Any thoughts? Thinking of moving up from Vivid Oval 1.5. Like their sound but want a little bigger sound. The new Vivid speakers are too rich for me, and I can get a good buy on the reference 3. Soundstage did think they were close to the Vivid B1 Decade which is $28,000.
Before they broke in, the Ref speakers sounded closed in, lacking dynamics, without the soundstage and imaging that impressed me in the store. It took a few months before they sounded good.
OP: KEF has the Ref 3 in rosewood on sale for $9999 and the Ref 5 for 14,000. Don’t know what price range you’re looking at but the Ref 5 is similar to the 3 with two more woofers and more bass. Rosewood looks beautiful.
I have the Ref 3s and so am obviously biased. I think they’re exceptional and spent more than a year considering others at or around their price. I’d buy them again in a heartbeat over all the others auditioned. Indeed, they’re the only component I have the I would say I’ve fully reached my destination.
If you’re buying demos, perhaps you won’t have to worry about break in as other have noted - it takes a while.
I don’t find them to be finicky about placement as they’re fairly adjustable with the port inserts that come with them.
I will also say they are very rewarding when you improve things upstream.
I should add the following to my earlier posting. I was at a store listening to multiple speakers and trying to figure out which I liked best. The salesman commented that he was watching my facial expressions and body language while listening . While auditioning the KEFs, he said I was smiling and looked relaxed, which wasn’t happening with any of the other speakers. I thought about this, listened some more, and decided he was right. Ymmv.
You must have a verified phone number and physical address in order to post in the Audiogon Forums. Please return to Audiogon.com and complete this step. If you have any questions please contact Support.
