anyone heard of Kef Duet speakers?

D

DonMaico

Guest
They are old 1960's speakers and apparently well suited to valve amps.I have the opportiunity of buying a pair but wondered whether anyone new anything about them? :)
 
I won that particular bid myself ,andrew :D looked at the other link as ell . i was hoping that someone who had experience of that particular model might tell me something about them. I tend to like old /retro hi fi. :)
 
Well done, I noticed lots of bids at the end of the auction.

I think that older speakers sound more neutral than the newer ones. I have just upgraded my Kef Cantor's to QED Silver anniversary cable inside and it did make a huge improvement so you could look into that!!

I doubt you would know how much my cantor's are worth would you? I was thinking about £65 as I have spent a fair bit repairing and upgrading them, details here:
http://www.holystonemill.co.uk/hifi/kef.htm

As for your Duette's, the best thing would be to trust your own hearing, people have different tastes and speakers can vary a lot

Andrew
 
I havent a clue what your Cantors are worth.Its whatever the market decides I guess. I just thought I'd take a chance on these Duettes based on the stuff I read on Kefs' site.Maybe some silver wire wouldnt be a bad idea.
 
Judging about the amount of work you've done £65 seems rather cheap but then I dont know really
 
Yes, if you send them an email or phone them, they have replacement speakers for the newer models or will repair older ones.

Took them one morning to rebuild my tweeter, sent 4.45 one night, arrived 2 days later!!!

Try emailing [email protected] he is the service department manager and very helpful, what is the problem with them? Might be something you can fix yourself

Andrew
 
Nothing as far as I know. jus wondered thats all.
I havent got them yet any way as I am awating an email response fromn the vendor to arrange collection.I t will entail me travelling a considerable distance - from the south coats to Sheffield so I just hope the journey is worth it.
The idea of replacing the internal wiring sounds appealing tho. Is this a fairly easy job?
 
Yes, doesn't take more than a couple of hours.

Just strip both ends of the cable and attach these to one end:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module.asp?CartID=041001132019336&moduleno=34145
They are just a crimp fit to easy to do.

Then remove the crossover from inside, remove the original wires by melting the original solder and pull the wires. Then simply solder in the new wires. You may have to cut some strands of the wire off as it is a little thick but this is easy to do.

Make sure you write down which is the +ve and which the -ve for each speaker when you start though!

Andrew
 
thanks for that Andrew I may try it after listening to them for a while. Incidentally do you know of any websites to do with vintage or what is known as grunge audio ie sixties and seventies gear? Just wondered about collecting some thats all
 
That seems a very good buy . do you know what to look for when buying Hi fi or do you take pot luck like I did with the Kefs? I think I was the victim of shill bidding here as the price kept getting bumped up by the same ID until it reached my max bid. Cant prove it of course.
Re: your kefs ,why dont you sell them on ebay?You can always set a reserve.Some people pull an item if it doesnt reach a fiugure they want using some pretext or other.Unethical mind.Unfortunately I dont know anyone who is that into hi fi so I cant help you, but if I do hear of anyone I'll certainly get in touch.
 
Generally I take pot luck up to about £30ish because normally you can sell things on easier if they are cheap.
You can normally tell with speakers etc. from how they look in the pictures, drivers, binding posts etc.
With amps and things there are lots of older brands (trio, sansui etc.) who made good stuff in their day and that does keep the price down a bit. Its the same with old goodmans speakers.

I generally stick with ebay as shops tend to put on a hefty markup but make sure you set a limit as most bidders wait until the last 5 seconds and you can find yourself paying over the odds.

I was lucky with the marantz because the title was poor and didn't mention the brand name so lots missed it.
 
I see you already have them on ebay. I think your starting bid may be a little on the high side although its early days yet.Just thinking it might put peole off thats all.I think I would 've started at £40 perhaps and set a reserve at £ 65 .Good luck anyway. See there are two pairs of Concertos at £97 and £112 with a few days to go.
 
I did wonder, I have changed it to £50 starting with £75 buy-it-now

I can't drop them too low really because the repair was £20 and the cable is £5.50 per metre.

Let me know what yours are like, they seemed very impressive for the price.
 
I will do of course . at the moment I am trying to get the vendor to pack the speakers and Ill arrange courrier service, otherwise it means a ten hour drive. Dont knoW what you think of this ( I will concede that I am very green behind the ears re: ebay) :
a)the vendor was not the person with the ebay account but a relation
b) I tried on 4 occassions to email but received no reply
c) he is reluctant to pack and post item for me( I would have paid of course). I guess having been paid for the item he sees no incentive.I just think that if I wanted good feedback I would provide a better service. Maybe I am bit overly suspicious but as i say I am new to this .

Did you see thast a pair of Audio Notes went for £98 ?I nearly went for them but hesitated, Grrrr!
 
I am assuming you do this as a hobby in which case I can only suggets that you just look for a profit whatever that may be . That advice was given to me by an antique dealer some years ago. He said to me that sometimes he does better than others but as long as there was a profit then thats ok, otherwise you can get lumbered with stuff for months.
 
I wouldn't worry too much about the relative bit, I often sell things for my parents.

Try emailing him through the contact member link on ebay itself in case they use multiple email addresses.

Some couriers don't need packing so you could try finding one who would help, if not, I can't see why he won't ship. I have just sold some huge studio speakers and am more than happy to have them delivered via courier
 

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