2. speakers
  3. 1250526887

KEF 103.2 - what to expect?

I was looking through my father's basement and discovered his old KEF 103.2 speakers gathering dust. From what I have read on the web, these are great speakers.

My current system uses an Arcam CD73 player, paired with an Exposure Super XV integrated amp, hooked up to a pair of Wharfedale Pacific Evo 8 speakers. I've spent a while developing that budget system and like it very much for listening to classic jazz.

I was thinking of using the KEFs on my "second system." I have a NAD 320BEE integrated amp laying around, along with an Exposure CD player (don't know the model, doesn't say) or a NAD 521 CD player.

3 questions:

(1) Is the NAD integrated amp powerful enough to run the KEFs? I noticed the KEFs are 8 ohm speakers, which I believe means they are harder to drive.

(2) One of the KEF speaker tweeter's looks slightly damaged. Not torn, but there is a fold/crease in the tweeter fabric. I haven't listened to them yet, but is there anything I should listen for to see if the tweeter is damaged?

(3) Anyone ever used an Exposure CD player (probably from the same time-era as the Exposure Super XV integrated amp I have)? I presume it is a step up from the entry level NAD 521 which served me well for many years.

Thanks,
David
dmloring
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
No, 8 ohms are the norm, it is 4 ohms and below that are hard to drive. The tweeter it probably all right. You can remove such things in several ways, using a vacuum cleaner VERY carefully, a bent pin, and gently pushing it with a finger. The current Exposure Classic CD player has a very good reputation and some of the older ones as well. Plug it in, turn it on at a low volume and see what it sounds like, I think the NAD would work fine, check the heat sinks when it has been on for a while to see if it is getting too hot. Do not use the "soft clipping" feature as it cuts the available power in half.
dmloring OP
34 posts
 
Thanks. I'll leave the soft clipping off. The NAD Amp is in perfect condition - always took care of it. Can you overheat an Amp by trying to power speakers that are too demanding?
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
Yes but it is not common and it is usually headbangers who do it. What makes you think the 103.2 are demanding? Usually you run into problems with low impedance speakers. It all depends on using discretion, if you have a very large room and play loudly then you need a lot of power, but for jazz in a normal room you are not going to be drawing large amounts of power constantly. I can't give guarantees but I would try it. After 15 minutes feel the heat sinks, if they are very hot you have a problem, if not go ahead.
xiekitchen
821 posts
 
Above post is correct, the 103.2 is not demanding to drive at all, 8 ohms will be fine with that amp. I have a pair of KEF 103.2's and I found them to have a very nice, polite, accurate tonal balance at the expense of volume and sensitivity.. you will not be able to play them loud. And should not, as the "computer" STOP circuit will cut in and reduce volume automatically... these are very inefficient and do not play loud at all (to my ears) but they do have good tonality. Don't worry about the tweeter "wrinkle" as mine have one too.
dmloring OP
34 posts
 
Thanks all for your responses. Greatly appreciated. I thought 8 ohm was more difficult to drive than 4 ohm; obviously shows how much I know.

I played around with the KEFs last night and hooked them up to the NAD 320BEE integrated amp, and the exposure CD player with some basic van den hul speaker cable and cheap interconnects. Very different sound than what I am used to from my arcam/exposure/wharfedale system. A larger soundstage than my current system, but extremely bright, fatiguing even (even my wife noticed it; and she thinks that there is no difference between a sony boombox and hifi...). Nothing sounded "wrong" or "broken" but the tweeter is very unforgiving to subpar recordings. I actually wondered if it was the exposure CD player (as that was the first time I had used it). I hooked up my old NAD entry-level 521i CD player and the sound became much warmer and less forward. Not as detailed, but surprisingly I think it might pair better with the KEFs than the Exposure CD player, despite the massive price difference between the 2 CD players.

The KEFs' speaker cable inputs are the size of pin-holes. The van den hul cable I have is exposed/bare wire at the connection points and it is very difficult to secure a connection with the speakers. Is there a pin or some type of speaker connection piece that I can put onto my bare speaker cables to make the connection more secure to the KEFs? Sorry if that makes no sense, I don't know all the terminology.

Thanks,
David
More to discover