I shopped for several days at all the typical stores and took back the hard/pinched RE-30 Cerwin-Vega from Best Buy. Good bass but poor sound-staging. A flawed speaker that causes me a headache. But the DCM KX-Series Two 12 is wonderful. Its sound it cut from the same cloth. Clear, open with a wide deep soundstage. The horn tweeter has only minor disadvantages as compared to past horn tweeters. The speaker fills a large room nicely. Paid $380 total at Circuit City. I have not listened to the electronic deep bass stuff yet but others have already covered this subject.
BTW, I'm 42 and have been an audiophile for many years. You don't need to buy the rip-off expensive stuff in Sterophile if you very carefully make the effort yourself. While most of the mass market stuff is junk the KX12 is a jewel for those who seek live dynamic sounding music. Forget British speakers or mini's.
Skip speakers with integrated 15" woffers as a 12" is typically lot better in the upper bass.
This speaker only has ONE 12" woffer not two! If you visit the DCM web-site you will see that there is not such speaker as the KX-212! Repeat after me "Series two KX-12".

Glad to see I'm not the only one enjoying these speakers. While the KX - 212's are no longer being made, the replacement is the KX-12 series two. This speaker is so incredibly loud that even with an underpowered 60 watt Sony receiver, they get louder than my neighbors will let me play them. I literally shook my next door neighbor's house (not apartment) so badly one time that he had to come over because things were falling off of his kitchen table. These are very accurate speakers as well, the midrange matches very nicely with the woofer, and the tweeter is capable of keeping up with the rest without sounding harsh. The only complaint I have about these speakers is the crossover should have a little bit steeper slope between the woofer and the midrange driver. Sometimes, the midrange driver will start to distort from bass long before the woofer is strained, but that is much louder than anybody will want to listen to for more than about 2 minutes tops, without their ears hurting. Incredible.

Thanks for setting the record record straight that the KX-212 has been discontinued. Audio Review should correct their mistake about the above listed price and note that this product has been discontinued. Also the Stereo Review Buyer's Guide 1998 lists the KX-12 (pg. 170)as having TWO 12in woffers. No listing for the KX-212 either. Errors upon errors. Series 2 KX-12 vs. KX-212. Anyone would be confused with this twisted mess.
I wish DCM still made the KX-212's as I would have liked to have heard their awesome bass. Not that my KX-12s can't shake the room. They do. I heard the Fifth Element on two-channel DVD and very impressed with the articulation, dynamics and solid bass foundation of the KX-12s. Maybe I should get a second pair for the same total price as one pair of KX-212s!
BTW one mid-range driver of my KX-12 pair was reversed.

I managed to seek out and obtain a pair of these hard to find wonders only a few months ago (mid '98) when I found I would be moving out of the dorms :) After many phone calls, emails, and dead ends, I secured the last floor models at a small audio store in Michigan. Fortunately for me, my father lived nearby and had a Suburban, because these babies barely fit in the back of my Blazer! Now to the point... this is my listening rig:
DCM KX-212s up front
DCM KX-Center on top of the entertainment center
el-cheapo KLH 8" in the rear--due for replacement in the near future
Sony KV32-S26 Television
Sony DVP-S300 DVD player (Optical out)
Sony SLV-778HF VCR
Sony CDP-315 CD player
Sony TC-WR565 Tape deck
Sony STR-DE915 Receiver (Dolby Digital)

With full LFE mixing on Digital soundtracks (Straship Troopers!) the bass levels are incredible. Pantlegs are shaking, neighbors are complaining, and maintenance is coming next week to fix the windows ("Someone must have hit it from outside, yeah thats it...") The imaging is quite good, especially given the currently less-than-ideal viewing room configuration. The center channel no doubt helps a great deal on 5.1 soundtracks, but even listening to test CDs the details were crisp and directed, although the highs were ever so slightly on the harsh side, probably due to the horn tweeters. But hey, when listening to ANYTHING at SPLs as extreme as this, whos going to notice?

For Home Theater applications, I would have to give these speakers a 4.5 star rating due to the slightly-less-than-perfect audiophile quality throughout the entire audio spectrum
BUT for pure music and BASS output (yes, Im a college student) they get a very very loud 5 stars indeed!

As for the confusion/comparisons with the new KX-12 Series 2, I listened to a pair of these not long after I got my 212s. They do indeed have punch, but listen to 4 of them pounding out the bass to get an idea of what we're talking about here :)

Hard hitting bass and the listing level is there at lower volums

at foundation shaking levels the midrange will start struggling to keep up with the woofers

I bought these speakers a while back and have nothing bad to say they have very good sound qulity and nice smooth hard hitting bass and the boxes look very nice I hope that dcm would come out with another speaker with dull 12's in each speaker I also have the new center and rear speakers and have 2 klh 12's running off of the sub out by splittin one cable into two and 2 klh 15's running off of the b outputs on the reciver my reciver is rated at 140 watts into all four channels and sixty to the center in dolby sourround mode it was made by poinner for a very short time reason for disconting don't no but I have never had a problem with it either
And brian S there is a such thing as a kx212 it was made befor the series two and they have 2 12's in each speaker and that I know for a fact becouse I have two in my living room

the look and the mind cleansing bass,mids,and highs.

the only weakness is in your receiver cause this speaker can take anthing you give it and the more solid the signals the harder it hit .

Everyone has played with the notion of submerging you in sound waves but until DCM not a single company has done this . I have own my Kx-212 for almost 3 years now and every time I listen to them its just like the first. They never sease to amaze me they can take the punishment from LETHAL WEAPON 4 on DVD and the let me sit back and relax to
some Brotha Lynch. But all in all this is a superb speaker and I would buy this one all over again. Oh and by the way I'm looking to invest in another pair!

Are there more accurate speakers out there for pure hifi listening? Yes, but a speaker nowadays has too satisfy both the hifi head as well as the home theater enthusiast and the DCM KX212 delivers. These speakers handle the demanding dynamics of dolby digital movie sources by rewarding the audience with massive bass on demand and detailed highs. They also image well for standard 2 channel stereo. I auditioned several other makes of towers for under $1000, and the KX212 prevailed. I've had mine for over a year and still enjoy them as much as I did when I initially purchased them!!

I have had a pair of the KX 212's for one year now and have no desire to replace them. I looked at many other speakers, and found to get the volume i wanted i would have to pay $1k per speaker or more. When i listened to the 212's, i was out the door in 5 minutes. I will agree they are not as accurate as the $1000 speaker but pretty close. I have a Denon amp (250 watts per channel) powering them to concert levels. They are incredible. The only neg. is u must have a good amp to play them at concert levels for extended periods of time. I recommend to anyone who's wife will allow a gigantic speaker and concert level sound.