I find that the best audiophile strategy is to be constantly looking for that next "bang for the buck" audio plateau and being happy in the place you are at right now.
I bought kef q150 and was so pleased I decided to go one better and bought kef q350. I was completely happy with them. I then enjoyed my music and felt no need to ever upgrade again. I never want to get into the "audiophile" frame of mind of never being satisfied with what I've got.
I just got the q 950 on a Panasonic as701 and it sounds phenomenal. For me no subwolfer required. It really responds well to the controls of the receiver and I can make it sound just the way I want and can adjust for the music. I also have q 150 in my bedroom and love them.
I love my Q750s for their smoothness and clairity in the highs and mids but above all for the very fast, punchy bass. Very different from the common boomy sub sound and I love it. I would have liked to try the q950 just for the comparison.
Amazing, Atlast went with KEF Q950 .. leaving klipsch and B&W behind.. heard B&W also good.. But we have authorized dealers and service centers for KEF here at chennai, 🇮🇳 India. So KEF..!
I love my W750’s too, I purchased mine at Best Buy as a floor model, I paid $466 for the pair! No joke. They are scrapes and a couple dents. But all of that just affected the cosmetics not the sound. And to be honest it’s hard to tell unless all the lights are on. These are the best speakers I’ve ever owned, I then got the Kef center channel KEF Q650c and a pair of the KEF Q350. I wanted to get the Kef Atmos top KEF Q50a.
Nice review, I have heard the Kef Q750, and they sound really good as wel such as a three dimensional sound, warm deep base, smooth midrange (a little warm though), but nice and a nice treble response on top without sounding harsh. They could rank with more expensive speakers.
"Especially female vocals sound like they are in the room....." Exactly, my own words to describe Kef speakers. I would highly recommend to people to not pair Kef speakers with bright amps. Kef speakers keep sounding better the higher end you go with the front end, but if a person only has a mass market receiver and wants better sound, I don't think there is a better speaker (on sale price) than the Q100 or Q150. I paid $298 Canadian dollars (that is just over $200 US) for a pair of Q100s and I was amazed by the sound. They really need some decent (high current) power from a quality amp to sound their best though. None HDMI gear like Paransound or B&K Components are quite cheap on Ebay and SMSL DACs are hard to beat for the price and they are all a great match for Kef speakers. I have a bunch of all of them with my best system @ $25,000. My point is that KEF, Parasound and SMSL all have the same sound signature (neutral), so the cheapest units still give you a good taste of what their more expensive lines sound like.
Technically even the Q950 need a sub (44Hz-28kHz). Pretty much any speaker needs a sub to completely fill out the range. But I'm sure you can get away with it if you are satisfied with the sound. I'm no bass head either.
@@michael-4k4000 True. Without using the sub at least you feel like you aren't boosting the bass too much. Setting up a subwoofer takes some fine tuning.
+++ I have the KEF Q350... see the ' Stereophile' ( a usually top end oriented group) google. > review of Q350/ direct compare the KEF LS50 ( generally an audio media fave) sure they favor the LS50 at some things, BUT at other things they prefer the Q 350 at HALF the cost. going by 'speaker frequency tests' avail on Utube, I get good response down to 45 hz, some clear but low vol. response at 28 hz. this with amp vol setting at 'normal'. LS 50 clearly designed for use with a sub, otherwise it's not 'full range.' IF I could afford, I think my ' step up' might well be the KEF R300 - like the Q 350 but with an additional bass speaker , real wood finish , and probably / maybe a better tweeter. But the KEF Q350 , to me, are really really good.
My only issue with passive radiators (and ports as well) is that their output will be out of phase with the powered driver by their very nature. The “best” place for a passive radiator or port is the rear of the enclosure *but* that is no assurance that their output will be in phase when it arrives at your ear. That’s why the best place for rear radiators or ports is a considerable distance from the front wall - so that they only add bass “ambience”. Direct front radiators and ports will have the phase issue. The only exception is a tall tower enclosure with the port located low in the baffle at at some distance from the driver. That delays the air mass enough to get it *close* to the same timing as the direct driver, but it only applies to a port. A passive radiator responds pretty much immediately to the pressure wave no matter how large the box is and it’s output will be out of phase. The biggest worry is phase cancellation at certain low frequencies making for wild frequency spikes and dips. IMO, both ports and passive radiators make for sloppy bass due to these timing issues. I like sealed enclosures. Too bad they are so inefficient...
@@marcgallant5270 On further reseach, it seems that, like location in room, it's hard for us to detect phase errors at very low frequencies. This is why modern subs that use DSP processing (which, by their nature, have latency issues due to processing time) are as popular as they are and work as well as they do. Just the same, I'd like all of my frequencies to arrive at the same time, thanks very much. Trouble is that a true full range sealed loudspeaker would be needed. Unfortunately, it would be HUGE and very inefficient. requiring a lot of power and damping.
As I've mentioned in other YT reviews, sibilance is not a bad thing. It is the SSSSSSS sound you hear with vocals and cymbals. DISTORTED sibilance is the bad thing.
What letter grade would you assign to the Q950 and to the R11 in terms of sound quality. Similarly the Q150 v. Q350 v R3? Lots of reviewers seem to just on the value scale which is fine but I also like to hear judgement just based on its quality irrespective of cost.
I had original kef q350s 25 years ago, they were good but a bit too analytical and I never quite settled with them. The room wasn’t good enough though. Thinking of going q950 for home cinema and some music. Main 2 channel is Genelec in a treated room.
Near field Q-100 speakers are amazing on my hulk dual mono amp very warm and rich amp is key to unlocking that magic top end spearkle with mid range accuracy low end authority Onkyo integra M504 great match love to rock those Q-950s!! Thanks for video !
I like that you enjoy those kef speakers man.. But when you get the opportunity to listen to tannoy speakers then you truly listen to a true coaxial speaker. Tannoy pioneered coaxcial design. Right now my set up is 2 tannoy d700 for front d750 for center and d500 for the surround.
The Kef Q100s made me buy 2 pairs of LS50s and a pair of R900s. Those sneaky bastards.... I'm kidding, I like the sound of Kef speakers. Some people think they are too bright, but detailed speakers like Kef will reproduce the sonics of a bright amp and front end. All of my gear is neutral, so Kef speakers sound great to me. I am very susceptible to listening fatigue and nothing bites me with a D1 Dac and JC1 mono blocks driving my Kef speakers.
@@eugene9000pro Both are great but the Kefs are easier to drive, not as fussy where they are placed, bigger sound stage and I found to have a more detailed top end but if you’re a basehead and mid top end isn’t as important and have the power to drive them the polk’s are also a great choice.
Considering we're only getting 2 active elements per speaker, i really don't understand why they cost $1500 a pair. I seriously doubt the active 8" and the Q-element costs $1000 combined. And eventho i haven't seen the crossover, i also doubt the components costs much. So it boils down to the simple fact that when buying these speakers at $1500, we're mostly paying for the added cost of production which would most likely end up being 75% of the total price. So.. we're not really paying for the speakers, we're paying for the cost of production.
The gross profit on these from a retail standpoint is huge. I work at a store that sells them and the mark up is ridiculous. I'm contemplating buying them just because of how much cheaper i can get them.
What receiver do you recommend with these? I have been looking at them for a long time, just not sure about the receiver. Any advice will appreciate it. Thanks!
I have the Klipsch 820f and was looking at getting these for black friday this year. What would you recommend to power these without getting to crazy in price? Thanks!
Sry but I´ve listened to R700 which should have even better coax midrange and tweeter (I know that everybody have a different taste) but I haven´t heard anything you said. In my opinion it was a bit harsh and overdone to impress at the first listening but after a while you realized that none of this is true or natural. Just my opinion.. The prices at the used market is pretty much on my site.
Love my Q350s. Im actually having a hard time on my next upgrade prospect because i couldn't find any that sounded better without spending 2-3x. Since you've heard the Buchardt s300 and s400 -- do you think they are a clear step up from the q x50 or should I not bother especially for the price and just go with Kef q series floor standers just like yours? (for purely music)TIA
Absolutely loved my Q350s too, but decided to move to the Wharfedale Linton 85s and could never go back. The form factor of the Q350 was really great though, and it sounded amazing for the price.
Love mine too.Stream flac using Plex to a Cambridge cx80.Simple , sounds good. Sorry about home built 15" 900 watt sub though.lol Pic link here. instagram.com/p/B2DKIVdBNjs/?igshid=1jdnv3pqoznwj
I find that the best audiophile strategy is to be constantly looking for that next "bang for the buck" audio plateau and being happy in the place you are at right now.
I bought my Q950 3 weeks ago. My loudspeakers before i owned for 18 years and still do. KEF´s never let´s you down.
Love you Jay iyagi!!!!!!!!!! When can we all come over for movie night and butter popcorn? Don't forget the butter....
I bought kef q150 and was so pleased I decided to go one better and bought kef q350. I was completely happy with them. I then enjoyed my music and felt no need to ever upgrade again. I never want to get into the "audiophile" frame of mind of never being satisfied with what I've got.
I just got the q 950 on a Panasonic as701 and it sounds phenomenal. For me no subwolfer required. It really responds well to the controls of the receiver and I can make it sound just the way I want and can adjust for the music. I also have q 150 in my bedroom and love them.
KEF and JBL two of the best!! Won't shame any student for having used gear!!! Do what you can to get the best during school!!
I love my Q750s for their smoothness and clairity in the highs and mids but above all for the very fast, punchy bass. Very different from the common boomy sub sound and I love it.
I would have liked to try the q950 just for the comparison.
I currently have klipsch rp6000f. Yesterday I listened to the Q750s in person. The KEFs are way better! Even my wife said she can tell the difference.
@@EDKsurly Very interesting! I've been thinking about the 6000f but recently discovered KEF. Think you will be changing over?
No subs are boomy unless they are cheap af..
Amazing, Atlast went with KEF Q950 .. leaving klipsch and B&W behind.. heard B&W also good..
But we have authorized dealers and service centers for KEF here at chennai, 🇮🇳 India. So KEF..!
I love my W750’s too, I purchased mine at Best Buy as a floor model, I paid $466 for the pair! No joke. They are scrapes and a couple dents. But all of that just affected the cosmetics not the sound. And to be honest it’s hard to tell unless all the lights are on. These are the best speakers I’ve ever owned, I then got the Kef center channel KEF Q650c and a pair of the KEF Q350. I wanted to get the Kef Atmos top KEF Q50a.
Nice review, I have heard the Kef Q750, and they sound really good as wel such as a three dimensional sound, warm deep base, smooth midrange (a little warm though), but nice and a nice treble response on top without sounding harsh. They could rank with more expensive speakers.
"Especially female vocals sound like they are in the room....." Exactly, my own words to describe Kef speakers. I would highly recommend to people to not pair Kef speakers with bright amps. Kef speakers keep sounding better the higher end you go with the front end, but if a person only has a mass market receiver and wants better sound, I don't think there is a better speaker (on sale price) than the Q100 or Q150. I paid $298 Canadian dollars (that is just over $200 US) for a pair of Q100s and I was amazed by the sound. They really need some decent (high current) power from a quality amp to sound their best though. None HDMI gear like Paransound or B&K Components are quite cheap on Ebay and SMSL DACs are hard to beat for the price and they are all a great match for Kef speakers. I have a bunch of all of them with my best system @ $25,000. My point is that KEF, Parasound and SMSL all have the same sound signature (neutral), so the cheapest units still give you a good taste of what their more expensive lines sound like.
I would love to hear the R series in person, and it would be great to see some more reviews out there on them. Can't wait! 😉👍
I've got the q950 with powernode absolutely love them
Love my LS50s. Make plenty of bass for my tiny little apartment.
Bought them over many other options because of the imaging. They do such a good job.
Technically even the Q950 need a sub (44Hz-28kHz). Pretty much any speaker needs a sub to completely fill out the range. But I'm sure you can get away with it if you are satisfied with the sound. I'm no bass head either.
I have the Q750 whi 48-28k and i have a 12" paradigm subwoofer. The Q750 souns excellent without the sub, really depends how much sub u like.
@@michael-4k4000 True. Without using the sub at least you feel like you aren't boosting the bass too much. Setting up a subwoofer takes some fine tuning.
+++ I have the KEF Q350... see the ' Stereophile' ( a usually top end oriented group) google. > review of Q350/ direct compare the KEF LS50 ( generally an audio media fave) sure they favor the LS50 at some things, BUT at other things they prefer the Q 350 at HALF the cost.
going by 'speaker frequency tests' avail on Utube, I get good response down to 45 hz, some clear but low vol. response at 28 hz. this with amp vol setting at 'normal'.
LS 50 clearly designed for use with a sub, otherwise it's not 'full range.'
IF I could afford, I think my ' step up' might well be the KEF R300 - like the Q 350 but with an additional bass speaker , real wood finish , and probably / maybe a better tweeter. But the KEF Q350 , to me, are really really good.
My only issue with passive radiators (and ports as well) is that their output will be out of phase with the powered driver by their very nature. The “best” place for a passive radiator or port is the rear of the enclosure *but* that is no assurance that their output will be in phase when it arrives at your ear. That’s why the best place for rear radiators or ports is a considerable distance from the front wall - so that they only add bass “ambience”. Direct front radiators and ports will have the phase issue. The only exception is a tall tower enclosure with the port located low in the baffle at at some distance from the driver. That delays the air mass enough to get it *close* to the same timing as the direct driver, but it only applies to a port. A passive radiator responds pretty much immediately to the pressure wave no matter how large the box is and it’s output will be out of phase. The biggest worry is phase cancellation at certain low frequencies making for wild frequency spikes and dips.
IMO, both ports and passive radiators make for sloppy bass due to these timing issues. I like sealed enclosures. Too bad they are so inefficient...
@@marcgallant5270 On further reseach, it seems that, like location in room, it's hard for us to detect phase errors at very low frequencies. This is why modern subs that use DSP processing (which, by their nature, have latency issues due to processing time) are as popular as they are and work as well as they do.
Just the same, I'd like all of my frequencies to arrive at the same time, thanks very much. Trouble is that a true full range sealed loudspeaker would be needed. Unfortunately, it would be HUGE and very inefficient. requiring a lot of power and damping.
Outstanding Review!!! Thank You....
As I've mentioned in other YT reviews, sibilance is not a bad thing. It is the SSSSSSS sound you hear with vocals and cymbals. DISTORTED sibilance is the bad thing.
What letter grade would you assign to the Q950 and to the R11 in terms of sound quality. Similarly the Q150 v. Q350 v R3? Lots of reviewers seem to just on the value scale which is fine but I also like to hear judgement just based on its quality irrespective of cost.
I had original kef q350s 25 years ago, they were good but a bit too analytical and I never quite settled with them. The room wasn’t good enough though. Thinking of going q950 for home cinema and some music. Main 2 channel is Genelec in a treated room.
Kef q750, Dali Oberon 7, Elac uni fi fs u5 or Canton sl 590 ? all of them costs 799€. Which one is better for movie , cinema , musik ? Thank you
Near field Q-100 speakers are amazing on my hulk dual mono amp very warm and rich amp is key to unlocking that magic top end spearkle with mid range accuracy low end authority Onkyo integra M504 great match love to rock those Q-950s!! Thanks for video !
I like that you enjoy those kef speakers man.. But when you get the opportunity to listen to tannoy speakers then you truly listen to a true coaxial speaker. Tannoy pioneered coaxcial design. Right now my set up is 2 tannoy d700 for front d750 for center and d500 for the surround.
The Kef Q100s made me buy 2 pairs of LS50s and a pair of R900s. Those sneaky bastards.... I'm kidding, I like the sound of Kef speakers. Some people think they are too bright, but detailed speakers like Kef will reproduce the sonics of a bright amp and front end. All of my gear is neutral, so Kef speakers sound great to me. I am very susceptible to listening fatigue and nothing bites me with a D1 Dac and JC1 mono blocks driving my Kef speakers.
Thanks great info and help I’m just starting to build up my audio.
I wonder if he still has them
Described these perfectly. Even to this day I still prefer these to the klipsch rp 80002 (too bright) or the Polk R700.
I was concidering R700. Could you please tell me why
@@eugene9000pro Both are great but the Kefs are easier to drive, not as fussy where they are placed, bigger sound stage and I found to have a more detailed top end but if you’re a basehead and mid top end isn’t as important and have the power to drive them the polk’s are also a great choice.
Considering we're only getting 2 active elements per speaker, i really don't understand why they cost $1500 a pair. I seriously doubt the active 8" and the Q-element costs $1000 combined. And eventho i haven't seen the crossover, i also doubt the components costs much.
So it boils down to the simple fact that when buying these speakers at $1500, we're mostly paying for the added cost of production which would most likely end up being 75% of the total price.
So.. we're not really paying for the speakers, we're paying for the cost of production.
The gross profit on these from a retail standpoint is huge. I work at a store that sells them and the mark up is ridiculous. I'm contemplating buying them just because of how much cheaper i can get them.
@@TheWretchedWorld how much can you get off?
The R11s are $7k for the pair bud!
That 8 inch woofer to which you refer, is not powered. It needs external amplification? It’s not a passive radiator like the 2 8 inch cones below it.
What receiver do you recommend with these? I have been looking at them for a long time, just not sure about the receiver. Any advice will appreciate it. Thanks!
KEF Q950 vs DALI
OBERON 7 vs Klipsch R-820F Reference????
@@marcgallant5270 thanks:) one of my friends told me the Dali is better but idk ¯\(°_o)/¯
Dali
What are you planning to do with your old pair?
I have the Klipsch 820f and was looking at getting these for black friday this year. What would you recommend to power these without getting to crazy in price? Thanks!
Any reason why you didn’t go for Klipsch rp600m for home theatre? Seeing as home theatre is klipsch’s thing
Thujan Krishnakumar thanks
lol, idiot.
You tried some Totem's? Thought they might be right down your alley.
@@ThujanK Sorry man, I meant Tekton :/ Dunno why I said 'Totem'. They're big though, if you go for the towers.
Curious what crossover you used with your PB13.
Are you a catcher ?
i just picked up an ex demo pair for $1200 australian dollars. Felt like i stole them.
You certainly did. May I ask where from?
@@sandlmv8301 jbhifi had them on clearance although they werent in perfect cosmetic shape they sound fantastic but
wow , what a score , Ive seen these for up to $2800 nz at some retailers this year.
Sry but I´ve listened to R700 which should have even better coax midrange and tweeter (I know that everybody have a different taste) but I haven´t heard anything you said. In my opinion it was a bit harsh and overdone to impress at the first listening but after a while you realized that none of this is true or natural. Just my opinion.. The prices at the used market is pretty much on my site.
Please review with audio samples of movie clips and music. It will be very helpful for me.
Love my Q350s. Im actually having a hard time on my next upgrade prospect because i couldn't find any that sounded better without spending 2-3x. Since you've heard the Buchardt s300 and s400 -- do you think they are a clear step up from the q x50 or should I not bother especially for the price and just go with Kef q series floor standers just like yours? (for purely music)TIA
You wanna upgrade but not spend twice as much cash..? 🤔
Ebay/keep saving! ✊ 😙 💪 🤖
Diminishing returns. That’s the audio world in a nutshell.
Absolutely loved my Q350s too, but decided to move to the Wharfedale Linton 85s and could never go back. The form factor of the Q350 was really great though, and it sounded amazing for the price.
Love mine too.Stream flac using Plex to a Cambridge cx80.Simple , sounds good.
Sorry about home built 15" 900 watt sub though.lol
Pic link here.
instagram.com/p/B2DKIVdBNjs/?igshid=1jdnv3pqoznwj
coulda got these for less than 500 on amazon doggg
Polk s55 ore this
These. The q550 that are cheaper will still be better than the Polk.
How abut Paradigm 6000f