Kef3005 Demo Left Me Feeling.......

[Dr Force]

I have read alot of reviews and gathered some great information on these lovely looking eggs, but looks can be deceptive.

Sat down at Seven Oaks spinning my demo disk (saving private ryan) with a nice cup of coffee.

I whent through various stages to test the different range of treble and bass, dynamics etc and listened very carefuly to the front speaker.

Detail seemed crisp and even from front to back and the sub pushed a fair bit of air, the fronts integrated well with little distinction from the source of the sound creating a nice balanced effect.

Dialogue was smooth and consistant but lacked a little something that I cannot quite put my fingure on, it appeared a little flat.

I cranked up the volume and was very surprised to hear distortion creep in to the fronts, with vibrations creating a muddy sound that took away any sense of immersion.

The sub integrates well and hides its position but this kit seemed to have a lack of punch, it just did not appear tight in its bass control across all the speakers and left me feeling flat rather than excited.

There is no doubt they look and feel superb but it just goes to show that a demo can really save you alot of money, instaed I am now looking at the MA radius range which I will demo on Tuesday.

 

[Helicon]

Which amplifier did you hear them with?

 

[Dr Force]

Helicon

It was a Yamaha, I cannot remeber the model number but I will find out on Tuesday.

It was around the £600 mark to try and match my Sony.

 

[Badger0-0]

It could have been the amp running out of steam.
But I suspect, that like me, you will just not like the sound of lifestyle speakers.
They lack dynamics and mid-range, IMO.

 

[Helicon]

If it was down to the Yamaha running out of steam (which i don't think it was), then the equivalent Sony's won't stand much of a chance either. As good as the Kef package is, it's not top of the tree. Try the Quad Lite package instead.

 

[Dr Force]

Thanks Helicon

I have chosen the Monitor audio radius 180's x2 90's x2 225 centre and 360 sub, it sounded awsome

 

[petekv32]

Just did the same today with denon 2807. Same feeling slight distortion and unclear sound. B & W MT30 much clearer, if less exciting!! Oh decisions.

 

[Dr Force]

Pete

Try the Monitor Audio Radius, I could not beleive the difference.

The KEF's are so wonderful to look at but just do not give the kind of smile you would expect spending nearly 1k

 

[SteveAS]

I also demo'd a set at sevenoaks, setup with a denon 2307 amp. As previously mentioned, they lacked punch in movies, midrange was muffled for music.

I've listed a couple of sets of speakers which I hope to demo in a few weeks time with a view to a good partnership with my pioneer 2016vsx amp.

Here's what I am thinking of:

Quad L-ites
AE Aego-Ts

Any other considerations that people can recommend?

Cheers, Steve

 

[slowpoke]

The drives me mad, Ive gone form the Gallo Micros to the kef3005s and now to the cantons in the powerbuy.......

 

[dereks]

suprised by some of the comments running my 3005's with a yamaha rxv2700 they sound amazing to me with certainly no distortion.

 

[eastman3000]

I currently have KEF 2005 system. when I demoed them in the shop they were not setup correctly so did get distortion etc. This was because the amp was set to large speakers - I later found.

In addition - I have also demoned the MT30 package. They had these running on a yamaha amp - cant rememeber which one but it was not a clean sound when the volume was cranked up! My 2005's sounded better. Howver, I belive the amp was not setup correctly as dealers are endlessly swapping speakers for people. In addition, most people have had excellent results from these.

I think the same for your demo. I can crank my 2005s up fairly loud with a clean sound - using a denon 3802 which is a fairly big sounding amp! I think once your setup at home its a different ball game. you can change many things which dealers simply might not have the time to change.

i.e. Speaker size - small large, tone settings, wire connections!

All these items play a big part imo

 

[Dr Force]

The KEF's, I beleive were set up correctly given it took 30 mins and various tests to make sure they were working at thier optimum.

They used the same amp, same set up and same amount of time on the MA Radius and IMO blew the KEF's out the water.

The KEF's are not a bad speaker at all, infact far from it, they have advantages but just do not give me the big movie experience.

It is like anything, its all down to personal opinion, some may find them superb others not so, for me its a defo

 

[Paulie-W]

Horses for courses again. My local 7 oaks didn`t even have the sub turned on when i demo`d the 3005`s When the sales bod appeared i mentioned the distinct lack of bass, and his face was a picture

Anyway after a re start i was very pleased (swmbo likes `em too). I haven`t noticed any distortion at home, and am really enjoying them at the moment. I don`t have them on the Kef stands either, which may or not be a factor. The ones at my 7 oaks wern`t even attatched to them duh.

 

[Blue Triangles]

I have the Kef 3005's paired with the Denon 2807 and I can't get them to distort even at ridiculous volumes like +5 DB. I'm blown away by them every time I turn the old Denon up.

I haven't even heard any of these new sound formats either yet...........

 

[slowpoke]

what are the kefs like for music?

 

[Blue Triangles]

what are the kefs like for music?

Nothing special to be honest. I can't get them sounding right for music put it that way.

 

[Helicon]

I have the Kef 3005's paired with the Denon 2807 and I can't get them to distort even at ridiculous volumes like +5 DB. I'm blown away by them every time I turn the old Denon up.

If you can reach +5dB without the Kef's distorting, my guess is that you don't have them set up correctly, unless your room is about 2m square. Most small satellite speakers will be struggling when reaching 0dB, let alone +5dB. Have you set them up accurately with a sound meter?

 

[Blue Triangles]

If you can reach +5dB without the Kef's distorting, my guess is that you don't have them set up correctly, unless your room is about 2m square. Most small satellite speakers will be struggling when reaching 0dB, let alone +5dB. Have you set them up accurately with a sound meter?

They probably arn't setup properly mate, I'm no expert when it comes to audio, infact this is my first setup. I've just used the auto setup feature on the Denon and left it as that. They do seem to go extremely loud though with no distortion.

 

[Dr Force]

If you can reach +5dB without the Kef's distorting, my guess is that you don't have them set up correctly, unless your room is about 2m square. Most small satellite speakers will be struggling when reaching 0dB, let alone +5dB. Have you set them up accurately with a sound meter?

That is spot on, I noticed at about -3db the distortion starting to take effect, however at 0 the MA Radius did not even strain let alone distort

 

[Paulie-W]

I know demo`s are one thing. But i find it hard to get up to about -15 for film listening levels (that`s me not the speakers btw). I only have a small lounge (about 15` x12` max into bays), but how loud do people need to go? I think i read here somewhere that ref levels are like +15 or something like that. Jesus i`d be deaf within a month if i listened at that sort of voulme all the time.

 

[TopMeTom]

I know demo`s are one thing. But i find it hard to get up to about -15 for film listening levels (that`s me not the speakers btw). I only have a small lounge (about 15` x12` max into bays), but how loud do people need to go? I think i read here somewhere that ref levels are like +15 or something like that. Jesus i`d be deaf within a month if i listened at that sort of voulme all the time.

Yeah i never have it that loud, even though it will go!

 

[Dr Force]

I suppose it depends on the movie.

If its an all action, guns blazing affair then -10db should be enough, however if its mainly dialogue with some seat of your pants moments,peeps may want to go louder.

There is nothing better IMO than having a quiet scene suddenly burst out the screen at you.

The point in the thread though is the KEF system left me without that punch even at high volumes and when it was tried it started to distort, lost the detail in that moment and thus did not do it for me

 

[Blue Triangles]

I made a mistake, it was -5 and not +5 that I've took it to without distortion. But I'd never have it that loud, -15 / -20 is very loud to me.

 

[wookie]

Just make sure all speakers are set up as small with a crossover frequency (in receiver) set to 80Hz or above.

And don't use the receivers Eq, as most of them suck and induce distortion.

Set the receiver to direct, or straight and all will sound clean and punchy.
Just concentrate on setting the levels and distances.

I have a Yam Z9 and don't rate YPAO at all.
Just about every set-up I've listened to sounded better without the gimmicks activated.

Just run the receiver in straight mode and you'll hear the speakers the way they were balanced by the engineers.

(I know some like the auto set-ups, but it's like trusting a loan shark with your finances).
IMO, They are only any good in "bright, lively rooms" to tame down the hf.

I've worked with the Pioneer, Denon and Yamaha systems and found them to be consistently inconsistent.
They are good at levels and distances, but Eq is a problem with most of these receivers as they throw away valuable headroom.

Just my 2ps worth.
Bypass/turn off the eq and have a good listen.

Have any of you listened to a KEF setup using the iQ1's and iQ6C?
Wipes the floor with sub sats and the MA Radius systems..............