Agear - yes I did. I drove the 1.2miles from my house to Brett's and listened to the Behold and to the Ascendo. The Behold was not for me. Very accurate and hiFi sounding to my ears. And it requires a whole Behold system. The Ascendo was actually very good. It didn't have the low end punch I am looking for though. I'm not sure if their higher end speakers would offer that. But he didn't have any others in display.
I definitely am drawn to a truly full range speaker with deep extension, accurate reproduction leaning towards the forceful side; with a sense of impact and scale that some speakers sacrifice to reproduce the lower frequencies with more accuracy and a sense of finesse. I almost see it as live vs studio... Live is scale, impact and dynamic while the studio recording is more accurate with finesse and the gentle skilled hand of a studio engineer to properly reproduce every nuance.
I also definitely like my speakers with a sense of midrange texture that some may consider colored. Not overly warm or truly colored, but the harmonics that the low midrange creates that are emotion and soul. The speakers that reproduce the source with accuracy and finesse are, to me, frequently lacking texture, complexity and that sense of engaging emotional involvement that is the reason I love this hobby.
Don't get me wrong. I expect my SYSTEM to be accurate and offer finesse and subtly in its reproduction, but I expect to accentuate those characteristics with my DAC/electronics and cables.
To me, thus far in my system, the Coltane Tenor has come the closest to doing that perfectly.
