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KEF Reference 1 vs. Olympica 1

I’ve been a music lover and DJ for decades and have bought tons of DJ gear over the years but now I’m focusing more on my family/listening room and need help with comparing some speakers.
Ive owned B&Ws for most of my adult life and as I got older, the diamonds became fatiguing and I decided to change things up. After reading many reviews, I decided to go with either Kef Reference 1 or Olympica 1. I’m buying them used and currently am using B&K 200.7 to drive them.
Any help and experience would be greatly appreciated.
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audiotroy's avatar
audiotroy
3,787 posts
 
OP both are good Kef's have their house sound and the Sonus have their house sound.

Kef's are clean detailed with a very netural midrange, great dynamics and they thow a huge well focused soundstage the Ref 1 have unbeliveable deep bass for a stand mount.

Sonus Faber's warmer in the treble a slightly more colored warmer midrange, good dynamics and their stand mounts do not have the deep bass response of the Kef's if you want a warmer more full bodied sound with a less defined soundstage, the Sonus are fantastic. 

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ KEF dealers
d2girls's avatar
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d2girls
1,029 posts
 
If I had the space, I’d go for the Kefs in a heartbeat. The KEF ref 1 in gloss rosewood is probably the nicest looking bookshelf on the planet. 
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dbphd
1,628 posts
 
We have a pair of KEF Ref 1s in gloss rosewood, but when they first replaced the racing red LS50s my wife loved she was skeptical.  Now my wife agrees they are handsome, and a Decca Blu-ray of the Verdi Requiem convinced me they can do large orchestrations convincingly.  The racing reds have been moved upstairs where I want to experiment with using them to supplement the mid/HF of a pair of KEF Ref 107/2s. 
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