New KEF Reference 5 speakers


After many months of auditioning speakers (and probably testing the patience of several salesmen) I finally decided to get the KEF Reference 5s.  I just loved the wide sound stage and almost holographic imaging, among other things.  They were delivered in February and I’ve spent many hours listening.  At first I was disappointed.  They just didn’t produce the same imaging at my house with my equipment as in the store.  Also, they sounded bright and harsh with violins and high end music.  The dealer came to my house along with the regional sales rep from KEF to provide advice.  They urged me to allow more break in time (at that point they had been played about 100 hours). After many more hours, I am becoming more acquainted with them.  They are still improving with time.  Them break in period seems to be very lon. They’ve played several hundred hours and are still improving. They are extremely source sensitive—meaning that a poorly engineered record or CD will sound terrible and a well recorded one can be great.  I suppose this is a good thing with the KEFS-that they reveal flaws so well says something about their accuracy. Unfortunately there seem to be more bad recordings than good ones so I’m finding many of my CDs and records very difficult to listen to.  I am still experimenting with speaker placement, learning which recordings are really good and which aren’t and other tweaks.  Not totally convinced it’s love but we are at least in like and the relationship is moving in a positive direction. I’ve delayed posting anything until now because I didn’t want to share any premature conclusions.  
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Local dealer got in another pair-ref 3's I believe. 

Spent a little time setting them up, but then they got so into listening to them, never really finished. 

And they were listening to Sonos?!

After being late coming home, my woman asked me what I thought about 13k for a speaker. I said they are for folks that have big money. I don't know if they are worth 13k, BUT if you have 13k, for that kind of money, they DO deliver 13k of performance.
No Contuzzi you don't read well do you. We were saying that the KEF Ref 1 are priced comensurately with any of the other major contenders.

I don't hear anyone talking about the Focal's being overpriced, they are not overpriced but again none of these other speakers are either. 

We sell the Paradigm Persona as well as the KEF's and both of these speakers are very well made and priced fairly for the build quality and driver technology as well as sound quality. 

Now we could have another discussion of $7 or $8k monitors that use off the shelf parts that cost a fraction of the price and then we might have something. 

Value is inherant in what you perceive it to be in.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ


Just a few impressions:

I can see why they can come off as bright and metallic, but my personal opinion is they are extremely detailed to the point of being unforgiving of being fed bright and metallic. Having listened to a few amps and such with them, they change quite a bit in the treble depending on not just what amp, but also the other components. ... More than most. 

Also, curiously, it SEEMED to me they wanted to be heard right on axis with the tweeter/midrange drivers. I could see lying on the couch with them. But anyway, the up-down axis with my head at the tweeter.mid seemed to snap things into focus, even maybe less bright. 

But having said that, they weren't weird to set up to me, or different than any other average speaker. Standing in other places in the room, being off to the right, left, standing at the back walls...the room reacted just as I would expect with any other speaker. The room still sounded better as a whole when the speakers were placed better as a whole. Regular speaker/room set-up rules still apply. 

Again, it SEEMS. Didn't get too much into it, just a few changes here and there until everyone decided to turn up and get into listening.
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