I made a mistake.

[admin_exported]

I have had a pair of kef Q100's for a couple of week's, the sound is good with good bass and detail, the only problem is some song's sound so bright it hurt's my ear's, i have moved to a new room with carpet and lot's of furniture and it still a little bright, i have played around with speaker postion but no luck, i have no doubt the kef's are fantastic speakers, i dont feel they gel well with my roksan amp, i think a pair of monitor audio rx1's would sound great, ill be taking back the kef's next week and taking the rx's home. If they sound good my dealer says i can pay the difference, i hope they do..

 

[CnoEvil]

If they have Dynaudio, the DM 2/6 might be an even better match.

 

[Anonymous]

I recently purchased a whole new system and settled on B&W CM1 for their overall balance.

I also auditioned the Monitor Audio BX2 and BX5, which I found brighter than the B&W's, I am told the RX range is even more forward sounding but didn't listen to them.

A very good speaker is the Roksan Kandy which uses a ribbon tweeter so shouldn't be too in your face, but I would also have a listen to some of B&W's range if you can.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

I have had a pair of kef Q100's for a couple of week's, the sound is good with good bass and detail, the only problem is some song's sound so bright it hurt's my ear's, i have moved to a new room with carpet and lot's of furniture and it still a little bright, i have played around with speaker postion but no luck, i have no doubt the kef's are fantastic speakers, i dont feel they gel well with my roksan amp, i think a pair of monitor audio rx1's would sound great, ill be taking back the kef's next week and taking the rx's home. If they sound good my dealer says i can pay the difference, i hope they do..

Hi jimm

If all is ok with your system then hopefully speakers such as Silver RX1's or as has also been suggested DM 2/6's can help resolve the issue with your system. Dynaudio's DM 2/7's are also worth bearing in mind.

Btw, what speakers were you using before the Q100's please?

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Cypher]

I said this about these speakers ;

1. Bass was very weak and not tight sounding.

2. Midrange can sound harsh at times........not easy on the ears.

3. They get confused with complex music. I listen to a lot of jazz/fusion and the instruments were a mess....each instrument could not be heard individually.

IMO the Dali Zensor 1 and Monitor Audio BX 2 are much, much better. They do not have these kind of problems.

I'm not the only one who is saying this. There are better speakers out there

 

[Anonymous]

Cypher, i disagree, the bass is excellent, detail is excellent and they handle complex music fine, i do agree with you that the midrange is bright, the kef Q100's are great speakers in the right system.

 

[Anonymous]

Rick, i was using q-acoustic 2010's before the kef's, brilliant little speaker.

 

[Cypher]

Maybe you could try the new 2010i or 2020i speakers ?

 

[Anonymous]

With respect to sub 200 pound speaker models id like to aim a bit higher, my amp deserves a speaker of at least the 400-500 pound mark and thats a minimum, thank's for the suggestion, i am sure the new q-acoustic range are as good as the old.

 

[moon]

With respect to sub 200 pound speaker models id like to aim a bit higher, my amp deserves a speaker of at least the 400-500 pound mark and thats a minimum, thank's for the suggestion, i am sure the new q-acoustic range are as good as the old.

Maybe try the Arcaydis Dm1, a very well balanced speaker and great value for money. Had to sell mine when I needed some cash and I now really regret the decision.

Might have to wait to get a pair though. I while back I heard a Roksan with some Dali mentor Minuet, good little combo that.

 

[Cypher]

With respect to sub 200 pound speaker models id like to aim a bit higher, my amp deserves a speaker of at least the 400-500 pound mark and thats a minimum, thank's for the suggestion, i am sure the new q-acoustic range are as good as the old.

Kef R100

Wharfedale Jade 1

I would look at these. Your amp is very good indeed.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the suggestions guy's, my mind is set, i will buy the rx'1s, having had a pair on home demo a while back using my old marantz pm5003 they sounded great, the only prolem was my room was small, i have since moved into a nice sized room, plenty of space the rx's to breath, what i like about the rx's is the nice warm bass, midrange and clear vocal's, my amp is quite forward and attacking, i feel this combo is going to work a treat.

 

[krazy_olie]

Hmm, I've only managed to try mine out for a few hours with my MCR502, I felt it was maybe lacking a bit of warmth, maybe even slightly lean sounding but it was on a kitchen table which was just sucking up all the bass. Can't say I though it was bright in a bad way though. When I put in the live DSOTM disk, I was amazed how it managed to not be harsh whilst retaining nuances.

Highly likely I was at a much lower volume though and also quite a different amp

 

[Anonymous]

I hope you enjoy them, they just didnt work for me. i am sure they will work well with marantaz though, they will sound better after a few day's and will keep improving for a couple of weeks.

 

[krazy_olie]

I hope you enjoy them, they just didnt work for me. i am sure they will work well with marantaz though, they will sound better after a few day's and will keep improving for a couple of weeks.

Thanks, I hope so too! I took a punt on them, got a very decent price on them so worst that happens is I trade them in. I liked the look of the rx1 but as my room is small it didn't seem like a good idea, I had seen it mentioned a few times that the q100 were good for small rooms and it was the only speaker in it's class that I could find which looked like a sensible candidate for putting on/near a wall

 

[Anonymous]

Krazy-olie, how are you getting on with those kef's?

 

[krazy_olie]

Will have to report back after the weekend once I've had a chance to have a good listen. I have them biamped with the Marantz so I am able to offset the volume of the 2 amp stages meaning I can lower the volume of the tweeter if I find it too hard, not sure if that's something you are able to try?

 

[krazy_olie]

Half an update....

Actually listening through 1 speaker right now...

Something didn't seem quite right, bass guitar sounded undefined (i'm a bass player so I like to hear some bass!) and sounded like there was a bit of a hole in the sound but after some fiddling on the amp I'm much happier. I did notice that at some point on the volume sacale cymabls hard this really hard percussive sound which wasn't pleasant. The Marantz has a volume offset for the 2 different channels so I knocked off a notch off the tweeter(a nocth is quite a lot) and that slight tweak seemed to help alot more than just turning down the treble. I have a feeling that the crossover isn't quite tuned properly

Next thing was to change the amp setting. By default the Marantz's "flat" setting actually boosts the bass, but it didn't sound bass heavy. Setting 3 cuts up to 60hz by 12db and boosts 400hz by 3db. Toying with giving it extra bass on the tone control but seems to have mixed impact. Certainly it's a less transparent and "hi-fi" and transparent sound at the moment but it's much more enjoyable. The Kefs are incredibly clear to start with so taking a bit of clarity doesn't do much damge.

It kinda sounds like a really large scale verion of what I have with the audioengines. and that's with just 1 speaker!

 

[paddyb]

I have a Marantz DR603, which I guess is has the same amp as the CR503. Been offered a pair of Q100's at £350, which is already £100 over the amount I wanted to spend, but worth it if it makes a noticeable improvement to my sound. I'm running Dali Zensor 1's at the moment, but feel I could get more out of the CR603. I heard the Q100's on a Arcam Solo as they didn't have the Marantz in stock and was very impressed by the detail and soundstage. Would you recommend them on a CR603?