These KEF standmounters deliver a balanced blend of insight, dynamics and authority
We first came across KEF’s Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT) a few years ago through the company’s updated LS50 Meta speakers. The MAT element sits at the rear of the tweeter and looks like an ice hockey puck inside which is a maze-like structure designed to absorb the sound that comes off the rear of the tweeter dome, so giving cleaner, less distorted results. Adding this to KEF’s trademark Uni-Q driver array – where the 25mm aluminium tweeter sits in the throat of the midrange unit – involved significant re-engineering, and the company took the opportunity to add a whole host of refinements to the array’s structure, motor system and geometry to eke out a better performance.
This is a three-way standmount with a dedicated 16.5cm aluminium coned bass driver that rolls in below 450Hz. The lows are tuned by a rear-firing port, though there is a bit of a twist here.
A choice of two lengths of port made of compliant foam allows you to tune the speaker’s low-end and offers a choice of roll-off points. The short port takes the speaker’s low-end reach to 40Hz while the longer one extends that to 37Hz.
These speakers are highly revealing, so any shortcomings further up the chain will be ruthlessly exposed. Sensitivity is on the low side at 85dB/W/m and nominal impedance is rated at 4 ohms with 3.2 ohms quoted as the minimum, so the partnering amp should have plenty of grunt.
One of the principal strengths of the Uni-Q array is that it produces a consistent dispersion pattern regardless of direction, and once positioned these speakers produce a wonderfully wide and beautifully focused soundstage.
As we listen to Dvořák’s New World Symphony it is so easy to pinpoint the precise location of instruments. The soundstage is expansive, layered and stable, even when the music becomes busy. With our eyes closed it is hard to pinpoint the physical location of the speakers, which speaks highly of the carefully engineered enclosure.
MUSCULAR AND PUNCHY
Nothing quite prepares us for the scale and authority of the KEFs’ presentation. On the end of our reference system, they sound much larger than they are, delivering the kind of chunky bass more often heard from floorstanding alternatives. Certainly, rivals such as the Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 sound nowhere near as large-scale, muscular or punchy.
The KEFs
