KEF Q 900 ....... Any experience ?

I cannot advise you since I am unfamiliar with your other equipment and, certainly, with your room. It would be good if you could compare the Q900 with a Vandersteen for yourself.

Kal

Thanks Kal......... I should be able to arrange a home demo of the Q900's and I'll be able to do exactly as you suggest. Keep up the good work with Stereophile !

The Kefs are impressive - the new LS50 looks very good.
The PSB Synchrony One is a huge overachiever.

DRubin - I think you nailed it.

also agree with drubin--$5k has become the new $10k. there seems to be a whole bunch of accessibly-priced speakers that compete with much pricier ones. i read that the new, $4500 revel f208 replaces (and allegedly outperforms) the $7500 f32. haven't heard the new revel, but i did hear the von schweikert vr-33 ($3750), which sounded awfully impressive; even better that the $6k vr4 and alot of megabuck stuff i've heard. i assume that manufacturers are outsourcing production and/or making aesthetic and other compromises to get costs down, but it's certainly a good trend for the audio buyer.

Another +1 for drubin's observation. I just read a href=http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/kef3/1.html>6Moons
review of the KEF R900 where the reviewer summarized this observation
very well:

Progress over the last few years has favored
loudspeakers the most. We have better mathematical insight into bass tuning.
There are driver design and production advances not least due to the widely
embraced Klippel measuring system. There’s the lure of cost-effective
offshore production where China today offers true hi-tech kitted factories.
This can add up to manufacturing tolerances and precision which until
recently involved costly extravagances and rare engineering savvy. As a result
the category of speakers has reached an impressively high state.

... to which I'd add the more widespread use of neodymium magnets, curved
cabinet profiles, better bracing, longer excursion surrounds, and near-exotic
light and rigid diaphragm materials such as the Monitor Audio CCAM
(ceramic/magnesium) drivers. Their Gold Series even uses CCAM ribbon
tweeters in a $5.5K and under series.