I would definitely recommend these speakers. Now, one and two years later, respectively, I'm enjoying both Schiits more than ever. In speakers, frequency response is a critical component. KEF also gave them a more refined cabinet, a new rear recessed port, and a new cone neck decoupler and motor system. It was operating as an employee owned business when in 2014 there was a management led buyout by Sonovox Group (China). The Dali Spektor 2 are another strong contender for the best budget bookshelf speakers that you can buy. I tried the foam plugs for Really wanted to like this speaker but I returned it. It uses the same Driver and framework content as the Q150. This variant of the KEF speaker uses the patented Uni-Q driver technology. The cost reductions might be hidden internally in an oversimplified crossover using excessively cheap components and maybe a thin unbraced cabinet, or maybe not. We can say lack in terms of the control system. Meanwhile, Kef Q350 did not receive any endorsements this month. Everywhere I place them and every amp I connect them to makes a pair of speakers sound different. Now, the World is Competitive again and I'm wanting to return to the Good old Days of the 1970s. One knock on Amazon, it took a month before I got these! I think I'm reading that it's around $1,000 for DAC,Amplification & Loudspeakers ( made in chine ). Reviewing loudspeakers is plagued with uncertainty. At least they were Made in America - right? It certainly did no harm to the reproduction of this glorious organ recording. I could sense the thicknesses of the wood of the stringed instruments. The Danish hi-fi speakers have a traditional two-way design, comprised of a 25mm dome tweeter and 13cm midrange/bass driver, that deliver a way more dynamic sound than their normally $400 price tag would suggest. In 1981 they produced the 3030 receiver which was the first model made in Taiwan, this particular model wasn't very successful, doesn't attract the cash in the used market because it does not have the build quality the Norwegian manufactured ones do. I wonder who got them next. When they realized this B&W quickly put a stop to it, but I remember the manager saying that it was a constant battle working with the Chinese in protecting intellectual property, and manufacturing techniques. Curious to see this month's entire Bookshelf Speakers ranking? ps. The KEF LS50 Meta is available in four colors: carbon black, titanium gray, mineral white and a special edition crimson red. Browse online or visit our disribution center in Richmond Hill Ontario. I'm sorry. What, get outa here, a chinese outfit owns KEF. If your budget provides you with the liberty of spending more, you should probably opt for the Q350.The Q350s CFD port ensures a deep and clean bass whilst eliminating noise or distortion. For a bit of background, I'm a hobbyist audio and mastering engineer with about 20 years of studio experience. Buy Triangle Borea BR03 Hi-Fi Bookshelf Speakers Pair for Home Theater Systems and Music, 100 W Power Handling, High Efficiency (Walnut) at Amazon. The parameters are carefully considered in the rest of the review so that you come up with the right decision about which speakers best suits your needs in the aspect of money, space, and requirements. Of course, I suspect that HR sold most of us on our long established love affair with those LS3/5a darlings instead of the resonating paneled Qs. No worries. They are usually made by equally wonderful girls. Sometimes, this capability comes with the caveat, Speakers with Wi-Fi connectivity connect directly to your home Wi-Fi network to stream audio from your devicessmartphone, tablet, laptop, etc. You will only use this t, For the environmentally conscious, choosing an ENERGY STAR Certified speaker may be important to you. In the end, I slightly preferred the Q350s 6' apart, toed in just a little, 33" from the wall behind them to their front baffles, and with their ports partially plugged. After replacing the LS50s with the not-yet-broken-in KEF Q350s, I restarted Eis Thanaton. On the strength of this review, if I was not already satisfied by my vastly more expensive and bigger speakers I would be going to my local KEF dealer this morning. Triangles talented standmounters take the fight to the established class leaders. Buy Epson Projectors, Onkyo AV Equipment, Sonos wifi audio, Samsung LED in Canada. Trust me and ignore any negative reviews for this speaker. If you are debating between the KEF Q150 and the Q350, here is what you should know. The Q Acoustics 3020i are available in several different colors and because they are a few years old you can often find them discounted. and soft textiles (silk, cloth, Woofers are built with a variety of materials, such as paper, plastic, polypropylene, Kevlar, or metal. Affectionately, we called our obese landlord "Jaba The Hut" -- he had a huge factory (just below me) that employed illeagle alien workers for $2.50/hr making FAKE Disney and Mattel toys. General Motors ( our Previous CEO Rick Wagoner ) was planning on moving about 35% of GM's Content to China until the Financial Crisis finally killed us, Obama came the the rescue with a critical loan and the demand of keeping GM "Local". 14.09 x 8.26 x 12.04 in (358 x 210 x 306 mm), KEF reserves the right, in line with continuing research and development, to amend or change specifications. It comes with a rear port. Triangle Borea BR03 A step up in sound quality The Borea BR03 is one of the best bookshelf speaker sets we've heard, with extraordinary clarity and spaciousness plus plenty of bass. Though both the variants of the speaker use the same driver arrangement, the design of the KEF Q350 speakers is also more sturdy and thicker. Can you recomnend some integrated amps for the bro3. I considered all the current bookshelf speakers that are being talked about in the current year. Usually, the traditional arrangement of drivers is made in vertical form. There is still no such thing as a free lunch. Also, the dimensions of the KEF q150 speakers are relatively smaller, almost very similar. I tried the foam plugs for the bass reflex port in the back and positioning in/out from the walls, but the bass remained very woolly and not tight at all. It was purchased new by a member and kindly drop shipped to me for testing. Both Kef Q350 and Triangle Borea BR03 receive customer reviews that average out above that median threshold. Additionally, these are not very hard loudspeakers to drive and they can play very loudly without losing any sense of control or focus. I own the LS50s with Sound Anchor stands. Theres also speculation that the Q150 is inherently superior because it uses the same size driver and similar size enclosure as the LS50. Has anyone paired them with a denon 600ne? The primary components of a bookshelf speaker are drivers, which are the cones that actually create the sound. Replaced Klipsch RP-600M with these and was literally blown away. Maybe the reviewer took a Subway Train to NJ and had a nice look-round the KEF USA Parts & Service Centre. I just sold my beloved focal 726 tower speakers that cost 3.5 times are much at the Q350s, and I also own a pair of Polk A3s. Please keep in mind that the KEF Q150 is a 2-way concentric design with the tweeter dwelling in the middle of the woofer while the Polk is a 3-way design with the midrange on the top, the tweeter just below it, and the woofer below that (The woofer is housed in a separate chamber inside of the cabinet; isolating it from the midrange driver and The LS50 has a 5.25" Uni-Q coincident array with an aluminum-magnesium alloy midrange-bass cone, a 1" aluminum dome tweeter, and a cast-aluminum basket, in a 7.5-liter, 15.8-lb cabinet made of MDF and a sculpted structural foam solid molding. Pairing with a subwoofer and having most of the bass go to the subwoofer cleans the sound signature up a little bit but the overall sound quality lacked detail and definition. Wanting to build an 50% Home Theater / 50% Music system for my family room that is starting out as a 2.0 system, and not really having access to a local For a bit of background, I'm a hobbyist audio and mastering engineer with about 20 years of studio experience. Anyone with 400 to spend on speakers would have to consider these wouldn't they? Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Driven by Rogue Audio's Sphinx hybrid integrated amplifier (tubes, class-D, $1299), the Q350's sound had stout bones, especially through the bottom octaves. There will always be a market for bookshelf speakers. The bass of the speakers is excellent. For reference, the human ear can hear a frequency range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz (shor, When sound is played through a speaker, an electromagnet is activated using the power from the amplifier to bring the driver forward, and another magnet pulls the driver back. It's the engineering and the pursuit of quality by the parent company that makes the product and KEF shows they are NOT diluting their brand, but instead, making room for a larger market of people to enjoy excellent audio. A common analogy used f, More and more, musicians and streaming services are offering high-resolution audio playback for music files. Optimizing a loudspeaker's radiation pattern is the Uni-Q's raison d'tre. Someone please define Chinesium: aside from the fact that many of the best built best sounding audio products I know are both designed and manufactured in China, I must tell you: Throughout the 1980s I lived in a giant factory-loft builting in Brooklyn. It was made in the UK. We can now look at eBay's Audiophile "Sold" listings to realize that quality Audio Gear maintains close to it's original purchase price and often the Gear appreciates to near current gear price points. The sound quality of the Q150 is comparable to that of the KEF LS50, but at a lower cost. (Note: the L200 are effectively bigger, better-sounding and more expensive versions of the L100.). They're worth it to avoid an accident. Listening Tony- You do remember that Gold Peak Industries of Hong Kong owns KEF, right. This causes the driver t, Power handling, or peak power, is the highest wattage a speaker can accept from an amplifier before it burns out or becomes damaged. The woofer sizes of the Q150 and Q350 vary. Even maintaining a 9-inch gap between the wall and a speaker significantly improves the experience. Now, just to point out the obvious, the LS50 + KEF Performance Speaker Stand come to about $1700 (bring your own sand) while the Q350 + Tontrager stands add up to over $2000. However I lived my entire working Career as a General Motors Corporate Citizen ( except for a brief adventure as a Audio Manufacturer, Importer and Retailer ). The Q350s replicated Couperin's "Parish" and "Convent" organ masses with greater scale and finer, more intricate detail, but less forcefulness, than did the LS50s with the same amps. Though being variants of the same brand, there are many similarities between both KEF q150 and q350, but they are different from each other. - Oct 2018. Oh well. Three minutes in I was staring blankly, eyes closed, swaying slowly in my seat, astounded by how much larger and more serious every note had become. This has been my Life-Long hobby and part time Career Path. Musical, natural and worth every penny when on discount, Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2022. I'm proud of my Stereophile reviews of Schiit Audio's Yggdrasil DAC ($2299) and Ragnarok integrated amplifier ($1699). How much would an non-Chinesium Audio Entry Level system cost ? No doubt, there are more expensive speakers available in this range, but KEF q150 stands out from all these with these stunning features. Generally, In addition to the shape of the tweeter, the material has a big impact on the type of sound emitted. Q Acoustics is now pushing hard into the high-end with the Concept 300 stand-mounted full-range bookshelf loudspeakers. Feb 5, 2020 . Thank you KEF for a well engineered product that I will enjoy for years to come. thanks for another great article! High-rated Speakers in a similar price range. The KEF bookshelf speakers are small to medium-sized perfect, and they are perfect for any room or even for a moderate space. The slightly scary-looking Tensegrity tripod stand utilizes cutting-edge acoustic isolation and plays a significant role in the sound of the Concept 300 image solidity and soundstage depth are first-rate. The Uni-Q driver array is at the core of the advanced Q Sequence. Imagine how I felt as I lay on the couch in my night-dark, candlelit apartment, feeling like I was surrounded by the stone walls of a Gothic cathedral begun in 1295. Many other technical specifications come along with these new speaker models. A painful mistake. We need Solid Asian Trade Agreements & Asian respect for Intellectual Property, not more fake ROLEX watches or sonic equivalents of our excellent loudspeaker designs. A proprietary SVS SoundMatch 2-way crossover enhanced by expertly refined topology ensures accurate frequency response and silky-smooth transitions between drivers as well as pinpoint imaging and phase coherency. A facility tour will reveal all. Trust me and ignore any negative reviews for this speaker. And I also hear they have a 'different' and . I have not heard them, but suggest that these might be good choice of subject for a future review, to find out if these are worthwhile entry level. Purchased a pair be the rear speakers of the HT system. I bought and auditioned the Triangle Bro 3, the Klipsch RP 600M, Elac Unifi 2.0 and this KEF Q350. To power the speakers, you often need a receiver and an amplifier. I added a SVS SB 2000-Pro sub and it literally calms my soul when I listen to them. Because people like you won't pay the premium and instead expect the Government to. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness. The latest model of the Q series, the Q150 is small, compact, and elegantly powerful. You must log in or register to reply here. Therefore, you can either use exposed wires or banana plugs here. This measurement refers to the diameter of the woofer. So, again, I can't wait. A low distortion inductor is settled inside the speaker to reduce all the abrasion sounds, which tend to distort the quality of the sound. I'll figure around $5,000 US ! Setup Reviewing loudspeakers is plagued with uncertainty. Clarity is enhanced by reducing the audibility of midrange leakage through the port, thanks to a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) port configuration with the port reconfigured to the speakers back. There are many other advanced features within this price range of the KEF features. Bookshelf speakers do a rather convincing job recreating the soundstage; the physical space (studio, garage, music hall) where the recording was made and that illusion of being there with your favorite artist is a big part of the experience. The KEF 150 is recognised for its high-quality recording and accurate soundstage. It's too dam bad that we have to have our Cherished Local Brands plastered all over cheaper asian products !, KEF is doing exactly what Cooke avoided: diluting the Brand, our Brand if we own KEF stuff and our children's Brand if they hope to work in the Audio marketplace. The Q350s front port has been relocated to the rear. Triangle BR03 $500-1000 Wharfedale Evo 4.1 Ascend Sierra 1 ELAC UB52 $1000-2000 Ascend Sierra 2EX ELAC UBR62 Focal Aria 906 Whatever speakers you go with, I can't recommend a pair of these 6" or 9" stands strongly enough---imo a must-have for every desktop system. I tried to avoid buying these, but i keep finding little finger prints from my 2 year old on the speaker cones. https://www.av-online.hu/pictures/gallery/kef-q350_2017-09-18/big/KEF-Q350-hangfal-csatlakoz%C3%B3_big.jpg. Another significant design factor of the LS50 is that it's intended to be used with heavy Sand filled Stands so that the added mass would further dampen it's Cabinet resonances. Triangle Borea BR03 : Read more . The trade-off with any active loudspeaker is that you are committed to how the final product sounds. Triangle Borea BR03 Speakers https://amzn.to/2ybOCwjPrice: $549 (April, 2020), Overall Rating: Pros: Detail Sound, Clean Midrange and Bass, Good Sound Stage.Cons: A Little Cold And Bright Sound Signature From Upper Midrange to Highs, Cabinet Vinyl Wrapping is Not Up To Standard.Build Quality: Highs: Midrange: Bass: Sound Stage: Price: Music by Yao Si Ting: http://ebay.us/BHbje1Associated Equipments;Wharfedale Evo 4.2: https://amzn.to/3c9BIwvKEF LS50: https://amzn.to/36DQv1tB\u0026W 706 S2 Speakers: https://ebay.to/2Vuyi15Wharfedale Diamond 225: https://amzn.to/3aAT5WgDenon PMA-SX11 Integrated Amp: http://ebay.us/KV7KC3Marantz UD7007: http://ebay.us/zZfGqCDenon DP-47F Turntable: http://ebay.us/5v1hARDenon DL-301 MK II MC Cart: https://amzn.to/3abnWZcCanare 4S11 Speaker Cables: https://amzn.to/3eoJiFNAudioquest Type 4 Speaker Cables: https://amzn.to/3bBJ5gZAudioquest Big Sur RCA Cables: https://amzn.to/3aab3inBelden 8402 XLR Cables: http://ebay.us/G4Nt2qPS Audio AC-5 \u0026 AC-12 Power Cables: https://amzn.to/2KSlkJ1Power Bright 3KVA Step Down Transformer: https://amzn.to/3a8h4MjMonolith XL Audio Stand: https://amzn.to/3aiHcnSB\u0026W STAV-24 Speaker Stands.Hey!Only Option To Listen YouTube Sound Demo is with good headphones, not your favorite sound system because listening to two rooms at once is not a good thing, no matter how good your sound system is.My Preferred Headphones For YouTube Sound Demos: https://amzn.to/2wAkk54If you use these links to purchase any items from Amazon or eBay(No Extra Cost To You), I get a small percentage which help support my work and helps me keep going.And you want to help more? Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2023. Besides, the Q series KEF speakers are almost similar to each other in terms of technology, features, and design elements. The embedding of the tweeter at this particular position ensures dynamic and more precise sound delivery. In this post, we have included a detailed comparison between KEF Q150 Vs. KEF Q350. There is a single horizontal brace in the middle of the cabinet. The SONY CSS5 at $78-$128 per pair outperforms this $499-$599 speaker easily in definition, detail and instrument separation. The solutions you propose are basically the government intervening to support uncompetitive industries. Its rated to go down to 63Hz but seems to go lower than that. I should know I own and owned several Tandberg products including the 3030 which was nowhere near the build quality of their older products, I quickly sold it. All of these speakers are highly regarded. I mainly listen to classical and jazz. Is Stereophile writing to their readership ? I reckon some other customer blew it out, returned it, and Amazon doesnt actually check stuff out. PSB has been manufacturing award-winning loudspeakers for over 40 years. Also, the orientation doesnt matter. The Q150 is available in a matte black and white vinyl design. KEF always seemed to have some sort of "entry" level loudspeaker, a price driven speaker like the beautiful CODA of the early 1980s. These cones come in three types: tweeters, midranges (sometimes called mids), and woofe, The type of enclosure, or cabinet, plays a key role in determining the focus of your sound. But the reviews have told me a lot of characteristics that appeal to me, mainly the soft dome tweeter as opposed to metal (metal kills my ears and gives me fatigue) and that separation and vocals are strong, which is what im searching for. As a general thumb of rule , to optimise the audio experience one should place their speakers six to ten inches apart, that is if you own a pair. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "KEF can hold its head up high: the Q350s are a cut above the rest. If you really care about sound quality, there are plenty of passive (which require amplification) and active (with built-in amplification) loudspeakers to select from. I bought and auditioned the Triangle Bro 3, the Klipsch RP 600M, Elac Unifi 2.0 and this KEF Q350. Triangle BR03; Save Share. And that the LS50 works best with a heavy, inert stand? Thanks for Naim , I'll be looking for one of the Uniti pieces. Discover. These items were sold in major retail stores across America. Check our recent content on speakers, soundbars, headphones and earphones. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we dont use a simple average. True audio, Tweeters produce the highest frequencies in sound, typically anything above 2,000 Hz. I don't deny the qualities of various Chinese Mainland Artisan Companies like Cayin who manufacturer and engineer superb products. (The new KEF LS50 Meta is their current media darling. This feature behaves just like any other Bluetooth-enabled d, Not to be confused with Wi-Fi-enabled speakers, wireless speaker set ups do not require a speaker wire or direct lines to other speakers and the AV receiver. The Triangle Borea BR03 is a great Bookshelf Speaker for its $379 asking price. Adding the stands made a huge improvement. KEF Q150 has a current market retail price of $299/pair. Insert . Or, is the Q series mostly aimed at those Big Screen 4K TV Buyers at Costco? KEF is darn good at making loudspeakers and drivers both. But, for some guidance, consider that a larger tweeter (measured by diameter in inches or millimeters) will likely be louder and able to disperse sound over a larger area. I do buy valuable products made by skilled artisans and workmen, products like PS Audio, Sennheiser, Festool, Brisson Interfaces, Electrocompaniet, Thiel Audio, Meridian, Linn Products. It's a complex thing that our next generations will be working, struggling, anguishing with. The Linn Kann could, the ProAc Tablette certainly could, the Thiel CS3 could because it had deep bass, the Quad 63s might ( depending on Amplifier type ). Before investing, it becomes crucial to check out the various variants of a particular brand to get the perfect knowledge about which s better than the other and worth the money. The KEF Q350, however, while a reasonable product for $749, doesn't stack up against its competitors quite as well. i always look for your reviews. Released in 2018, they're the next-generation versions of the 3020 and, compared to their predecessor, the 3020is are slightly taller and have a 25-percent deeper chamber to deliver more punchy bass. The LS50 is now a balance scale transducer system that the Pro-Audio World ( including Genelec ) are carefully evaluating and comparing , pretty much like you and Steve G. do within most of your workings. You can drive these with 35-50 watts and wipe the floor with any wireless loudspeaker for many years to come.