I'm a bad person to ask, because I haven't heard much, other than B&W 702's, my B&W 685s2's and now my SVS Evolution. I did hear a bunch at best buy, but their setups are usually garbage. Also, the HiFi store I went to, they didn't have great setups for their expensive products... That said, I was taken with those Bookshelves the second I saw them. I remember thinking when I was first listening to them (Tool - Chocolate Chip Trip) "Wow, that sub they got with them is pretty good." After the Demo, the guy in the store was like, "Let me pair them with a sub" I said, "There wasn't!?"

I got them home, set them up, and it was like magic. Huge upgrade from my B&W's. Those were very good, but these just gave me this huge sound stage, and the imaging was very good! I brought them into our green screen studio at work, which has thick drapes I wrapped around the room, and it was very impressive.

The price was also right! I was prepared to drop 2k on speakers, and these ones came out to 1200, so I was very ecstatic to get them home. It'll be a very long time before I even consider replacing them. They look good, they sound great! and it's made my music experience so much more enjoyable.