Is KEF no longer relevant?

Think of late KEF has improved if this is the type of loudspeaker your interested in. I wouldnt dismiss a KEF

i tend to agree with the OP--kef was a once revered brand that seems to have lost its panache. perhaps their made-in-china model isn't serving them well. i haven't heard its current ultra-reference stuff, but i have auditioned its xq and q series and thought they were somewhat lackluster and definitely inferior to their 80s and 90s offerings (i still have pair of their coda 70s, which hit way above their $300 pricetag). i have also owned the 104.2s, but for whatever reason never warmed up to 'em (lacking in low end extension and high end detail); their legendary status has always mystified me.

They are back to making great speakers. All you have to do is listen to the new reference series to realize that. I still have an old pair of C-40's in my basement - just can't think of a reason to part with them. Paired with a Velo sub, they still make great sound, especially for the money.

Part of the issue for Kef is simply brand proliferation. I owned the Kef Corelli in/around 1975. Kef, Celestion, and (then) Bowers & Wilkins were about the only Brit high end monitors widely available. Other highly regarded (non-Brit) imported speakers were fairly rare. US designs usually sounded quite different. If limited bass, mid-range centric accuracy was the tree you wanted to bark up, Kef was automatically on your short list.

When a million new brands came along, the company failed to maintain "share of mind" in an increasingly crowded marketplace. To some degree, it was the marketing types that screwed up, but that wasn't the whole story. In my experience the products have always been pretty good, but when the competition got a lot stiffer, they weren't quite good enough/distinctive enough to keep the market's attention.

To be fair, it's tough for any business to distinguish itself longterm in a rapidly evolving marketplace full of good, highly diverse choices. Maybe B&W is the exception, and Kef more the rule. I can't think of too many other brands (although there are a few) that have stayed on top since that time.

Marty

I always liked KEF speakers for the most part when I heard them and have wondered the same thing about why they are not talked about in these audio circles these days. They seem to target mainly the home theater markets these days is what I had gathered.

Also, I always liked the low fatigue KEF sound but it often was not the most exciting sound by US standards out there, so I assume that was part of it also.

I always found their more recent coincident driver designs interesting, but have never heard them.