KEF Owners Thread - Page 103

So I finally got my audio tower in and was able to set up my reciever, and the three front speakers. Now I've just got to wire up the rears and run Audessy, then start lookin for a sub again! The three fronts sound very good, I've yet to get to test them out a lot though. I will be doing some more listening and movie watching tonight!

Very happy with the KEFs.

I'm considering getting a set of XQ40's in the near future and had a dumb question or two. I'm considering running them with a Marantz 6003 A/V receiver that puts out 100W per channel. The XQ40's are rated up to 200W. My question is this; will the Marantz receiver be sufficient to power these or do I need to consider bi-amping or possibly another receiver? I'm really liking what I have read about Marantz and if its sufficient, would love to stick with it.

Factory sealed KEF IQ7's for $400 a pair at accessories4less. Pretty smokin' price...

Would matching these with the 3005SE to make a 7.1 set be all right?

It would be fine but you should also consider replacing the center speaker as well. With either another iQ7, an iQ6c, or possibly an iQ3.

would I see any benefit in upgrading my iq5s to iq7s?

Hi

I heard XQ40 and are superb speakers for music (and homecinema). Unfortunately I could not aford them...

I'll share with you my experience because I consider it is similar with what you desire.

I have Kef iQ7 driven by NAD T765 with 70Wpc. I bought this set-up when I had little experience in audio stuff and for a short period I was happy with what I had.
After a while I decided that (compared with other systems I've heard) mine was lacking some serious bass power. I invested in cables but after a while I settled down considering that I did my best with the system and that's it.

Several month ago my receiver suffered a fault an I took it to repair. The dealer, kind enough, gave me a stereo amplifier for couple of days. It was Anthem Integrated 225.

I hooked it with my Kefs and WOW what a difference! The raw power from this amplifier drove the Kefs with incredible authority and sonic performance!
Unfortunately again, I could not afford the amplifier either, so back to my receiver, but with one adjustement: I use a Harman-Kardon HK-680 (bought it cheap on second hand market) as a power amplifier to drive my fronts and I am much more satisfied with the over-all sound.

My advice to you will be to consider a more powerfull receiver or a power amplifier for the XQ40

I have a couple of questions for all of the KEF experts out there:

I am in the market for some new speakers and had a chance to hear some iQ1
(old model not the iQ10) at a local dealer last week.

My time to listen was limited and the dealer setup wasn't the greatest but I was absolutely shocked at the sound coming from the iQ1s. I was not prepared for the incredible midrange clarity that was coming from those little curved enclosures. This is the first time that I have heard KEF speakers and was obviously impressed. Is midrange quality of the things that KEF is known for ?

I currently have what by all measures is an excellent speaker (Energy RC-10)
but it does not posses the clarity that the KEF exhibited in the midrange particulary with voices.

The dealer also had a pair of xQ10s but I did not get a chance to hear them yet.

Can anyone explain the differences between the iQ10 and the xQ10 (other than the xQ being 3x the price) ?

To the naked eye it looks like the Uni-Q driver is the same.

I do realize that the xQ enclosures are nicer (high gloss veneer) but that alone would not seem to justify the price.

I do plan on going to the dealer in the next week or so to hear the xQ10s but it would be great if any KEF experts could give more detail on the differences between these two speakers.

Thanks in advance.

I've never heard the XQs, but I'd imagine that it would be similar difference between your RC's over energy c-series.

I'm also one who switched from energy to kef. I owned some Energy c-series towers, bookshelves, takes, and cb's.

I'm in love with kef now as well.

I've got XQ40's running to a Marantz sr7002 (not TOO much different than your 6003; 120W per channel) and the sound output is stellar. I'd say the 6003 should be solid enough on its own.

Thanks lightguy. After looking around a little bit more, that does seem fair. I've got them posted in the AVS Classifieds if anyone here is interested.

edit..read reviews on C5- nevermind

I have a pair of KEF 103.2 reference bookshelf speakers that are in great shape,and I'm happy with them. I'm using them as my main fronts, on pedestals. I am looking for a pair of speakers to use as rear surrounds. They will be placed on a light bridge that is about 8' high due to my room's configuration. The room has a 15' ceiling. I could actually put smaller floorstand speakers on the bridge (if not too heavy) because it is an area with lots of open space, so I'm not limited to bookshelf speakers. Any suggestions?

I have HK 990+HD990 and now I am planning to buy KEF XQ40. Has anyone used KEF XQ 40 with HK 990? How does it sound? I know that theoretically everything should be O.K. since KH990 is powerful but I also know some speakers do not like some amplifiers.

Here's a tip for anyone wall mounting iQ3's or I imagine iQ30's.
The iQ1 wall mount will work.
Ive positioned mine so that the through/pivot bolt is at the end of the elongated bolt hole slot so that vibration will not cause them to angle further down over time.
I tossed the factory bracket screws and went oversize in diameter and length. 4 #10 screws into the speaker 5/8 long. Pilot hole first, dont go deep. Dont know whats inside.
Make sure you wall mount into studs with at least two screws. I used two 1/4" lag bolts 3" long into studs. Redrilled wall bracket in the center line one top one bottom with 1/4" holes. Pilot drill the stud. 3/16 will do.

Here's an update for everyone (/anyone ) following me on my journey with the *NOW-PROVEN-AMAZING* KEF iQ Speakers! NAD M15HD + Audyssey MultEQXT (Installer's kit, 12-measurements by MultEQ XT location recommendations) + Aragon 2007 on KEF iQ60c, iQ30s & (Mirage Omni-150s for SBRL fill) + a McIntosh MC2105 for the iQ90s By they way, I can almost EQ them flat but it's not fitting for this speaker - needs to chill sometimes




The sound? Amazing!

P.S. Are these the first high-resolution, third-party measurements of the iQ speakers? If so, someone with good room acoustics needs to measure these things. I think that the updated bass driver design from the current Reference line and waveguides make all the difference.

Best,
John

P.S. I doth pronounced it aloud: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...0#post17652910

Just put shelves up (see above post) and spend $2k on room correction .

What is the dip that every speaker has post EQ?

Midrange Compensation as recommended by Audyssey. You can turn that off but then your room sounds like a recording studio. You start playing American Idol like Simon Cowell with everything you listen to . Having a flat response curve makes you an angry, bitter, impossible-to-please person *ducks*

I have 12 excellent measurements saved so I can EQ for flat (in like 10 minutes) and report back but I did it last night with 3 measurements and it was difficult to listen to for more than an hour with such forward highs. See my mini-saga: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...3#post17649323

Caption: How Does it Feel, to Want?

I jumped on the iq7 deal. I thought these things were going to dwarf my iq7, but they're not as large as I thought. Ran audyssey, and the receiver set the iq7s to full range while, my iq5s in the same spot were previously set to 80 or 90Hz. So, apparently the iq7's get much deeper. I changed the crossover of the iq7s to 70Hz. I'm still using an iq5 as a center, but I feel I would benefit greatly from an iq7 center. Too bad they dont A4L doesn't sell them in singles.

Here's some photos.

Nah, you don't want this. Unless you want a pair of older KEFs. KEF dropped the Hypertweeter from the current XQ and REF line-ups a few years back. Supposedly () the new tweeter can adequately cover the same range. With the Hypertweeter on top of the speaker, the high frequencies are not all "unified" in the UniQ driver. I don't know if that is necessarily a reason why they dropped it, but they obviously felt it was no longer necessary. Of course, though, I'm not looking to replace my old XQs.

Heh!



Hey, maybe someone would split a pair with you. You never know. Are they still being blown out? Hell, at that price it's almost worth it to get a whole pair. There may be someone else who sells singles but I don't know what the deal might be.


Lookin' good, btw!

Nice set-up subiefast! What do your measurements look like?

I tried to get rid of my iq5, and no one ever bit. I still have one new in the box. If someone will split a pair of IQ7s with me, then at least I can sell the iq5s as pairs instead of the 3 I have now.

I know it's a good deal, but it really bothers me that an unused new in box IQ7 would just be sitting in my house.

I've seen them for sale in singles, but they cost more than the pair from A4L.

I have a pair of Reference Model 4's I'm about to hook-up. Do they have those hypertweeters? I haven't unboxed them yet.

I don't have any measurements. I just did Audyssey Multi, and an SPL meter... none of that fancy equipment like you.

I really need to figure what's up with my center channel. Dialogue can be harder to hear than it should be, and sometimes the receiver is setting the crossover via audyssey at 120Hz. I'm guessing it's the location of the center, since when I had IQ5s for mains they were set at 80Hz or so.

Nope, no Hypertweeters there. Where did you get those?!?!? Be prepared for a different sound than the current KEFs. HEre's a nice review, btw:

http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/362/

What finish are yours?

I got them on eBay and paid about book shipped. They're in Black... I'm going to meter them with my Audyssey Pro Software so I'll keep you posted on how they stack-up, in terms of frequency response, to the new iQ90s with/without room correction...

From the looks of that Stereophile review, they measure quite well and will probably go flat to reference with MultiEQ Pro.