Kef Q100 vs. Q300

I wish I had first hand knowledge to offer. My pick would be the Q300s based on what I've read and using IQ30 and B&W685s as benchmarks, the Q300s should be better.

I've heard both. The Q100's are significantly better in the midrange, and overall the nicest-sounding speakers I've heard in their size/price class.

The Q300's sound more like "conventional hi-fi speakers." The Q100's, which have a smaller midwoofer and the same mid-tweet crossover, have more even midrange coverage and thus a less colored midrange in a typical room. (In a room that's had the life sucked out of it with "acoustic treatments," the difference will be less pronounced.)

Put another way, there's a reason why there's an R100 but not an R300...

KEF really hit something good with that driver. (The 8" one is pretty good, too. It has a stouter tweeter that lets it maintain good pattern control in the midrange. The 6.5" one is the odd man out. One gets the feeling it's more of a hole-plugger in the lineup than anything else.)

As for the center, see if you can get a third Q100. The KEF center channels as a rule are poor matches for their mains speakers. For movies it might not matter much, but on multichannel music recordings the discontinuity will be more obvious.

Then again, given that the difference between a properly matching 3-speaker front setup with a spare speaker and 2 speakers with a "matching" center is only difference is only $50, then just buy a second pair of Q100's if the dealer won't sell you a single.

+1 I'm currently running 3 Q100's LCR and I love the sound - the combination of the Uni-Q driver and three identical speakers creates a very wide, very even and very detailed front soundstage. I'm continuing to audition other speakers in that price range and haven't yet found anything that beats them. I just recently got an SVS SB12-NSD sub and the pairing has me staying up later than I should watching movies or listening to music ; )

Between the two, the only reason I would consider the Q300's is if you have a particularly large room/space. Even then I'm not sure, the Q100's play quite loud.

Plus, you can always sell the extra speaker if you want.

I haven't heard any of these speakers, but just wanted to point out that KEF does make an R300.

Technically / literally yes of course.

Contextually he was discussing drivers - i.e that the 5" Uni-Q drivers are more accurate than the 6.25" Uni-Q drivers.
I believe his inferred point was there is no R series "counter part" to the Q300 (i.e. a speaker with a single larger driver).

Q100 has single 5" Uni-Q.
Q300 has single 6" Uni-Q.

R100 has single 5" Uni-Q.
R300 has a 5" Uni-Q and a 6.5" mid/woofer

And, that all the R series speakers use the more accurate 5" Uni-Q, while the Q series use three different sized Uni-Q's (the Q100 being the only Q series speaker that uses the 5" driver.)

Congrats! Have fun ; )

Sorry... wrong thread. Couldn't figure out how to delete.
Edited by B-Ben - 1/21/13 at 4:50pm

I was thinking about going with the KEF Q300 for front LR, and using the KEF Q200C for the center. Figured the Q300 would sound better than the Q100, and the difference in price is only $70 at accessories4less. Might be rethinking my options now, and going Q100 and Q200c for LCR.

I still have a month until I make my final decision, but right now it's between KEF, Arx, and Ascend Acoustics.

i'm surprised to hear that the Q100 might sound better than the Q300. I've been trying to figure out a way to make the Q300 fit. Also when talking about the Q100 be better than the Q200c(for center) you say"For movies it might not matter much, but on multichannel music recordings the discontinuity will be more obvious". What are multichannel music recordings? If im viewing 60% and 40% for music(streaming and cd's) will i notice a big difference between the Q100 and Q200c? Thanks

I talked to the folks at accessories for less and they say they sell 10 300's for every 100... Price is so close that is just seems to be a better buy.

Not sure about "better" ... I auditioned both in home and think the Q100 was slightly more "accurate" than the Q300 out of the box. Out of the box the Q300 has what some call the mid-range-mushroom that lots of (most?) consumer speakers have (it can contribute to a warmer sound). But the difference is negligible - if you run any sort of room-correction/eq software (like Audyssey) the difference disappears. At that point the Q300, because of it's larger mid-driver, will play just a bit lower and just a bit louder. On the other hand, if space/speaker-size is an issue and you don't plan on pushing the limits volume wise, the Q100 will be just as good as the Q300. Both are excellent speakers. (I wouldn't be surprised if more Q300's are sold because A) consumers tend to think bigger is better, and B) the Q300 has gotten a lot more press/reviews.)

Personally I think three identical speakers LCR is better for movies too - all my dialog and phase issues disappeared when I went with an identical center speaker. If you post in the KEF owners thread you might find someone with a single Q100 (or Q300 if you go that route) to sell.

Mind you this probably won't apply to most streaming or cd music because it's typically 2 channel (LR) stereo.