KEF v B&W

Drummo

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Greetings from NZ.
Just about to make an investment on a new home media set up for music, movies and sport.
tossing up between the following and any opinion would be appreciated.
TV - Samsung 85inch 8k Qn800
Receiver - Marantz SR6015

floor speakers KEF 950 or B&W 603 s2
centre speaker KEF 650 or B&W HTM71
Subwoofer KEF cub12 or B&W 600 series
rear in ceiling KEF ci200 or CCM684

Any thoughts on the speaker set up KEF v B&W would be awesome.
Both of them are priced similar for me.
 
Welcome to the Forum.

KEF will give you a wider soundstage because of the UniQ design, a more relaxed listen. The B&W will be somewhat more focused. The Q950s and the Q650C are very big speakers and the Q950s will need room to breath so not pushed into a corner. The size of your room will dictate what speakers would be best for you.

Curious as to why you want the surrounds in the ceiling. This will almost certainly rule out an expansion to Atmos should you wish to go down that road.

To make recommendations easier it would good if you could put up a diagram of the room along with measurements, TV placement and seating arrangements.
 
Couch sirs about 3m from screen.
Here is a rough sketch of the room layout.
It's a self contained sleepout on our property. I appreciate your input.
Screenshot_20211028-080219_Samsung Notes.jpg
 

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Big enough to sustain the big KEFs. Difficult to tell you wish to go for as they are both quite different in character. Although I don't have the Q Series I have had the old R Series for a good few years and will always happily recommend KEF, especially when mated to Marantz or Denon AV amps.
 
You should, if at all possible, audition both as we are all different as to what we like about speakers. If Wales beat the All Blacks on Saturday you can have mine.;)
 
You should, if at all possible, audition both as we are all different as to what we like about speakers. If Wales beat the All Blacks on Saturday you can have mine.;)
Haha, I think you are safe with the team Wales are likely rolling out.
Have now actually gone with teh B&W purely on centre channel as mostly will be music from online or DVDs, movies and sport.
 
Personally I vouch for Kef speakers out of the two brands, but if it was me I'd look into second hand and try and get the R range, maybe possible second hand for new price of the lower range Q
 
Greetings from NZ.
Just about to make an investment on a new home media set up for music, movies and sport.
tossing up between the following and any opinion would be appreciated.
TV - Samsung 85inch 8k Qn800
Receiver - Marantz SR6015

floor speakers KEF 950 or B&W 603 s2
centre speaker KEF 650 or B&W HTM71
Subwoofer KEF cub12 or B&W 600 series
rear in ceiling KEF ci200 or CCM684

Any thoughts on the speaker set up KEF v B&W would be awesome.
Both of them are priced similar for me.

Is this mostly for movie use? I would consider the Q750 front mains over Q950 as you have selected too tiny subwoofer for a 8x6 room. It will sound underwhelming! At least you should have two of those there to smoothen the respose for a few seats and also giving bit more extra headroom. Much more important than to have slightly larger floorstanders. But even then i see better options available regarding subwoofer as there is no matching requirements.

Contact the below company and ask prices for PB1000 Pro / PB or PC2000 Pro or if you are size restricted then SB2000 Pro.

If possible choose the ceiling model that has 19mm tweeters over the 16mm. QR example, but of course depending of pricing too.
 
You should, if at all possible, audition both as we are all different as to what we like about speakers. If Wales beat the All Blacks on Saturday you can have mine.;)
Hahaha gibsy are you in cardiff? I am... impossible to ignore the rugby 😂


Op I've listened to quite a few b&w and owned several of both over the years, but haven't listened to the s2 model.

For what it's worth:
-Kef are generally said to be brighter however I actually found the 603 quite harsh. - The mids/punch on 603 were amazing though, maybe much better than the kef HOWEVER...
I haven't heard the q950 which are MASSIVE speakers.
I wanted the q750 but nowhere in my town to try, so I blind bought the q550 and got an 8" b&w 608 sub which is great (albeit in a tiny room), and the only kef sub I've had was dreadful really (a kef kube 1001.2 I think) which seems a common opinion of them.

Everyone recommends the reference kefs but again I've never heard. What can you listen to by you? Don't blind buy like I did if you can help it (I probs would have saved for the q750... Maybe even the 603 s2 instead, and well, can't afford a £2000+ amp to drive the reference they require a LOT of stable quality power).

Had a tough time with my new kefs but it's all my fault. I will always recommend kef, had them for around 37 years... My age 😂. My grandad built them.

You won't find many people on here recommending b&w or kef subs: general consensus is get a sub specialist one (REL / SVS / BK). I am a noob with subs though.

Hope that helps.
 
Gasp above knows what he's talking about with subs ;)
 
Everyone recommends the reference kefs
They are almost at the top of the KEF range with just the Blades above them. Seriously expensive starting at £7500 for the Reference 1s. I'd love to own a pair. I have the old R Series all round.

I don't live in Cardiff, I'm a valleys boy.
 
They are almost at the top of the KEF range with just the Blades above them. Seriously expensive starting at £7500 for the Reference 1s. I'd love to own a pair. I have the old R Series all round.

I don't live in Cardiff, I'm a valleys boy.
So how far above are the "reference" s compared to the r? Have you heard both? I guess the "reference" a different range altogether?
Eg... Cresta < q < r < reference < blade/muon

I eyed up some r700 a while ago on ebay, glad I did my research though, richer sounds recommended a £2000 amp for the q550 let alone the 4ohm sensitive r700. I can barely afford £500 lol 😂

And the "r" are supposed to compete with the 603 s2 or not really... Big price gap.
 
£2000 amp for the q550
Poor advice, they certainly don't need a £2k amp, neither do the better R Series for that matter. I've been running R300s with a Rega Elicit-R and would have even driven Reference 1s with that amp and that is certainly a sub £2k amp. The Rega Elex-R and maybe even the Brio would have partnered the Q550s well depending on room size.
 
Poor advice, they certainly don't need a £2k amp, neither do the better R Series for that matter. I've been running R300s with a Rega Elicit-R and would have even driven Reference 1s with that amp and that is certainly a sub £2k amp. The Rega Elex-R and maybe even the Brio would have partnered the Q550s well depending on room size.

Sorry I should have been clearer... This was in response (at richer sounds cardiff manager) when I said what amp to make them sound more neutral, AND receiver for 7.1+. That's when he said arcam all day long.
Brightness issue now sorted though (my onkyo was using a bad audyssey treble increaser).
Still bad advice maybe?

If you had q550, maybe one day wanted r700 (if there is much benefit there), what bang for buck amp would you suggest?
 
Sorry I should have been clearer... This was in response (at richer sounds cardiff manager) when I said what amp to make them sound more neutral, AND receiver for 7.1+. That's when he said arcam all day long.
Brightness issue now sorted though (my onkyo was using a bad audyssey treble increaser).
Still bad advice maybe?

If you had q550, maybe one day wanted r700 (if there is much benefit there), what bang for buck amp would you suggest?
Sorry, yes for surround sound and wanting a good stereo music presentation then Arcam are amongst the best. I prefer the Denon plus a HT by-pass amp as the AV amp can be changed around the stereo amp and could save money in the long run.

There is a big difference between the Q550 and R700, even down to the R500 and R300s if you can get a good used pair. The R300 has now achieved something of a legendary status and is one of the best true three way standmounts ever produced (in it's price range and perhaps above) and was always regarded as the sweet spot in the old R Series range.

The R700 is an imposing big old beast and needs plenty of room to perform well.
 
Sorry, yes for surround sound and wanting a good stereo music presentation then Arcam are amongst the best. I prefer the Denon plus a HT by-pass amp as the AV amp can be changed around the stereo amp and could save money in the long run.

There is a big difference between the Q550 and R700, even down to the R500 and R300s if you can get a good used pair. The R300 has now achieved something of a legendary status and is one of the best true three way standmounts ever produced (in it's price range and perhaps above) and was always regarded as the sweet spot in the old R Series range.

The R700 is an imposing big old beast and needs plenty of room to perform well.

Amazing to hear... They are my dream speakers. looks are a big big thing for me, and I don't like the look of many, even the marbled wood fyne audio, most ribbon or horn tweeters, nice, the 603 s2 in white really nice, but R700 in gloss white though... Oof. Sexy kit that is.

So (sorry noob) by ht pass you mean like a cheap-ish denon, and then a decent separate stereo amp to power the floorstanders right?
 
Feel like I'm jacking this guys thread... Sorry op
 
So (sorry noob) by ht pass you mean like a cheap-ish denon, and then a decent separate stereo amp to power the floorstanders right?
Yes providing you are able to play all your music sources through the stereo amp only thus completely cutting out the Denon. I regard Denons as being poor for stereo music and perhaps just passable (depending on expectations) with the higher tier models such as the X6700 or X8500.
 
Amazing to hear... They are my dream speakers. looks are a big big thing for me, and I don't like the look of many, even the marbled wood fyne audio, most ribbon or horn tweeters, nice, the 603 s2 in white really nice, but R700 in gloss white though... Oof. Sexy kit that is.

So (sorry noob) by ht pass you mean like a cheap-ish denon, and then a decent separate stereo amp to power the floorstanders right?

I do like my kef reference 2.2 pretty affordable at the time less than q range, nice presentation.

Latest reference are nuts pricing £6500 for standmount. That's more than the kef reference model 4.2!
 
Yes providing you are able to play all your music sources through the stereo amp only thus completely cutting out the Denon. I regard Denons as being poor for stereo music and perhaps just passable (depending on expectations) with the higher tier models such as the X6700 or X8500.
Yeah few guys (maybe it was you rccarguy?) suggested going for a marantz receiver which sounds RIGHT up my street, as I know you guys might not understand it or agree with me but I don't really care too much about movie audio as long as it sounds good, but music... I'm focusing on the music. and the marantz is musical so would also sound good in stereo.......

However I'm lost as I don't understand how to choose buy one. People say I need like more than 100wpc, and even a £1000 marantz is like, God, IIRC 35wpc or something silly? Yes people buy them. And I understand wats and wpc aren't everything.

I also like how slim the marantz are. I have a HTPC but it has analogue and digital out.
Coax or analogue out from sound card and then optical or coax digital out to receiver. Or... Hdmi from graphics card.
 
I do like my kef reference 2.2 pretty affordable at the time less than q range, nice presentation.

Latest reference are nuts pricing £6500 for standmount. That's more than the kef reference model 4.2!
Less than q range? Eh? ;?
 
Poor advice, they certainly don't need a £2k amp, neither do the better R Series for that matter. I've been running R300s with a Rega Elicit-R and would have even driven Reference 1s with that amp and that is certainly a sub £2k amp. The Rega Elex-R and maybe even the Brio would have partnered the Q550s well depending on room size.
Hello gibbsy,

I currently have kefs R300 paired with rotel RA1520.
And tempting to change the amplifier.
My budget is 1000$.
I was looking Rega brio, is it worth the update? You think would give me something more?

Looking forward to hearing your perspective.

Thanks
Mel
 
Hello gibbsy,

I currently have kefs R300 paired with rotel RA1520.
And tempting to change the amplifier.
My budget is 1000$.
I was looking Rega brio, is it worth the update? You think would give me something more?

Looking forward to hearing your perspective.

Thanks
Mel
I would be looking at the Elex-R as a minimum for the R300s. The Brio is a good amp but it will depend on how big your room is and how loud you like to listen. You have to pick the amp that would suit the room as much as the speakers.
 

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