KEF IQ90 versus Q500

I can vouch for the IQ90. Very good speakers especially for the closeout pricing. Haven't heard the Q500s so can't comment there.

I had the iQ9 for many years, and that is an excellent speaker; the iQ90 is quite similar.

I think the iQ90 would be preferable if you are not going to be using a subwoofer, but if you will use one either speaker should be very nice.

Pretty hard to go wrong with either one; they are both very good speakers.

The iQ90 will sound more like conventional speakers. The tweeter is small and isn't very stout, so it can't cross over low enough to exploit the Uni-Q's main virtue. So it behaves off axis more like conventional speakers.

The Q500 is better in that respect, because the tweeter unit itself can play lower and the phase plug (erroneously called a "waveguide" in the marketing propaganda) gives higher compression.

That said, listen to both if you can. You may well prefer the iQ's presentation. I wouldn't, but you might.

I bought my kef q900 speakers from accessories4less and they arrived in mind condition. and they shipped all the way to hawaii

Have you been able to compare the speakers yet? I seem to have come to the same questions you have asked.

I listened to the Q500's twice now. I found them to be fairly good, but that was in a fairly large room I still have very little experience with this stuff, but personally I am thinking of saving the extra money and going with the Q700's. They just sound quite a lot better for relatively little extra money.

I started looking into new speakers lately, since I picked up a Yamaha RX-V673. I'm thinking about going in a couple different directions, and need some advice on which KEF setup would be the best for my situation. My current setup (listed below) are speakers I bought over the years, and I would finally like to get a matching set. The only thing I can see myself keeping would be the Yamaha Subwoofer, everything else I'll probably sell, or give it to my parents. Thanks in advance!

- I usually keep volumes Low to Medium, occasionally going high volume.
- Distance from Fronts to Satellite is 12ft.
- My viewing is 70% gaming, 20% movies, and 10% sports.

Q500 5.1 Package
Front 2x KEF Q500
Back 2x KEF Q100
Center 1x KEF Q200c
Sub KEF T-2 Subwoofer

or

KEF T Series 205
Front 2x KEF T301
Back 2x KEF T101
Center 1x KEF T301c
Sub KEF T-2 Subwoofer


Current setup:
Front 2x Yamaha NS-555
Back 2x Boston HS40
Center 1x Bose VCS-10
Sub Yamaha YST-SW215

*Wrong thread!