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Modern day equivalent of KEF 104.2s?

I am need of some advice. I have a pair of 90's vintage bi-wired Kef 104.2s that I've enjoyed the past three years. The are a very musical speaker, great for the type of rock and jazz to which I listen, and are forgiving of poor source material. They are not, however, the last word in detail or accurate bass.

For those familiar with the 104.2s, what current production speakers would you recommend that would be the equivalent of the Kefs with perhaps better detail, tighter and more accurate bass, yet no less musical?
texsun
panny
99 posts
 
I might be off in left field on this,but I listen to generally the same type and other tyoes of music and I would look to trying Metal Driver Technolgy speakers like Acoustic Energy AE-1's or similar speaerks as they excel in transparency and Bass presentation.

Good luck!
texsun OP
21 posts
 
Thanks for all the comments

Soliloquy and Vandersteen are already on my list. I'm surprised at the mention of Sonus Faber and Vienna Acoustics. From what I understand these are pretty "warm" speakers (some would say staid) that excel at, say, classical music and vocals, but aren't the best choice for rock music (stuff like Radiohead, Wilco, Flaming Lips, etc). The Kefs, while on the warm side of neutral, are to my ears hardly warm and romantic sounding.

Panny, by "Metal Driver Technology" I assume you mean aluminum dome tweeters? If so, I already have a HT consisting of Paradigm Reference Studio speakers. They are fine for watching DVDs but aren't to my liking on 2-channel music.
nighthawk
259 posts
 
Texsun, the upper models of Vienna do sound kind of over-ripe, but the Beethovens are, like you say, just on the warm side of neutral. I'm not sure they have the kind of slam you want but they are worth an audition. You might like Aerials also (lots of slam), but you have to be careful with system matching or the tweeters can be a little bright.
dewinkle
51 posts
 
I just sold my 104/2 and bought a pait of Thiel 2.4s. They are not at all similar. It was a great upgrade, but the characteristics were not similar. I think B&W 7NT, 9NT sound similar. The mids and highs are in the same mold, but the bass is tighter on the B&W's, but lack the extension of the 104/2. I prefer the B&W's
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hammy
176 posts
 
“The Silverline Sonata is an outstanding bargain and one of the most musically satisfying speaker systems on the market … a compelling musical rightness from top to bottom … superbly finished … Buy these, just listen to the music, and forget about hi-fi forever.”

- Paul Bolin / the absolute sound
Issue 133 (Dec. 2001 / Jan. 2002)
Quoted with permission from the absolute sound
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