Which way to go with KEF R series?

[admin_exported]

I've moved away from the T series recently, they lacked the detail I like, and being an ex-Apex owner I never warmed to them. So I purchased some R100's which I love, especially as I'm listen to a lot more 2 channels music.

So here's my dilemma, my routes was to buy 2 more R100's for rear surround and eventually adding the 200C to complete the set. Then a thought crossed my mind, sound I upgrade the fronts to R300's and then wait a little longer for the centre. Are the 300's worth the extra cash?

I had a listen to them sometime ago and remember thinking they sounded great, but I'm not going to get time to go and listen in th next month or so, and the dealers sale / KEF offer on the R100 will be over by then.

So assuming for the moment that I won't be upgrading the AVR for a while (and even then I may get a PM7004 and use the pre-outs), what are your thought? thanks

 

[Frank Harvey]

R100's front and rear will give you a better match all round, but as good as the R100's are, the R300's are quite noticably better, mainly due to it's better UniQ and dedicated bass driver.

 

[Anonymous]

Isn't the uniQ in the R100 & R300 the same then?

 

[Larry]

The R300 has a seperate 6,5 " bass driver on the front. Would love to hear some more impressions on the R100 and R300 .

 

[CnoEvil]

The R300 has a seperate 6,5 " bass driver on the front. Would love to hear some more impressions on the R100 and R300 .

The R Series have their own thread in a well known AV Forum.

 

[Frank Harvey]

The R100's are great little speakers Larry, and if you've read the favourable reviews of the Q300's, think along those lines and better. The difference between the R100 and R300 are pretty big. They use the same tweeter, and they're both UniQ, and both share the same high quality cabinet. Other than the same sort of quality crossover, that's pretty much where the differences stop. The two-way UniQ of the R100 has to deal with all frequencies, and KEF have done their best to ensure the R100 dies that as accurately as possible. The three-way R300 uses a dedicated bass driver which works from 500Hz downwards - this relieves the UniQ of the stresses involved in reproducing bass frequencies that involve large cone movements, allowing the UniQ to do a far more accurate job, as it is dealing with a smaller frequency bandwidth. The UniQ can now do away with a larger roll surround, in fact, it pretty much does away with the roll surround altogether - something you've probably seen popping up on a lot of speakers in the past 5 years or so. Because the midrange section of the UniQ now hardly moves, it no longer affects the dispersion of the treble frequencies, allowing more accurate and precise imaging, as the HF unit uses the curve of the midrange cone for dispersion. You'll notice the UniQ on the R300 and upwards is very similar to that of KEF's Blade loudspeaker.

Because of the dedicated bass driver of the R300's, the whole frequency range sounds cleaner, and along with a larger cabinet volume, you'll get a far lower bass reach - with music, I swear I've heard my R300's at home reaching frequencies that my subwoofer has in the past, only cleaner! That's some achievement.

Youll find midrange will be more accurate and revealing due to the reasons I mentioned above, being able to recreate better soundstaging and atmosphere, something that close mic'd vocals will show up. The R300's will do everything they do better with more headroom, so will do so more effortlessly. If you can stretch to the extra, the R300's will reward you with much more. While you may find the R100's will be more accurate in the midrange than your 140's, the R300's will be a more fairer comparison. They'll reach just as deep, if not deeper, and do so in a more neutral manner, losing that exaggerated bass hump that makes many Dynaudio's sound 'nice'.

 

[Anonymous]

I Like this thread and it is very intertesting...

 

[CnoEvil]

The R300 has a seperate 6,5 " bass driver on the front. Would love to hear some more impressions on the R100 and R300 .

The R Series have their own thread in a well known AV Forum.

Under the new liberal rules, I can now post a link: :bounce:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/speakers/1509774-kef-r-series.html

 

[Anonymous]

About the R300, is there anything about this loudspeakers that reminds XQ Series?

I purchased a pair of XQ20 to a friend of mine without previous auditioning (I trusted on KEF's tradition) and eventually got shoked with their bad quality. I really regreat having purchased those loudspeakers.

KEF's XQ Series are maybe the worst loudspeakers KEF has ever lauched. There's nothing on XQ Series that reminds KEF's sound signature. XQ20 and XQ40 loudspeakers sound clinical, tonally unnatural, thin bodied and fatiguing.

 

[Frank Harvey]

A tad strong, I think. I pitched the XQ20's up against another big brand standmount at an equivalent price point, and playing a track on vinyl (I forget the track, it was the customer's record), the XQ20 was able to make far better sense of the numerous percussion layers within the track, creating a more detailed and three dimensional image. There were some that didn't likie the tonal balance of the XQ series, which is fair enough.

The R series has never been referred to by KEF as a replacement for the XQ series as the only similarities that they bear is that they use a UniQ driver, a cabinet, and a crossover - all of which bear no resemblence to the XQ's. There is nothing beyond that.

But hey, we're all different. That's why there is so much choice out there, and no single solution for everyone

 

[kmlav]

I have the r300 front, r100 rear, and r200c with a arcam avr400 and IMHO its a great set up. I would agree with the coments about the 300's. The 100's are awsome units but the 300's are a big step forward , in percentage terms i would say this mirrors the increase in price.

To be fair the best unit is the 200c which is really fantastic and well worth a try, much better tha the MA unit it replaced.

I got all mine on home demo first which really helped, thanks to sevenoaks... other stores are available...

 

[CnoEvil]

I have the r300 front, r100 rear, and r200c with a arcam avr400 and IMHO its a great set up. I would agree with the coments about the 300's. The 100's are awsome units but the 300's are a big step forward , in percentage terms i would say this mirrors the increase in price.

To be fair the best unit is the 200c which is really fantastic and well worth a try, much better tha the MA unit it replaced.

I got all mine on home demo first which really helped, thanks to sevenoaks... other stores are available...

Very nice system......IMO. Arcam + Kef make great bedfellows

 

[SRL69]

I demo'ed KEF R500 with Arcam AVR400 and whilst very good (I brought them on the strength of this demo), my AVR350 bi-amping them is better. I am hugely impressed with R500s and now upgraded centre to R200C (replacing MA RX Centre). Some music is jaw dropping good (is that an expression).

Only "problem" I have had is with positioning, which was quite difficult but follow the guidance from KEF and should be ok. Also the setup is very revealing of source quality so be prepared.

Effortlessly go very loud.

Still using MA RS W12 Subwoofer and rears are KEF iQ3s until funds allow for better.