Modern day equivalent of KEF 104.2s?

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.

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.

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

“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

Th only speakers that I have found that image as well are the Dali model 4 and 5. This is why I modded mine. Now they beat Dalis, even the new KEF reference series.