No doubt you will find many knowledgeable people on these boards, (I

i have the 3-way top of the line precise speakers. you are correct that onkyo hired keith johnson to do the work on their attempt at high end. harry pearson reviewed them favorably in the mid 1980'sfor absolute sound. the problem was poor marketing /merchandising/dealer network as they usually ended up with substandard electronics. from what i was told by an onkyo rep at the time the start up costs were unjustifiable. i never heard the smallerversions but the ones i have are very similar to kef 105's/b & w 801's from the early 80's without their antiseptic sound presentation. i've kept mine as back up speakers as i figured they would be hard sells since very few people remember them and they never developed a cult following.
hope this answers your questions.