Kef IQ7 fault, It's official, I am the unluckiest man alive!

clarky78

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Well i was listening to some music earlier, and turned my amp up to 0Db, which is the so called reference level. 5 secs later it shut down. On power up something about speaker wire flashed up and and it worked fine. But i noticed my left hand mid driver was not working!:thumbsdow

It is possible that it's been faulty longer as it sounded crap before this but i rang the shop and took it back. They want to repair it!! 3 weeks old and now i'm without speakers for at least a week... :mad:

It's official, I am the unluckiest man alive. And just when my GF's parents were coming around tomorrow and i was going to show them to them.
 
Now that's what I call bad luck....I do feel for you....I don't mean to rub salt in an opened wound but remember bad luck comes in three's.
 
aww clarky man, sorry to hear it......that sucks bigtime.....

they best damn well repair it properly, altho tbh after 3 weeks i'd have demanded a brand new replacement.......in case something else goes faulty later on!

let us know the outcome dude
 
btw, you should tell the shop you want a loan pair of speakers to keep you going......or u still got the missions?
 
clarky78 said:
and turned my amp up to 0Db, which is the so called reference level.

It is also quite likely that the Kef iQ7s are not particularly capable speakers of running at reference level and the amplifier is also not up to the job of driving speakers of that size to reference level.
 
In fact I can add that after having had a look at your kit list, the Yamaha is not even remotely close to being capable of driving the iQ7s properly. There is nothing unlucky about your situation, it is purely mismatched equipment.

With the speaker system you have I would suggest partnering something like the Arcam AVP700 and P1000 which I'm quite sure would handle driving the Kefs at reference level.
 
It is also worth noting that in order for you to be able set any of your speakers in your AV amp's setttings to large they should be capable or producing 20Hz -20kHz, name me a passive speaker under a £1000 that can do this with £400 amplficiation.
 
Aye, i still got them, and they are hooked up again for now, which is a problem, because i already don't miss the Kefs!!! God how did i get used to the lack of bass...!

Crusty, the sensitivity of the Kefs is higher than my Missions, they are easier to drive and require less volume... I see how better amplification could help but, I don't see how the Yam could be struggling, especially in 2 channel where it produces more of it's true rated power. I still intend to add a 1075 when one arises at the right price (like what Angel eyes paid!)

It's quite a coincidence really, i went into a local independent retailer before i bought the Kefs, and he used to be a Kef dealer, hence my visit. Anyway, he said he stopped doing them since they got tookover or something, never been as good since, and they would fall apart if i bought some. Well they didn't fall apart as such but he was right it seems...

It's only a shame the gf like ths look of the Kefs, or i'd be selling them when they come back....
 
clarky78 said:
Aye, i still got them, and they are hooked up again for now, which is a problem, because i already don't miss the Kefs!!! God how did i get used to the lack of bass...!

Crusty, the sensitivity of the Kefs is higher than my Missions, they are easier to drive and require less volume... I see how better amplification could help but, I don't see how the Yam could be struggling, especially in 2 channel where it produces more of it's true rated power. I still intend to add a 1075 when one arises at the right price (like what Angel eyes paid!)

It's quite a coincidence really, i went into a local independent retailer before i bought the Kefs, and he used to be a Kef dealer, hence my visit. Anyway, he said he stopped doing them since they got tookover or something, never been as good since, and they would fall apart if i bought some. Well they didn't fall apart as such but he was right it seems...

It's only a shame the gf like ths look of the Kefs, or i'd be selling them when they come back....

theres no reason the KEFs cant be set to large, however they shouldnt be fed the LFE signal as well, that i would say (if you want it loud that is, i ran Wharfedale Diamond 7.3s as large and as the sub before i upgraded my stuff and couldnt turn it up toooo loud, altho fairly...heh).....(oh and course you should use a high level connection to the sub to take anything lower than the fronts can anyhow if you set them to large).....but any stereo amp essentialy gives a 'large' signal to a pair of speakers hooked up to it, thats why speakers have a crossover to filter out signals they are not designed to handle........but what crusty says about the amp being not powerful enough i do agree with.....my Silver S6's run well off my Denon, but it certainly cant drive them as loud as i know they are capable of.......or rather not without distortion...and my 3803 is more powerful than your yammy.....(altho granted my Silver S6's are a bit more demanding than your KEFs in fairness)........whereas on my A5, woof badda bing, let it begin!....the Silver S6's can ramp up to thunderous levels!! and with very little strain or distortion! they aint as good sounding as the GR10's, but they certainly power down on the floorboards!...

anyhow, lost the plot of what i was gonna say now....doh...lol


oh yeah.....go back and get the cheap GR10's clarky...you know u wanna...heh
 
Hello to all.. :hiya:

Just a quick question re-reference levels etc.

Am running the iQ9's with the iQ6C and iQ3's in a HT set up with all being powered by the AVR300 (fronts bi-amped with a P90).

After reading Crusty's post about the AVP700 & P1000 being a better power match to the iQ7's I was wondering if my combination is a little under powered. I have not had any issue with driving the speakers and normally watch movies at around 75db and music at around 60-65db.

Finally, what level classifies as 'reference level'? and what is meant by the term reference level.

Cheers,

Alastair
 
I'd be suprised to find some GR10's now, and my gf is adament she doesn't like bookshelfs. Arguable there's the issue with the matching centre too, but as last night proved watching Robots, the Kef IQ6c works just as well with my Missions as with the Kefs...

I might flog the 7's and upgrade to 9's.. Maybe just keep the Missions. One's things for sure ican't afford to keep going through speakers...

And i still need to get a power amp, though i have never listened that loud before and doubt i ever will again.

Incedentally, i listened to this amp at -4Db for 2 hours when i shop demo'd it, and that never cut out or blew up, and that was on some cheaper Missions...
 
Incedentally, i listened to this amp at -4Db for 2 hours when i shop demo'd it, and that never cut out or blew up, and that was on some cheaper Missions.

Could be wrong here, but the difference in volume between say, -54db and -50db is considerably less than -4db and 0db. The fact of the matter is that the KEF uniQ driver has always been a bit tough to drive - while they may be nominally 8ohm speakers, they will drop to 4ohm and less with some frequencies. Personally, I agree with Crustyloafer in that you have probably overdriven your speakers with an amp that has started to clip the output signal, hence the blown speaker. Looking at some test results of the 750SE, the 120w into 2 channels falls rather steeply to 50W into 5. Now, you may be running the KEF's in 2 channel mode only but that kind of power drop suggests a powersupply short of grunt in general (even though for the price, the 750SE is still a good AV Amp).

I guess that you should restict volumes until you have that poweramp, then start to get the volume turned up!:smashin:
 
I have the 757se, and was thinking of looking at the IQ series myself.......now I'm wondering if I should be looking at a decent power amp first.
 
Crustyloafer said:
I have a set of GR10s in Piano Gloss Black you can have for £500.


rip off, i got a pair with one gloss silver and a gloss blue for £250!! :rotfl:

(for anyone else reading this i'm joking....for £500 GR10's are a steal)
 
phils_wicked said:
I have the 757se, and was thinking of looking at the IQ series myself.......now I'm wondering if I should be looking at a decent power amp first.


or just look for a more expensive surround amp and keep it in one box?

(as an alternative)
 
russraff said:
Could be wrong here, but the difference in volume between say, -54db and -50db is considerably less than -4db and 0db. The fact of the matter is that the KEF uniQ driver has always been a bit tough to drive - while they may be nominally 8ohm speakers, they will drop to 4ohm and less with some frequencies. Personally, I agree with Crustyloafer in that you have probably overdriven your speakers with an amp that has started to clip the output signal, hence the blown speaker. Looking at some test results of the 750SE, the 120w into 2 channels falls rather steeply to 50W into 5. Now, you may be running the KEF's in 2 channel mode only but that kind of power drop suggests a powersupply short of grunt in general (even though for the price, the 750SE is still a good AV Amp).

I guess that you should restict volumes until you have that poweramp, then start to get the volume turned up!:smashin:

Could be wrong here, but the difference in volume between say, -54db and -50db is considerably less than -4db and 0db.

Yes, you're correct, seeing as it's a logarithmic scale.
I just made the same mistake and had to correct myself in another post :smashin:
 
Knyght_byte said:
or just look for a more expensive surround amp and keep it in one box?

(as an alternative)

True but I've only had it 3 weeks lol

It begs the question, if an amp such as the 750 or 757 struggles to run speakers such as the Kef IQ5's n 7's.........what speakers should it be used with?
 
KEF Coda's, Wharfdale Diamonds, MA Bronze speakers spring to mind. Almost any of the sub/sat collections, like Tannoy Arena B&W MT range Mission M-Cube etc.
 
Would this be a case of simply pushing the equipment too hard though? (no offense clarky)

I have never got closer than -10db during movie listening, using the 750se and B&W 602s3, LCR60 centre, 4x 601s3 rears. Generaly speaking the volume is around the low 20db's. For stereo playback it will go much louder than Im prepared to listen too.

My new 757se upstairs needs speakers, hence my questions.

Sorry I'm not wishing to hijack clarkys thread, I'm just trying to understand things a little better.

Thanks and I hope you can get the situation resolved soon Clarky.

p.s, a few magazines have said that the RS6 package is a good bet for the 750/757, but surely it would suffer clarkys problem?
 
phils_wicked said:
My new 757se upstairs needs speakers, hence my questions.

I have a 757 with Kef Q1's, Q9C and Qcompacts and have no problems. I have not gone any higher than -20db.
 

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