New Kef 202c center.

Steve.EX

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I have recently purchased this (£1000) to replace my TDM23C thx. I would heartliy recommend anyone to at least demo this unit, it really did embarress the TDM (as well as the 200c after a rigourous weekends home trial/reviewing) on every level, and is a quite remarkable performer. Will share a more precise review if requested.

Steve.
 
I'd be interested in any opinions you've got. I've been looking to replace my front 3, of ref 103/4 and 100 centre, and had been looking towards some M&k 125's. But with the advent of SACD and DVDA, these new refs interest me with they're extended frequency range.

Jason
 
What are the cheapest matching front speakers? I saw briefly a few of the prices of the new reference stuff and they were really high. I own a c100 but have heard the 200 and thought it was very good. I was looking to upgrade to the TDM stuff, but might change my mind now.
P.S. Jaygreen, is the c100 a perfect match for your 103/4's? (Sorry to go off topic)
 
Yeah it uses the exact same driver just smaller, plus the place i bought it from bi-wired it to make it an exact match to the 103/4's.

Jason
 
I have the THX L,R,C got them on special offer last year but with DVD-Audio ect i'm thinking the same thing get higher end speakers either save for a while for some M&K's or see how the new Kef Ref are. How does the 202 surpass the existing 23c?

Peter
 
Peter

I would be very interested in your thoughts on the 23Ls and 23C as well, could you write something please?
 
Sorry for the delay gents.
The 202c has a truely superior mid/hi balance/timbre that really can be best described as beautiful, i have often felt that this is where THX speakers fall, but then under THX post processing the top is somewhat subdued, certainly if i had any complaint with the 23C (of which i think is a great value for money center and i wholly subscribe to the "thinking" behind THX) it was that it had a slightly "boxy" presence with some mid frequencies. When down mixing 5.1 dvd and 2 channel stereo to mono (on the Tag av32r this is down mixed to the center channel only - very useful) and placing the 200c on top of the 23c which in turn sat on the 202c and fed with a 250w Denon mono-block (poa6600, certainly a reasonable affair, 1.5va transformer, 50,000 uf cap's etc etc Big as the avc1se etc) it was an absolutely fair comparison, the 202c made the 23c literally sound as if it was facing the opposite direction (even my wife made the rarest of comments to the point of "god your speaker (23c) sounds awful, i hasten to add the 23c is not at all awful but the 202c was that much better) and it clearly had more "presence" and space than the 200c. The lower frequencies (80hz and above) were simply better defined, with far better integration wth the other drive units and timing to match. Probably the only bad thing i can say about it so far is that believe products even like the mighty a1se, a11sr would not do this justice, on my reasonable set-up it has had a remarkable effect in "center-pinning" the whole thing together, even the missmatch in timbre's (some what eleviated by THX) to my ears becomes secondary to just how good this center is.
Whislt i realise that there is not much real info here, suffice it to say that the beautifully "airy" (the hyper tweeter with a crosssover frequency of 15khz! REALLY does work even with THX which was my only reservation before buying/purchasing) tops, the seemingly "out of the speaker enclosure" mids and the tight, dry lows are so much better than the other two speakers listed that (gush gush) that for me the cost was almost secondary.
Right up there with the joy's that are the Tag av32r and Kef 34ds.
Now if only i had 3 poa6600's to tri-amp it.

Steve.
 
Steve,

Might have to give one a try.

You have simelar stuff to me. so its fair to say I might enjoy the 202c over the TDM 23c as well. I've always found it a great centre speaker for movies, but with all THXs, not so good on music. This may be the speaker that does it for me.

Rob.
 
You said you paid £1000 for the 202c. Can you tell us how much the 204c goes for and did you compare this to the 202 before you purchased?
 
204c goes for £2000, unfortunately my dealer has not had one yet for me to borrow, needless to say i will as and when the chance arises.

Steve.
 

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