Who VS Who ?? ( Kef 104.2 vs Infinity Renaissance 80 )

[Listnnthdark]

Hello All
This thread is intended to be exploratory .I am intersted in hearing about ANY speaker comparison that anyone would like to make ( Who VS Who ?? )
I don't know if this thread will have any legs but I am posting in the hope of sparking some comparisons from the vast listening experience of AKers . I personaly have very little listening experience with which to make comparisons so I will start with a speaker I have never heard but whos legend I am Aware of ( The Kef 104.2 )
Quick back story . Many moons ago , before the internet in the year 1984 I recal pouring over a loudspeaker review magazine or paper regarding the Kef 104.2 On the same page was also a review of my first "Real " speakers : The Infinity ES 200 . 8 " 3 way with polycell dome tweet and dome mid and passive radiator ( I remember the wording verbatim ) The review of the ES 200 said : "Sound quality quite a bit better than what you used to get from an efficient system " The review of the Kef 104 read " This speaker will knock your socks off " About a month ago a pair of 104.2s showed up on cl for 500 but I balked .. Then recently a Pair of Infinity Renaissance 80s that I balked on .. Which sparked my curiousity with ths comparison ( If anyone has heard both ) ( Kef 104.2 vs Infinity Renaissance 80 ) But this thread is intended for any speaker compared with any other . Anyone care to compare ? Thanks !

 

[BilboBaggins]

I did AB comparisons between Kef 105, Kef 104/2, and ESS AMT 1aM towers. They were all three equally nice, depending on what style of music you listen to, one would beat the others.

In the end, I kept the Kef 105s and sold the other two. I found I liked the 105 just a bit more than the 104/2s and the ESS. The ESS lost to both Kef's mainly due to listening fatigue, which I didn't get from the Kef's at all.

I also tried the Kef 105s against Tangent RS8s. The kefs are better but the Tangents have a different sound to them. Maybe a little less midrange, but very listenable. I still have both the Kef 105s and the Tangents.

The Kefs also won hands down against a pair of Tannoy DC3000s, which I found bright to the point of ear fatigue. I tried a number of different amps with the Tannoys, but although bigger and better amps improved the sound, they were still to bright for me. Very few horns that I've liked.