Klipsch speakers all were too forward in the upper mids for my taste. the Speakerlab knock-off big horns sounded [aside from the bass] the way i wished the Klipsch Horns themselves sounded [mellower]. also the "little" Vandersteen 1Ci which sounded totally mellow in the dealer’s humongous listening room [bigger than some little houses] but terrible [honky due to their crossover, i was told] in my tiny 14’ listening space. those pups need lots of space to sound as they were designed to sound. the tiny Thiel cs.5s that replaced ’em sound fantastic in the same small space. the Bose Lifestyle system also needs a big space to sound proper, in little rooms their sound is on the hard metallic side with boomy superficial bass. in the dealer’s humongous listening room [notice a trend?] their sound opened up, mellowed out and the bass bloomed and straightened out.