[cma29]

Tim,
Thanks for details on your musical preferences.

In my opinion the 20.7s are speakers designed for listening to acoustic music recorded in a real space such as orchestral, chamber, choral, instrumental, small jazz or even big band. The design principle behind the 20.7s of using a very thin and light weight Mylar film over a large surface panel area is ideally suited to launch a realistically large sound wave and therefore better able to take the listener to where an acoustic recording was made. I notice this when I hear a live recording made at Carnegie Hall versus one made at smaller venues used by the likes of Jordi Savall.

The 20.7s can play pop music and some rock, but playing artificially-enhanced dynamic music is not their forte. Also, most of this music is poorly recorded so it will not sound good on the 20.7s because they are revealing of what's being fed to them.

Based on the type of music you listen to, Martin Logan may be a better choice for you - combining an electrostatic panel with a cone woofer. Can you listen to M-L near where you live? The Thiel 3.7s may be another good choice around the same price as the 20.7s.

During my purchase decision I was coming from the 3.7s so I knew I wanted to stick with dipoles and did not not consider other designs. Since 95% of the music I listen to is orchestral classical, the 20.7s are the speakers for me and they fit perfectly in my basement man cave. I'm very happy with them and, by the way, when bass drum is present and well-recorded the 20.7s reproduce it with authority even shaking the room, so, yes, they can boogie.