The most attainable speaker I see is the airmotiv 5s, it would be nice to get something more mainstream like this. Adam A3x was catching my eye too, but not all of us are ready to dive in the deep end on these.
having had the f7's I would expect the f5's to be worse. They are laid back and lack dynamics and presence in the midrange. They also dont have much sparkle and the bass is mediocre. A best option is the focal alpha 65's that mud stomp them in every area, including panorama and attack.
Yes the general consensus is that these are the best bookshelf speakers in the market. I'm looking to buy them although I would prefer a5x but they're more than 2 times the price so that's out of budget.
I think you mean for the price. While they're great, you can't really say in terms of pure performance that they can even approach something like Magico Q1's...but the Magico's are absurdly expensive.
There have been plenty of polls for different kinds of speakers but the bookshelf ones that I've seen have been dominated by the Audioengine A5+ and A2+ and although they are great speakers there are other options available. I'm voting for the Adam Audio F5's which are very well received online and the consensus is that they are one of the best, arguably the best, 5" speakers at this price-point along with the Audioengine A5+ and Airmotiv 5s.
Steve Guttenberg of CNET says:
"I've raved about Emotiva and various Audioengine desktop speakers many times on this blog, but the F5 is better -- it's my new desktop reference. It's a higher resolution speaker, it's more detailed sounding, has fuller bass, and a more open, boxless sound than the competition in its price class."
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