Sound quality on my MCR603 and BX2's

To be blunt; I found the KEF Q series totally rubbish; dull, dry and boring sounding with no life whatsoever. I was amazed that the Q300s were award winners! VERY dull indeed!

Yes I've tried my LS50s with my Marantz; very good indeed but it wont drive them to their best IMO. The RX2's are an easier drive and they really sing on the end of the CR603.

Side by side; for overall totall soundsatge depth and presence; the LS50s win but for sheer rocking out, musicality (when loud) and bass to slap your face around; the RX2s all the way!

That's what worries me (Bass to slap your face around!!) I find the BX2's far too bass heavy and wonder if its a Monitor audio trait?

If you find the BX2s bass heavy, the RX1 and RX2 definitely aren't for you.  Both models needs plenty of space or they will easily start to sound bass heavy.  They are otherwise great speakers.

I find that with the BX2's it seems to be bass over everything especially the clarity. I'm not necessarily saying there is too much bass, just that on these particular speakers it seems to overshadow everything else. My old kef floorstanders have a lot more bass but it's much better controlled. They are positioned pretty close to the wall so this is probably adding to the bass but thats where they must stay I'm afraid and one of the reasons I was wanting to demo the Q300's as most reviews seem to say they are not to fussy on positioning.

Any other recommendations for speakers that are not fussy on positioning welcome andi'll try to demo them. 

Anyone got any opinions on how the Kef R100's would fair with the Mcr603?

Have you tried using the tone controls on the MCR603,  Turn the bass completely  down & the treble to the max then turn down the treble till it suits your ears, then raise the bass till its to your liking, use a track you know. I have to say you're picking some pretty exotic speakers for your micro. 

The MCR603 isn't any old Micro and more than warrants the purchase of some good quality speakers.

Haven't read through all of this, but have you tried the Marantz with the Q35.2?  That was one impressive speaker in its day and won't be shabby now.  I'd give that a spin and send on the BX2s if they're not cutting it.

There at half thier original price in Richer Sounds right now (was in there the weekend just waiting for the  yamaha 673 to drop to under 300quid)

Its a nice looking unit, but I have not heard one, still..... would think entry level, easy to drive  speakers would be more suited to it

Well Mr E certainly thought it was worth running a £1500 pair of speakers through it here.

To each there own, I recall a thread on here the one time someone trying to drive a pair of Mission 794's ( found when I googled reviews for the 794's)... it struggled to drive them if I recalled, the PMC's must be an easy load.

Must admit I'd go for an AV reciever if it were my money....get a cheap CD player and use the digital out..............

Never liked Monitor Audio at all. Turn up the volume, the sound loses composure and everything seems to fall apart. They require a very good amp and not easy to drive at all. I heard a GX200 paired with a Naim Nait 5 and it was not good sounding for the money.  

Yes I tried it with the Q35.2's and they sounded great. Better than when they were paired with my 1999 Teac Reference 600 which also sounded very good. I just want to downsize but still have decent sound so I'm not too bothered if I need to spend a bit more on decent speakers as I'm sure I'll keep them for a while.

I don't get it. IMO the BX2 has a very tight bass, articulate and musical. Buy some budget separates and sell the MCR 603 is my advice. The MCR 603 was very dissapointing when I heard it...............don't know why so many people like it. It must be the looks 

I had a pair of KEF Q35.2s in an old (Rega) system for 11 years until 2007. After that I sold them to a friend who still has them in service in his second system (using his old Arcam A65 with a PS3 and his TV). They still work and sound fine. They are now almost 17 years old.

I never got rid of them for reasons of quality. Mainly it was because I was fed up with looking at large, black boxes year in, year out for so long! (Along with a predominately black system in a large black rack.)  They were - eventually - replaced with my first set of real (Maple) wood veneered Rega R3s and an Arcam Solo-Mini which was all a lot easier on the eye

At least, with your Q35.2s, you won't have to hurry into any decisions about replacements for your BX2s.

I know they are not award winners but - before I acquired my second set of Rega R3s - I tried the Castle Knight 2s and found them excellent. (WHF? found them a little 'polite' but that's no bad thing in my experience. They still gave them 4 stars.)  They are also finished beautifully in a range of real wood veneers if that sort of thing matters to you.

This review gets a little closer to my experience of them...

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