find a replacement for my kef 205.2

Kudos S20s are specifically voiced for the NAP300 and being bottom ported are not too fussy about positioning and well within your budget at about GBP4500.

I can't for a second believe that the C20 is specifically voiced for the 300, which would significantly limit its sales.....  For that money you could get some Titans.

I have a very similar system to you and find the PMC 20.26's very very good.

Many thanks for replies.

My listening room are 4,5x8.0 metres, firing down from the short side.

The speakers must be wife friendly...

They're not, this has been banded around the forum for quite a while.

I had cause to ask Kudos about this as needed to call them about an issue with my C20's (there was a rattle from inside the cabinet). I asked them if they voiced their speakers for any specific Naim amp as I was mulling upgrading my NAP 200 to a 250.2.  They said that their speakers would sound different with a 200, 250 and a 300 which reflects the differences between the amps but there was no right and wrong and all were suitable.

I have now moved to a 250.2 DR and the improvement is wonderful, it does sound different as you would expect, the differences between amps are similar to how other people have described with different speakers.

The only snag is the rattle is back with the 250.2! The problem is that the cable is vibrating and touching the inside of the cabinet, there is more energy from the greater extension of the 250 so I need to open up and redress the cable.  It only happens on a couple of tracks at a specific frequency

It's a shame they are not made properly.

Very good HH!

I think it was disturbed in transit, that's what Kudos think unless the previous owner had put up with it from new.

It goes to show how much more bass comes though with the 250 as I had this resolved with the 200

The new KEF Reference series ?

 Reference 1 sounded awesome heard with a Naim 300 at a dealers recently. The Reference 3 looked too large for my tastes ( sure they are still no larger than 115 cm) , probably would sound even more awesomer *.

I suggested the Super 20s i.e. S20s rather than the C20s.

Sorry, I missed that. Are you really saying that the S20 is specifically voiced for the 300? It sounds hard to believe. 

Hi HH,

It may just be my faulty memory but I understand that Kudos had some connection with Naim from the Neat days and used the NAP300 (pre DR of course) as their 'go to' amp when tuning the sound of the S20s. Either that or my local dealer is trying to tempt me into upgrading to a new NAP300.

Ovator S-400s. Worth a dem?

Chris

Or S-600s, though at 116cm you'd need some flexibility on your max height.

C.

Ovator 400 or 600 look interesting, might give them a try.

They are quite cheap second hand (I don't know why).

If you could pick up some Ovators cheaply, you could spend the spare on a 552. That would be far better than £10k speakers with a 252. 

As as a wild card, there have been some Art Alnicos for sale for a while. They are very good by all accounts. 

Art Alnicos have the same tweeter as the Kudos Super 20 too! I run my S20s with a pair of  135s and wonderful they are too

An absolute good idea, Ovators are quite rare here in my country so I have to wait till they turn up.

552 are tempting..

Thanks for all replies.

Hi Oldneil

I went through a remarkably long period of auditioning speakers in the £5-10k range, including an extended home demo of the Kef 205-2.

I found the Kef 205-2 to be the best speakers that we have listened to, from the side...

When listening to them from in front, it felt as though all the treble was beaming at us like a laser.

Speakers that we have found to work well with your calibre of electronics include:

Kudos S10 & S20

Proac D30R (the D40R will probably be too tall)

Neat XL6 ( a little more expensive, but probably worth it in the right room)

We ended up with ART Alnico 8.3 Signature, which we are delighted with but which are slightly above your budget.  It may well be worth a call to Derek Dunlop at ART to see what he would recommend, as ART do a number of variations on the theme of those speakers that you see on their web site.  

Hope this helps, FT

oldneil,

What happened next?

Chris