This has got to be the most ADHD speaker thread in history
I came here to learn more about Kef, while I didn't count I'd bet a bottle of Dom Perignon they weren't mentioned ten times in 13 pages!
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The former implies you know how to correlate measurements to perception and know what to listen for."
How about the ability to correlate measurements to perception and know what to listen against?
I live in the boonies, auditioning speakers is neither easy nor particularly rewarding. A heck of a lot of fun, but I've yet to hear anything then go back and buy it. It took me the better part of a year, a couple hundred gallons of gas, several expensive dinners and cognacs to dismiss about 20 models before I bought Philharmonic speakers without auditioning first. I understand that the advice is sound, but not always practical, and certainly not the only path to success. Besides, it's even less practical to have brought those 20 speaker sets into my home, where the only place an audition truly matters. My alternative was to learn as much as I could, and never stop learning, to understand on paper what I know my senses will not enjoy, my space not accept. Then, silly me, I learn some more from the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest gang and weigh your recommendations against auditory and scientific memory. Hey, it works - ask Smokey, umm, Jared.
I've just done it again, this time only 12 or so bookshelf speakers topping out at about $1200, liked none of them and blindly bought a pair of speakers that will not wow any of you, but they work for me (Kef Q300) at half my budget. Actually they work better in a different space, so I get to do it all over again, and in all likelihood my choice will be a pair impossible for me to audition - I've exhausted everything in a 100 mile radius. I've hit two home runs so far, no reason to believe my education to learn what I like and my ears to know what I don't will fail me now. That said, I just may bite on a pair of Totem Model 1 Signature on Audiogon, which I did audition a couple years ago.
So, how about that thread on avsforum comparing Kef LS50 to a cat's butt?