All,

Many thanks for the advice, I belatedly realised I never reported back on the solution.

In the end, I went with DSP8ks and have no regrets at all. The room is treated with bass traps (corners and back wall) and has a lot of soft furnishings (including black out curtains for movie nights). The DSP8ks just sing, their poise and control on well recorded music is incredible.

They sound fantastic at normal listening levels and can be cranked to a reasonably high level without overpowering the room. My experience is that when the bass is overwhelming, it generally reflects poor recording/mastering rather than a deficiency in the speakers (garbage in, garbage out).

This of course leads to a search for the best mastering of favourite albums which adds to the fun/expense...

Ecoutez

DSP8000USE, DSP7200HC, DSP5200SE, DSP5200USE, 861v8, 818v3, UHD722, M6, MD600, 218s, M80s, F80