KEF LS50 or Wharfedale Reva 2 -- which would you buy?

@b_limo thanks for all of these. I will have a look through. Do you have an opinion on the KEF R3s? The reviews are stellar and I think they can be a good option. There is a blemished used set on Audiogon not too far from my price range, so I figured I'd ask your opinion.

Also you mentioned above that I had two broken paradigms but I think you may have meant that message to someone else (I didn't have that experience).

I honestly haven’t heard either to any extent.  I cN go listen to the R3’s today if you want!

I think that the R3 or even the R300 would make you happy.  It’s my guess that they will have alot of the same magic as LS50’s only they will have more bass AND be easier to drive.  They would probably sound fantastic with your denon too!

Kef Direct has R300’s for $1299 and theres a pair of R3’s here on Audiogon for $1260!

LS50 needs a subwoofer in my opinion. The Reva is really good, but not super dynamic.

Thanks for that feedback guys. The R3s I was looking at here just sold (damn - now I really want them - you know how that is), so maybe I'll hang for a bit and see if another pair comes around. I think what I've gleaned from the feedback is that people like the UniQs but the LS50s are a bit weak in the bass area and likely an inefficient match for my amp. The R3s and R300s are probably good options for me as several people have mentioned.

I think I'm shying away from floorstanding speakers due to space but I do appreciate your guys' recommendations.

Ok, so I went and listened to the R3’s tonight on a $1000 denon (90watts), a $2200 Arcam, and a $5500 Mac.  They sounded decent on the Mac and that was it.  The room was awful, they weren’t set up properly or broken in so that all plays a big role.

Thing is, I think they are the same as LS50’s in that they need lots of good, clean (usually expensive) power.

I have heard both the dynaudio excites and PSB Imagines and both sounded great.  I’d be willing to bet that either of those would sound better with your amp.  The Kefs of course will sound amazing, perhaps better, but not with anything less than $2-3k in the front end (my guess).

Dynaudio is awesome.  The Excite series is when they start sounding really good.  The drivers and cabinets are top notch and built in house. 

Those PSB’s are the least exotic or boutique of the speakers I mentioned but they are still built like tanks, and are built in Canada. None of the speakers I recommended were built in china by the way.  These PSB’s may actually sound best with your denon because they are more than likely the easiest and most efficient of the speakers I mentioned.

Totems, again are great!  Crazy good imaging and tone, and again, built in Canada.  The cabinets are built exceptionally well and the drivers are sourced from reputable, high end companies.

And last but not least, PBN are great speakers built by a great builder as well who’s been in the industry forever and is super knowledgeable as well as easy to get ahold of if you ever need support.

I usually look at where the speakers are made, how the cabinets are constructed, what drivers are used (seas, vifa, morel, scan speak, dynaudio, raal, etc), crossover componets...  I tend to like danish, british and canadian speaker builders along with some here in the U.S. also (pbn, tyler acoustics, nola, vapor, ryan?, joseph audio, just to name a few).  

Many of the top companies will use drivers from the same manufacturer built to custom specs and implemented in unique ways dependant upon crossovers and enclosures / driver layouts.  Its nice though when you can land a pair of bookshelf speakers for $800-$1200 that uses seas excel drivers or the like.