I knew when these arrived I going enjoy this, would you believe back in the 80’s I used to sell and install Kef Car Audio products. Today Kef has continued on with their home audio range a shame to see car audio go, but hey great to see they are still going strong.
Right time to unpack….
Well must say they were well packaged and unlikely to get damaged in transit.
Really like there look and single driver with tweeter on the center pole, this creates a nice array of musical detail over a wide spectrum, will find out soon enough.
I placed them on a pair of high quality stands for this test as I was hopeful they would full the room with there presence.
Time to connect them up and start running them in, planned a 10-15 hour run in time and definitely worth the wait. As I tried different types of music I was starting to get attached to them as generally I prefer US speakers over the English speakers, may have to be careful here/maybe.
Alright, I have taken these speakers through there paces and for size and price, Wow! What a sound!
Really brought the room alive with sound. These little fellows just wanted to make themselves know and yes they surely did that.
Now, let’s remember these have 2 way driver all in one and a 5” one at that, so when factoring all that in I was nothing less than super impressed.
Ok time to see what Kef themselves have to say about this product, see below…
Whether as main speakers, music speakers for your study or family room, rear speakers in a home theatre system or general purpose speakers for multi-room set-ups, the two new Q bookshelf models open up a world of audiophile quality sound at a surprisingly affordable price.
The sound they make is even more surprising: lush, spacious and precisely defined, with compelling midrange/HF response and solid, immaculately controlled bass. The two models – Q100, with a 130mm (5.25in.) Uni-Q array and Q300 with the 165mm (6.5in.) variant – deliver all the benefits of the Uni-Q ‘point source’ configuration in its latest and most refined form: a more accurate sound image dispersed more evenly throughout the room than is possible with any conventional speaker.
Subjectively, it makes a huge difference. Because everyone in the room is enveloped in the same beautifully integrated three-dimensional sound image, viewing becomes more of a shared experience – and you no longer have to stay in the same spot to get the full enjoyment from your favourite tracks.
Finishes Available: Black Oak, European Walnut & English Cherry
Design – Two-way bass reflex
Drive units – 130mm (5.25in.) aluminium Uni-Q 25mm (1in.) vented aluminium dome HF
Frequency response ±3dB – 49Hz – 40kHz
Crossover Frequencies – 2.5kHz
Amplifier requirements – 10 – 100W
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m) – 86dB
Maximum output (SPL) – 107dB
Impedance – 8Ω
Weight – 5.9kg (13.0lbs)
Dimensions – 300 x 180 x 272 mm (11.8 x 7.1 x 10.7 in.)
(H x W x D)
Uni-Q
Of the many landmark innovations KEF has pioneered, arguably the greatest of all is the Uni-Q point source driver array, with its outstanding acoustic clarity and off-axis dispersion. With over twenty years of continuous innovation and development the Uni-Q driver array achieves a level of sound quality over a broad area simply not achieved from conventional speakers.
With Uni-Q, sounds come at you so naturally that it seems as if the musicians or actors are actually there in front of you. Whether you are in the centre of the room or off to one side, recordings sound uncannily real and utterly convincing. Uni-Q achieves this because, unlike conventional speakers, the sound that is critical to the experience comes from the same point in space, and is produced in a controlled and continuous way over the whole audio range.
Kef History
‘Of all art, music is the most indefinable and the most expressive, the most insubstantial and the most immediate, the most transitory and the most imperishable. Transformed to a dance of electrons along a wire, its ghost lives on. When KEF returns music to its rightful habituation, your ears and mind, they aim to do so in the most natural way they can … without drama, without exaggeration, without artifice’. Raymond Cooke, KEF founder
The company was founded in 1961 by Raymond Cooke OBE (1925–1995) and was initially headquartered in a Nissen Hut on the premises of Kent Engineering & Foundry (from where the name KEF is derived) – a metal-working company on the banks of the River Medway, near Maidstone in Kent. Cooke, an ex-BBC Electrical Engineer, was keen to experiment with new materials and technologies in order to create products with superior acoustic quality that could reproduce recordings as natural as the original performance. From the very beginning, the pioneering inventiveness of KEF loudspeakers was undeniable and now for several decades, audiophiles around the world have revered KEF for its innovative, high-performance loudspeakers.
Pros: Great performance and very well detailed, nice speaker cabinets, and best all amazing sound for the price.
Cons: Maybe just a tad to big if they were going to be wall mounted
The Verdict:
Was truly amazed with there execution of music at high and low levels and for a 5” driver Bass was rich and clean, these could very easily be your main speakers and if needed could be complemented with a small powered subwoofer for the complete experience.
These were a very enjoyable pair of speakers and recommend you have a listen as getting the right speakers is extremely important as will be with you hopefully for many years to come.
Sounds Alive Rating: 4
1 = Disappointing
2 = Average
3 = Acceptable
4 = Impressed
5 = Wow!!
Ashley Madd Bass Burrell