davidf
Administrator
Posts: 331
|
Post by davidf on Sept 6, 2018 11:50:03 GMT
The new KEF R Series are now a reality!
I’ll have the range up on the website tonight/tomorrow with all the details of the changes - of which there are many!!
|
|
|
Post by plasticpenguin on Sept 7, 2018 8:49:25 GMT
How do they compare, sound wise to the outgoing 'R' models?
|
|
davidf
Administrator
Posts: 331
|
Post by davidf on Sept 8, 2018 1:59:19 GMT
How do they compare, sound wise to the outgoing 'R' models? Apologies for the late reply, lots going on! Including a possible new high end brand for the little audio company... I’d like to reserve any solid comparison until I’ve heard the new stuff in a familiar room with a familiar system. But to try and convert initial impressions... The R3 (£1300) and the R5 (£2000) were heard in an average, quite imperfect room on the end of a Naim Uniti Atom. The R7 (£2600) and R11 (£4000) were heard in a huge room on the end of a Naim Uniti Nova. I thought the R3 was the stand out model in its particular room. I guess they were quite suited to the the Atom in the size room they were in, but felt they still had more to offer. In the large room, the difference between the R7 and R11 was quite clear, but the Naim Uniti Nova really wasn’t up to the job, in my opinion. At least, not at the volume level being played. Maybe it’d be better in an average room, but in this case, these two would definitely be much better off with a real amplifier. The reasoning behind using the Naims is that it was to show them off in a regular type system they’re likely to be used in. I fully agree with the reasoning, but for the R7 and R11, I personally would’ve used something like a Hegel Rost or H190. R5s were used as fronts and rears in another room, along with R8a Atmos speakers, R2c centre, and R400b sub in a 5.1.4 Atmos setup on the end of an Arcam AVR850 with P429 power amp. Not the most ideal room, but DIRAC made sure the system sounded as good as it could, with everything you’d expect from a top notch AV system. Test clips were from Deep Water Horizon, Blade Runner 2049, and velieve it or not, Angry Birds... They seem to have a little more excitement/urgency about them over the original R Series, with no boxiness that I recall. Higher frequencies seem more “out of the box”, less restrained compared to their predecessors. I suppose you could say more transparent and less “in the way”. I’ll be writing a blog over the coming week about the differences in a little more detail.
|
|
|
Post by plasticpenguin on Sept 9, 2018 0:14:47 GMT
Cheers.
I quite liked the reviews of the R300 - gawd they were deep. I would suggest a lot deeper than my TB2is.
Look forward to the forthcoming blog.
|
|