. I enjoyed the warmth of the MA speakers and the soundstage / imaging of the KEF (it was as if the music was floating around me).

I'm confused now and keen to hear some impressions on these two speakers. It's important for me that the speaker sound has a bit of weight (a drum solo should have 'impact' when I hear it), should be warm yet refined and overall 'fun and easy' to listen to.

Thanks!
parabola82
yogiboy's avatar
yogiboy
5,464 posts
 
I’ve owned many Harbeths and Spendors. My keeper of all of them is the Harbeth P3ESR. The specs are very deceiving (75 HZ). The base is sufficient without using a subwoofer. With a nice pair of stands they will fit into your budget.
You should be able to find a dealer in your neck of the woods. You can google the many reviews on this outstanding speaker!
https://harbeth.co.uk/where-to-buy/dealers-asia.php
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,313 posts
 
The Proac DT8's are real sleepers, but very much worth bearing in mind.  Check them out.
photon46
1,076 posts
 
In the end, it's questionable how much relevance is to be gleaned from other's preferences and someone else's interpretations of adjectives like "warmth" and listenability. Personal preferences, partnering equipment, and the room all make one listener's nirvana another's purgatory. In the rooms and setups I've listened to, I found Harbeth and Spendor lacking a certain sense of liveliness. As they have so many fans, its likely setup and partnering equipment was lacking in synergy. In my second system and room, I find KEF R500's to have an ideal balance between musicality, warmth, imaging, and treble information. I've heard them in other rooms with expensive solid state amplification and they weren't nearly as communicative and involving. I had to experiment with three amplifiers before the KEF's "clicked" into focus and displayed all the virtues I'd read about in professional reviews. It would be wonderful if the path to the perfect system were straightforward, but unfortunately it usually involves detours and a learning curve. Good luck with your quest!
parabola82 OP
6 posts
 
Hey guys,

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. Will see if I can audition some Harbeth and ProAc speakers and check their sound.

@photon46 

Agreed! A lot of subjectivity involved here. Out of the many speakers I listened to over the past couple of months, it was the Monitor Audio and KEF that piqued my interest. While I may attribute that to things like ‘warmth’ or ‘kick’, it could be any number of subjectively perceived reasons that these speakers appealed to me.
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,589 posts
 
As phototon mentioned,remember you were listening to 'A System' when you were auditioning.Find out what components and cables were matched with the speakers you liked.Choose carefully!
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