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Is KEF no longer relevant?

It seems to me that 20 years ago Kef was quite a respected speaker manufacturer. Granted I knew far less back then about audiophilia, but for someone just starting out, that was my impression at the time.

Although Kef still makes speakers in the $5,000 - $15,000 range, they never seem to be the subject of serious discussion here on the 'Gon. These discussions are dominated by a group of the usual 20 or so suspects that we hear about over and over again. And no disrespect meant against that group - they are mostly, if not all, great speakers to be sure. But Kef certainly at one time was a pioneering and extrememly respected brand. What happened? Is this because they lost their "sound" after Raymond Cooke died? (an accusation I remember reading somewhere) Or are they just perceived as a "yesterday's news" brand?

No doubt there are many happy Kef owners out there who may answer this thread telling me how great their speakers are, even by today's standards, and I have no argument with them - I am a former Kef owner and very fond of the brand - but they clearly are not "darlings" of this forum. What happened?
studioray
phasecorrect's avatar
phasecorrect
2,013 posts
 
Similiar to polk and infinity in the 80s...KEF was the hi-end and produced some remarkable products during this tenure...and as others have stated...they remain primarly a UK market product...cant comment on their recent designs as they are harder to come by in the states....but reviews have been all over the map....doesnt help that they have Proac and SpENDOUR in their backyard as well....
kef_america
1 posts
 
We are funded by our parent Chinese company but every single item that comes from KEF is birthed and designed by engineers in the UK - our main office is in the same building its always been in!! No difference.

Peter Madsen, Dr. Andrew Watson, Mark Dodd - they've been there for 20+ years designing KEF and Celestion products.
http://www.kef.com/resources/video/gb/tseries/video.html

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-20023903-47.html#ixzz19PbG7Mog
deeppurple23
1 posts
 
I've read through most of the comments and find it all interesting. Here's what I'll tell you about my "KEF" experiences. The 104s were out of this world, but keep in mind that the CD had just come out, so you're comparing two different mediums, KEFs are great in the midrange, CDs not so much. Never owned the 104s BTW, listened to them a lot, I did have the 102s and loved them. Later, I did purchase a system that contained the Q65s. The bass was so good I got rid of my subwoofer. I then moved on to the reference 201/202c, with the hyper tweeter. This was the first KEF that I ever had that leaned to the bright side. That being said, you really had to watch your amp pairing, Bryston seems to be a really good match, I also have an old NAD and old PS audio that sound fantastic with these speakers. At the end of the day it's all about preferences and I love my KEFs. The next time I look for speakers they will be the first ones I check out.
mountain-high
62 posts
 
It's a nice Chinese made speaker.
jedinite24's avatar
jedinite24
1,503 posts
 
I really enjoy my KEF speakers both old and new. I have the newer KEF Q300 bookshelf speakers and they are made in China. They also sound great to me. I believe KEF is still very relevant. One of these days I'll move onto the R series of speakers.
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