What are some of the most underrated and overrated loudspeakers you’ve auditioned?

Agree the very affordable for many KEF ls50 is not up to all the tasks people might expect given all the rave but often not very comprehensive reviews.

From an ’audiophile" perspective, use the little guys properly though within their limits, with a subwoofer and with an amp suited to drive them properly and then they can live up to the "giant killer" billing, but of course all that will add some cost but still provide very good value for the world of "high end audio".

I recommend them highly. The little dudes look very cool, can do what they do very well indeed, but cannot do it all.

For a bit more the new KEF R3s are the real deal as reasonable size stand mount monitors go and capable of doing most of what most will ever need similarly very well ie sub is way more optional and those will probably sound better with more amps.

This should go well....

YEs, it is a loaded question for sure....

In general, audiophiles will tend to underrate things while the rest of the world will lean the other way.

Underrated

Ohm Walsh, Salk Soundscape 10 and 12 (out of production), JBL M2 (uses DSP and pro amps, but damn), legacy Focus SE, Spatial M3S Turbo

Overrated

Paradigm Persona's, B+W Diamond Series, McIntosh Speakers (though not sure anyone rates them highly), Focal Sopra 2,3

Disappointing - Anything by Zu

Just to play this game....

When I don’t like the sound of a speaker, especially a popular one, I normally don’t think "boy are these overrated." I just note that they are not for me, and can usually see what someone else might find in them.
If I look back I can only really think of two speaker brands that had me thinking "My gawd these suuuuuuuck!"

One was the Talon speakers back when they were the ’it’ thing (circa 2000 I believe). I simply could not believe how bad the models sounded that I heard, how utterly colored they sounded (and they measured as they sounded). I was truly left baffled by the praise for those things.

The other speaker encounter that baffles me every time are the McIntosh Speakers (as noted by dep14). They manage to produce the most bland sound I’ve ever heard from a "high end" speaker. They sound like a bunch of tiny bose-quality drivers giving you a wall of yucky, grayish, cheap, gritty sound. Given the reputation of McIntosh, I’m always left puzzled.