We are testing our 100's and 300's today. Straight out of the box they are sounding very good. I hope to do some comparisons later on and see where they sit amongst the other brands.
Frank Harvey
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matthewpiano
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I would be very interested to know how the Q300s compare to staples of the price point like the Quad 11Ls and B&W 685s. I love the idea of a single point source and the imaging stability that should bring.
Frank Harvey
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I don't want to say how they definitely compare against other speakers until I've done a drect comparison, but from what I heard, they will be better than the two you have mentioned. The main three speakers around the £500 mark would be the MA RX1, KEF Q300, and the ATC SCM7. All three of these are similarish dimensions, but priced a little differently (400/500/560). All three have a different sound, and some are easier to partner. But the KEF and ATC have the MA RX2 sitting ar £600 with a larger cabinet volume and 8" driver.....
I didn't get a chance to hear the Q's against anything else - the shop has to be run! I did get them properly set up and have a nice demo between the 100's and the 300's. It does surprise me how much of a jump there is between the two - the 300 is like a new speaker compared to the 100 and that in itself is no slouch.
All things going well I run the comparisons on Monday.
All things going well I run the comparisons on Monday.
Ron Locke:
Hi Shado,
The 3 finishes were specifically chosen due to trends in furniture designs and the most popular colours offered and sold within that industry.
Off course, it would be great to be able to offer a wider range of colour options but as a manufacturer you have to be careful not to fill your warehouse full of colurs that don't sell.
We also have to look at historical data and which finishes were more popular than others, this forms part of the decision to make the colours we do. Trust me, if demand was there, I'm sure we would do something about it.
Reference Custom Colours is something completely different, these are premium products which sell in much less quantities than our Q Series, plus, they are made here in Maidstone, so it's easy for us to react to a specific demand, albeit, at a premium on the price.
All the best
Ron
Dear Ron,
I wish all KEF speakers were built at Maidstone including mine because we the British people have a lot of faith in your products.
Just look at the interest this thread has created. This is exciting in the Speaker frontier as the Pope visiting UK. Maybe more important in the spiritual plane. Don't mess about with submitting all 3 for testing by What Hifi which I am going to hate is more superior than mine.
I submit to you what was the best selling iQ series finish overall - would it be apple per chance, please capitalise on this historic moment in your timeline, cherry wood, mahogany, walnut - why not as it is autumn conker finish!! Who is your PR consultant? This is a runawaytrain product that deserves more choice, more expression, more imagination and faith. How many speakers have a Conker facia. What better than to beat the opposition with an unique front.
I am available for employment
Hi Shado,
The 3 finishes were specifically chosen due to trends in furniture designs and the most popular colours offered and sold within that industry.
Off course, it would be great to be able to offer a wider range of colour options but as a manufacturer you have to be careful not to fill your warehouse full of colurs that don't sell.
We also have to look at historical data and which finishes were more popular than others, this forms part of the decision to make the colours we do. Trust me, if demand was there, I'm sure we would do something about it.
Reference Custom Colours is something completely different, these are premium products which sell in much less quantities than our Q Series, plus, they are made here in Maidstone, so it's easy for us to react to a specific demand, albeit, at a premium on the price.
All the best
Ron
Dear Ron,
I wish all KEF speakers were built at Maidstone including mine because we the British people have a lot of faith in your products.
Just look at the interest this thread has created. This is exciting in the Speaker frontier as the Pope visiting UK. Maybe more important in the spiritual plane. Don't mess about with submitting all 3 for testing by What Hifi which I am going to hate is more superior than mine.
I submit to you what was the best selling iQ series finish overall - would it be apple per chance, please capitalise on this historic moment in your timeline, cherry wood, mahogany, walnut - why not as it is autumn conker finish!! Who is your PR consultant? This is a runawaytrain product that deserves more choice, more expression, more imagination and faith. How many speakers have a Conker facia. What better than to beat the opposition with an unique front.
I am available for employment
Frank Harvey
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Of?
If you're referring to the floorstanders, I doubt we'll be seeing any in the store until after the 'exclusive' showing Manchester Show....
If you're referring to the floorstanders, I doubt we'll be seeing any in the store until after the 'exclusive' showing Manchester Show....
Thanks David I did not know that.
What about the Q300s, have you had any time to do a direct comparison in demo rooms?
What about the Q300s, have you had any time to do a direct comparison in demo rooms?
Frank Harvey
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I haven't compared them to anything directly yet, they've just been sitting there running in (in between demos). I suppose it depends what you pit them against - based on price, the B&W CM1's? MA's RX1 and RX2 are either side of the price point....
based on price and a pair of two chanel speakers, which one of these four speakers or maybe the apex A10 would be the best choice for lx83 in stereo? What do you think?
Frank Harvey
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Any of those mentioned will work well with the SCLX83, it'll just depend on your preferences as far as sound is concerned. For music, I would say that the Q, RX, and CM's will perform better as it's what they're designed to do. The Apex is a sub/sat style system that works in a different way to hi-fi speakers - they'll have some advantages for AV, and work better in smaller rooms in comparison to the larger standmounts mentioned.
Frank Harvey
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Now that our Q300's have had a chance to bed in, I decided to give them a bit of a thrashing to see how well they stood up against my memory of the launch held at the hotel. I popped them on the end of a Naim Nait and CD5i, and to be honest, I'm pretty stunned at how good these £500 speakers sounds. They manage to project forward of their box in a 'listen to this' sort of manner, but do it in a delicate way. The Rage Against The Machine album I usually use just sounded immaculate - it usually tends to be high end speakers that bring that out of the album. The same goes for Neil Finn's Try Whistling This - usually a messy, compressed sounding album until it's played on something much higher end. The close mic'd female vocals of Sia and Mandalay sounded fabulous, revealing every little detail of their mouths closing and opening, and also revealing every little drawback of the recording too - you can hear the hiss of overdubs kick in and out. I haven't listened to it for a while, but Elysian Fields' Bleed Your Cedar was sounding rather nice too. I switched over to a few albums on Napster via the Sonos ZP90, and Mr. Scruff's Keep It Unreal sounded amazing - plenty of drive and energy. Hands Upon Black Earth's album of the same name was sounding quite nice too - I'm not overly familiar with the album yet as I've only recently discovered them, but that also had the same drive and energy of the Mr.Scruff album.
These are amazing sounding speakers. Soundstaging is amazing - they have real front to back depth, and when I say front, I mean in front of the listener. I urge anyone looking at this price point to get out to your dealer and have a listen. Some of you may not like them, but those that do are going to be in for a real treat.
These are amazing sounding speakers. Soundstaging is amazing - they have real front to back depth, and when I say front, I mean in front of the listener. I urge anyone looking at this price point to get out to your dealer and have a listen. Some of you may not like them, but those that do are going to be in for a real treat.
Frank Harvey
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FrankHarveyHiFi:
Now that our Q300's have had a chance to bed in, I decided to give them a bit of a thrashing to see how well they stood up against my memory of the launch held at the hotel. I popped them on the end of a Naim Nait and CD5i, and to be honest, I'm pretty stunned at how good these £500 speakers sounds. They manage to project forward of their box in a 'listen to this' sort of manner, but do it in a delicate way. The Rage Against The Machine album I usually use just sounded immaculate - it usually tends to be high end speakers that bring that out of the album. The same goes for Neil Finn's Try Whistling This - usually a messy, compressed sounding album until it's played on something much higher end. The close mic'd female vocals of Sia and Mandalay sounded fabulous, revealing every little detail of their mouths closing and opening, and also revealing every little drawback of the recording too - you can hear the hiss of overdubs kick in and out. I haven't listened to it for a while, but Elysian Fields' Bleed Your Cedar was sounding rather nice too. I switched over to a few albums on Napster via the Sonos ZP90, and Mr. Scruff's Keep It Unreal sounded amazing - plenty of drive and energy. Hands Upon Black Earth's album of the same name was sounding quite nice too - I'm not overly familiar with the album yet as I've only recently discovered them, but that also had the same drive and energy of the Mr.Scruff album.
These are amazing sounding speakers. Soundstaging is amazing - they have real front to back depth, and when I say front, I mean in front of the listener. I urge anyone looking at this price point to get out to your dealer and have a listen. Some of you may not like them, but those that do are going to be in for a real treat.
Hi David,
In your opinion do you think the Q100 would make a good bookshelf speaker in the true sense of the word. I am currently looking for a speaker to sit on a shelf close to a back wall. I would like a considerable step up from the regular budget 5* brigade. I will be using a Class AA Technics amp.
Dave
Now that our Q300's have had a chance to bed in, I decided to give them a bit of a thrashing to see how well they stood up against my memory of the launch held at the hotel. I popped them on the end of a Naim Nait and CD5i, and to be honest, I'm pretty stunned at how good these £500 speakers sounds. They manage to project forward of their box in a 'listen to this' sort of manner, but do it in a delicate way. The Rage Against The Machine album I usually use just sounded immaculate - it usually tends to be high end speakers that bring that out of the album. The same goes for Neil Finn's Try Whistling This - usually a messy, compressed sounding album until it's played on something much higher end. The close mic'd female vocals of Sia and Mandalay sounded fabulous, revealing every little detail of their mouths closing and opening, and also revealing every little drawback of the recording too - you can hear the hiss of overdubs kick in and out. I haven't listened to it for a while, but Elysian Fields' Bleed Your Cedar was sounding rather nice too. I switched over to a few albums on Napster via the Sonos ZP90, and Mr. Scruff's Keep It Unreal sounded amazing - plenty of drive and energy. Hands Upon Black Earth's album of the same name was sounding quite nice too - I'm not overly familiar with the album yet as I've only recently discovered them, but that also had the same drive and energy of the Mr.Scruff album.
These are amazing sounding speakers. Soundstaging is amazing - they have real front to back depth, and when I say front, I mean in front of the listener. I urge anyone looking at this price point to get out to your dealer and have a listen. Some of you may not like them, but those that do are going to be in for a real treat.
Hi David,
In your opinion do you think the Q100 would make a good bookshelf speaker in the true sense of the word. I am currently looking for a speaker to sit on a shelf close to a back wall. I would like a considerable step up from the regular budget 5* brigade. I will be using a Class AA Technics amp.
Dave
Frank Harvey
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I can't see why it wouldn't. It's front ported so serious bass issues should be at a minimum, although I've not tried them close to the wall in our demo room. Having said that, our wall is a 16th century wooden beamed wall that is no more effective than a partition wall, so makes minimal difference! I've been listening to them about a foot and a half into the room, mainly because all the speakers we have seem to work well at that point.
David,
Thanks for sharing your impression. Does the new Q series sounds fatigue or bright? Do you know if it is time or/and phase design with this new series? I read that the Concept Blade is time aligned with all the drivers but not sure if the crossover is phased coherent or not. I find time coherent speaker easy to listen without any fatigue. One last question, how is good it is in low-volume listening?
Thanks
Kenneth
Thanks for sharing your impression. Does the new Q series sounds fatigue or bright? Do you know if it is time or/and phase design with this new series? I read that the Concept Blade is time aligned with all the drivers but not sure if the crossover is phased coherent or not. I find time coherent speaker easy to listen without any fatigue. One last question, how is good it is in low-volume listening?
Thanks
Kenneth
magic12kenneth:
David,
Thanks for sharing your impression. Does the new Q series sounds fatigue or bright? How's the frequency response? Do you know if it is time or/and phase design with this new series? I find most time or phase coherent speakers makes the music very musical and lifelike and at the same time very detail and revealing that is very easy to listen with no fatigue. It just flows effortless. What is your thoughts when compare to time or phased coherent speakers? I read that the Concept Blade is time aligned with all the drivers but not sure if the crossover is phased coherent using first order design.
Kenneth
Wot?
David,
Thanks for sharing your impression. Does the new Q series sounds fatigue or bright? How's the frequency response? Do you know if it is time or/and phase design with this new series? I find most time or phase coherent speakers makes the music very musical and lifelike and at the same time very detail and revealing that is very easy to listen with no fatigue. It just flows effortless. What is your thoughts when compare to time or phased coherent speakers? I read that the Concept Blade is time aligned with all the drivers but not sure if the crossover is phased coherent using first order design.
Kenneth
Wot?
Frank Harvey
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Hi Kenneth.
I don't find the new Q's fatiguing, although I wouldn't say I've listened to them for a long period of time - my listening session last week was about an hour. Because they're very open and forward, they do project sound towards you. They do this in a very gentle way, but I suppose some might find that fatiguing - personally, I think it's what all speakers should do.
I have quickly flicked through KEF's tech spec and can't see anything mentioned of what yo're asking. One thing the new Q series does minimise is diffraction. In the UniQ design, the mid/bass driver in the UniQ array acts as the waveguide for the centrally mounted HF unit, but conventional roll surrounds disrupt the waveguide for the HF unit. The way the Z Roll surround on the UniQ driver is designed, it does away with the usual half roll surround of normal drivers. This helps produce a more perfect HF waveguide.
What you're asking about might be something that KEF incorporate in their designs anyway - it might be worth firing off an e-mail to KEF technical for clarification.
I don't find the new Q's fatiguing, although I wouldn't say I've listened to them for a long period of time - my listening session last week was about an hour. Because they're very open and forward, they do project sound towards you. They do this in a very gentle way, but I suppose some might find that fatiguing - personally, I think it's what all speakers should do.
I have quickly flicked through KEF's tech spec and can't see anything mentioned of what yo're asking. One thing the new Q series does minimise is diffraction. In the UniQ design, the mid/bass driver in the UniQ array acts as the waveguide for the centrally mounted HF unit, but conventional roll surrounds disrupt the waveguide for the HF unit. The way the Z Roll surround on the UniQ driver is designed, it does away with the usual half roll surround of normal drivers. This helps produce a more perfect HF waveguide.
What you're asking about might be something that KEF incorporate in their designs anyway - it might be worth firing off an e-mail to KEF technical for clarification.
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