As an aside: I feel that comparing $150 speakers to vintage UREI’s and JBL’s sort of misses the point.
I think they should be compared to other speakers in their price range (KRK Rokit5, Yamaha HS-50, M-Audio BX5 etc.).
Even the NS-10’s and HR824’s you mention are substantially more expensive.
You get what you pay for. I haven’t heard them myself, but at $250 a pair, I doubt you’re going to find anything that sounds a lot better.