KEF X300A - Actives - A new beginning?

[WishTree]

Just saw them.

I hope this is the beginning of the new era of active system from regular HiFi Speaker makers

http://www.kef.com/html/us/showroom/digital_music_solutions/x300a/overview/

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi WishTree

Thanks

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[The_Lhc]

Somewhat limited connection options, USB and one analogue input and optional Bluetooth dongle.

$799, don't know what they'll be in pounds but the LS50s are $1499. Hopefully they'll put the idea into something other than speakers just for your PC.

 

[steve_1979]

AVI, Dynaudio and now KEF. Hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

I wonder who'll be next? Bowers & Wilkins maybe?

 

[steve_1979]

How about making an active version of the Blade next please KEF. That would be an awesome speaker. 8)

 

[AlmaataKZ]

How about making an active version of the Blade next please KEF. That would be an awesome speaker. 8)

Yep, and make it under 10 or 8 grand.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

AVI, Dynaudio and now KEF. Hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

I wonder who'll be next? Bowers & Wilkins maybe?

Have you missed this b&w active with usb?

 

[The_Lhc]

How about making an active version of the Blade next please KEF. That would be an awesome speaker. 8)

Which nobody will buy, so what's the point of asking?

 

[BenLaw]

How about making an active version of the Blade next please KEF. That would be an awesome speaker. 8)

Which nobody will buy, so what's the point of asking?

Probably right. As I understand it almost no-one buys the passive blades, and even fewer buy a pair that works perfectly.

 

[The_Lhc]

How about making an active version of the Blade next please KEF. That would be an awesome speaker. 8)

Which nobody will buy, so what's the point of asking?

Probably right. As I understand it almost no-one buys the passive blades, and even fewer buy a pair that works perfectly.

Well, I don't know anything about that but given the passive ones cost 20k, an active pair are going to be 25k at least, I'm not going pay that sort of money, I daresay steve_1979 isn't either, so personally I'd rather see something like an active R series or something more affordable, which is what I thought these things were until I read the blurb and saw the limited number of connections available and the emphasis on PC usage.

 

[Frank Harvey]

How about making an active version of the Blade next please KEF. That would be an awesome speaker. 8)

That was the first thing I asked KEF at the Blade launch at Munich last year!

 

[Electro]

AVI, Dynaudio and now KEF. Hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

I wonder who'll be next? Bowers & Wilkins maybe?

Have you missed this b&w active with usb?

Or my dream speakers the original Nautilus .

http://www.audiofile.co.uk/bw-nautilus-speakers/

 

[steve_1979]

How about making an active version of the Blade next please KEF. That would be an awesome speaker. 8)

Which nobody will buy, so what's the point of asking?

Probably right. As I understand it almost no-one buys the passive blades, and even fewer buy a pair that works perfectly.

Well, I don't know anything about that but given the passive ones cost 20k, an active pair are going to be 25k at least, I'm not going pay that sort of money, I daresay steve_1979 isn't either, so personally I'd rather see something like an active R series or something more affordable, which is what I thought these things were until I read the blurb and saw the limited number of connections available and the emphasis on PC usage.

TBH I'd prefer to see them make some more active speakers in the £500 - £2000 price range.

 

[manicm]

AVI, Dynaudio and now KEF. Hopefully this is the start of a new trend.

I wonder who'll be next? Bowers & Wilkins maybe?

Have you missed this b&w active with usb?

I have these B&W MM1's - and no they don't have a sub (that's why I bought them - for more footspace under the desk). And the KEFs have one great advantage over these - the X300A supports high-res 24/96 whereas the MM1s are only vanilla res. Game over.

 

[steve_1979]

Rather than potentially inhibit the performance of the system by employing a conventional passive crossover network, Nautilus™ employs sophisticated active filters and separate power amplifiers for each driver.

I'd forgotten that their flagship Nautilus speaker is active. It'd be nice if they made some cheaper ones though.

http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/speakers/the-story-behind-the-finest-speaker-in-the-world/

 

[Frank Harvey]

I have these B&W MM1's - and no they don't have a sub (that's why I bought them - for more footspace under the desk). And the KEFs have one great advantage over these - the X300A supports high-res 24/96 whereas the MM1s are only vanilla res. Game over.

The KEF's will also have greater scale and energy seeing as they have a much larger cabinet volume

 

[steve_1979]

I have these B&W MM1's - and no they don't have a sub

He said USB not S U B.

 

[silikonas]

anybody own the new kef x300a? would love to hear the impressions. thanks

 

[Frank Harvey]

They're about to see the light of day now, so you should see opinions popping up over the next few weeks.

 

[byakuya83]

http://www.kef.com/html/gb/showroom/digital_music_solutions/x300a/overview/

Very interesting product at a very competitive price.

Am I right to think that connecting via USB is preferable?

Bit of a shame that the connections are so limited.

Another digital input or two would have been useful.

 

[BigH]

Yes but you buy cheap connectors so you can plug more than one in. USB well some actives have gone away from usb. I think the Kefs are aimed at the computer market, there are plenty more actives around, some much cheaper than these. Studios tend to use them for the accurate sound. At around this price and for hifi I would look at the AE ones, they get a good review on this site.

 

[manicm]

The X300A may sound great but it's a very niche product, unless you'll only ever use your PC as a source.

 

[BigH]

Yes I agree computer sound or laptops/iphones etc is a bigger market than hifi, no wonder there are so many new probucts like Sonus/ATV etc to handle streaming, multiroom streaming etc. KEFs are getting in on the act.

 

[chebby]

The X300A may sound great but it's a very niche product, unless you'll only ever use your PC as a source.

The X300A is a niche product because it is sold in hi-fi dealerships and because it costs £600 and because few people (outside of serious hi-fi and AV) have heard of KEF. It is not a niche product due to being a PC speaker.

The whole idea of using a computer as a primary source of music - through desktop speakers - is far more common than dedicated music systems (hi-fi, micro/mini/seperates systems). Hi-fi systems are the 'niche' products nowadays.

My daughters play all their music from iTunes or YouTube or internet radio via their computers and things like these and these.

Both of them had little Sony micro systems and CD Walkmans when they were much younger (both in their 20s now) but they will never go back to anything that only plays music from a disk.

Even their laptops and desktop speakers are becoming 'old hat' now they both have iPhones. I have already been asked for advice about good AirPlay/Bluetooth speakers. (They like what I can do with AirPlay and iPhone through my system but want something much more compact without seperate speakers and without wires tethered to a computer.)

 

[recruit]

I'm using these off of my laptop and for casual listening in the bedroom they sound superb with high res music, infact even off of my iPhone they sound bloody good, excellent speakers and thoroughly recommend them for the money!!