speakers are one of those religious things that are the ultimate in subjective opinions.
personally, i adore my Meridian speakers. the 6Ks are nothing short of astounding in my book. the 5Ks are damn nice, but i can see why people might prefer other speaker/amp combos in the 5K's price range. never listened to the 8Ks - i just can't imagine they're 2 to 3 times better than the 6Ks.
i didn't much like martin logan or hale or wilson for that matter. but i was a big b&w fan. i know plenty of folks who adore ML and hate B&W.
good thing there're a lot of speaker companies out there :-) :-)
buy and listen to what you like. no way the world is ever going to agree on one best speaker!
sab