I began the quest for my "audiophile" system six months ago. I was replacing a Panasonic compact system that had replaced a 1st-generation Toshiba CD player, a fried Yamaha amp and a retired pair "Cerwin Vega" style speakers.
The first thing that I got was a Naim NAC 102 pre-amp. That was soon followed by a Naim NAP 140 power-amp. Now that I had the amplification done, I wanted to quickly beef-up the system to get away from the Panasonic unit. I intended to watch DVDs eventually, and my wife liked to shuffle with a 5-CD changer, so I purchased the 5-DVD changer from Sony. Now all I needed was a set of speakers. (Since then I've also purchased a Naim CD 3.5 w/ Flat-Cap, and a NAPSC for 102.)

My old speakers at work needed to be replaced, so I decided to purchase something "inexpensive" that still sounded acceptable. It would be used temporarily at home until I got my "good" speakers, at which point the cheaper ones would move to my office. Then I could bring the crappy ones home from the office to use as surrounds in my HT setup.

I listened to the Totem Mite, Mission 700, B&W DM 302, Paradigm Atom, and Royd A7X. Of all of these, the Royd sounded the most natural and musical. The sense of grip was very palpable. If you like a little "rock-and-roll" speaker, the B&W is more colored in that direction. For me, though, the Royd was the way to go.

I should warn you that it took a couple of months before they were fully broken in. Before that time, they seemed to have difficulty handling loud volumes. (The sound would seem to close in on itself, especially if the signal was particularly busy.) Now there is no problem whatsoever.

For my big speakers I've purchased a set of Royd Albions. I guess I must like the Royd sound. Astonishingly, the little A7X holds its own against its very formidable big brother. If you are planning on building a home theatre system with Royd speakers, the A7X will match very nicely as surrounds with the Albions. (Maybe I'll have to buy another pair for work [g].)