Upgrade From Kef Q300 to possibly Kef R3 or others

DrH

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Finally time to replace my much enjoyed Kef Q300’s
They have been used in conjunction with a BKXXLS400 sub.
As Movies is as important to me as music they are run from a Marantz SR6013 AVR,

Looking at R‘s with a demo booked on Friday 10am at Nintronics in Welwyn Garden City.
I hope to listen to some Monitor Audio Gold 100’s, Bowers and Wilkins 706s2’s amongst anything else they have Between £1000 and £1500

Whatever I choose I need to bear in mind the centre speakers and the rear surround speakers as well.
As my room is converted garage I will need to stay with stand mounts.
Looking forward to the demo and choosing.
Last time the 3D depth of the soundstage won me over with the Kef’s, that was also against MA silvers and B&W number which I can’t remember the model.
 
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The new R3s will make a very good music and film speaker. I have the old R300s and there is a considerable difference in quality in both build and performance over the old Q300s. If you have the room then using your old Q300s are surrounds is certainly a possibility.

The only thing missing from the new R Serie is the lack of a smaller speaker such as the old R100s and if you find the Q300s to be to big then I would have no hesitation in using the smaller Q150s in it's place. Centre would be the new R2C, again basing it on the old R200C then it's performance on dialogue is going to be excellent.
 
The R2C looks promising, even a bit smaller than my Q600c.
At present I have q800ds as surrounds as my room is small with no room behind the sofa. There seems to be no dipole an more which is a pity.
Nintronics are offering £300 trade in for my Q300’s which is worthwhile.
 
The R2C looks promising, even a bit smaller than my Q600c.
At present I have q800ds as surrounds as my room is small with no room behind the sofa. There seems to be no dipole an more which is a pity.
Nintronics are offering £300 trade in for my Q300’s which is worthwhile.
I would keep the 800s as surrounds. KEFs are generally very good at blending, it's the front three that are going to count and make the biggest difference. Good trade in value and saves trying to sell them on, especially in these troubled times.
 
Back from the demo which went very different to what I expected. Was a little early and they were not quite ready. The system in the room had Kef blades, en exotic pre an power amp with an equally expensive streamer with a chord Dave Dac. They handed me the iPad and we played some music from Tidal. A few songs in the guy came back in as we were rattling the floors upstairs 👍Due to stock limitations we then listened to MA gold 200’s. They sounded sweet and locked the best. Listened for a good 45 minutes with no stress from the staff. Then changed to Kef R5. 30 seconds in the Mrs and I looked at each other with wow the clarity over and above the MA’s was so apparent. Another 30 minutes with my final choice of AC/DC playing the choice has been made. So have ordered R3’s and will check them out with a home demo whenever they are available
 
Finally after a 2 week wait my Kef R3’s and R2C are in stock and now installed. Went for the exact same position as the Q300’s to start with.
I was a little nervous on spending way more than I ever have but it has proved to be well worth it. Everything is better, the treble is way smoother, the stereo depth, the soundstage, this without running in yet, so they can only get better.
image.jpg
 
Hi DrH

that’s a great looking set up in the pic you posted.

I’m actually ‘downsizing’ from Kef R500s to R3s at the front. And upping my surrounds from R100s to a second pair of R3s. All from Nintronics.

Interested in how you find the R3s for placement. We have a 12x14ft living room but will need to tuck the R3s into to the wall with no more than 6inch space behind for the fronts and hardly any for the surrounds. How does their spacing work for you?

Also love the stands you have there, what are they?

Seryozha
 
Hi DrH

that’s a great looking set up in the pic you posted.

I’m actually ‘downsizing’ from Kef R500s to R3s at the front. And upping my surrounds from R100s to a second pair of R3s. All from Nintronics.

Interested in how you find the R3s for placement. We have a 12x14ft living room but will need to tuck the R3s into to the wall with no more than 6inch space behind for the fronts and hardly any for the surrounds. How does their spacing work for you?

Also love the stands you have there, what are they?

Seryozha

Thanks for kind comments.
I have not tried the R3’s any closer to the walls than they are in the picture above So cannot comment sorry. They sound superb where I have them at the present time.
I expect that Nintronics will let you try them out first?

The stands are Soundstyle Z1. They are quite substantial and are a good fit for the R3’s.
 

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