full disclosure - I listened carefully to the Bowers 702 over 2-3 sessions, but did not hear either of your other two choices exactly, though I heard multiple speakers from Kef and GE within family. I heard most of the GE speakers other than 1.R and didn’t care for them personally (others will disagree and they review well in the mags - this just my opinion), as the 1.R wasn’t yet released when I was looking - it is reputed to be better than previous models so check out. Re Kef, I like their sound, but it wasn’t in my top 25%.
Generally, Kefs have very wide dispersion and good imaging, making them great for a wide listening audience or if you’re moving around a lot while listening rather than continually sitting in sweet spot. GE’s will probably be good for home theater and if music is only 50% of your use case, that is a significant factor. In my haphazard ranking of all of the speakers I listened to, the Bowers were probably at about the top 30% level for me, older GE’s bottom 20%, and Kefs estimating top 40%, really pretty close to Bowers for me - just different sound. But I only cared about music and knew I’d be using a warmer sounding amp than Hegel. I also knew I’d be using a REL sub to supplement bass so the integrated subwoofers of GE were superfluous for me.
See what you like. Everyone is different.
I was surprised at my experience. I tend to hold my gear for a long time - 15-20 yrs. My last speaker purchase was 18 years ago and just as thorough in my search, and at that time I ended up with B&W, with Kef being the runner up. So I went into it this time expecting again to like those brands above all others. But either their sound changed over 20 years or my preferences (or hearing ability) changed, or both. Now I prefer the sound of Spendor, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, Vandersteen to Kef or B&W. Who knows where I’ll be in 15 yrs when I go through this again?? haha
Generally, Kefs have very wide dispersion and good imaging, making them great for a wide listening audience or if you’re moving around a lot while listening rather than continually sitting in sweet spot. GE’s will probably be good for home theater and if music is only 50% of your use case, that is a significant factor. In my haphazard ranking of all of the speakers I listened to, the Bowers were probably at about the top 30% level for me, older GE’s bottom 20%, and Kefs estimating top 40%, really pretty close to Bowers for me - just different sound. But I only cared about music and knew I’d be using a warmer sounding amp than Hegel. I also knew I’d be using a REL sub to supplement bass so the integrated subwoofers of GE were superfluous for me.
See what you like. Everyone is different.
I was surprised at my experience. I tend to hold my gear for a long time - 15-20 yrs. My last speaker purchase was 18 years ago and just as thorough in my search, and at that time I ended up with B&W, with Kef being the runner up. So I went into it this time expecting again to like those brands above all others. But either their sound changed over 20 years or my preferences (or hearing ability) changed, or both. Now I prefer the sound of Spendor, Dynaudio, Sonus Faber, Vandersteen to Kef or B&W. Who knows where I’ll be in 15 yrs when I go through this again?? haha