After a couple of grueling weeks I settled on some Kef Q9s. After narrowing it down to either Polk Rt 8, 10 or 12s, Kef Q5, Q7, Q9 series or anthony gallo micros which were all in my price range. The lovely guys at the shop let me take them all home to try! I am running them off a Maranatz SR7000, 100W, 8 Ohm, the room is large with a very high ceiling. My conclusions are as follows. The anthony gallo micros and sub, sounded great when you sat infront of them, the mid and high were fine, but the bass lacked definition and was very muddy. However when you wandered round the room the volume and definition of the mids fell off sharply and I cancelled them off the list straight away. The Polk Rt series, I tried all three at the shop and settled on a set of Rt10's to take home to try. Again the mids and highs were clear but lacked some clarity (possibly due to fabric tweeter?)The bass was non existant and only became apparent when placed in close proximity to the wall. I am assuming this is from the rear vented bass port? I went back and changed the Rt10's for the 12's and more bass but again the same result was observed. However the Polk's did fill the room with clear sound with no drop-off as one walked around the room or up the stairs. Next I tried the Kef 7's, they nearly sold me as soon as I switched them on, the high's and midrange were outstanding. I was listening to some classical and the harpsicord could be heard coming through very cleanly without being buried under the other sounds. The bass was full and clear but not that powerful and the sound was consistant throughout the room. On a whim I tried the Kef Q9, again the high and mid were outstanding but this time the bass had more definition and slightly more punch.
I live in an apartment, the Kef Q9 does not have a rear bass port, to test if i will annoy the neighbours, I placed the polks and the kefs next to the wall and turned it up and went next door to check. The Polks almost sounded better next door! The sound from the Kefs were almost non-existant.
Wanted to just add this as I know there are many people living in apartments who cannot turn their music up due to the neighbours.
I listened to some Kef Q7's at a local shop recently and they really seemed to make vocals come out very dull/flat sounding. Not sure how to explain that other than poor definition in the mid-range (or I'm crazy). Other than that the bass and high were great. Instrumentals sounded impressive.