Kef Blade or Kef Blade Two for bigger room

Blueskywalker,

There is no difference in the sound quality or coherence between the Blade 2 and the Blade, they are exactly the same loudspeakers with the exception of larger bass drivers in the Blade in larger cabinet.

The one thing you found out is the Blades are room dependent, we have the Blades in a 26 foot long by 20 foot wide room with 10 foot ceilings and the bass out of the Blades is excellent but not room shaking our main listening room is open to two other rooms so we are pressurizing around 1,000 sq feet.

We has the same pair of Blades in the 2012 New York Audio Show in the Waldorf Astoria in a similar sized room and the bass was just spectacular and the room felt completely energized, this room was completely sealed. 

Also any high performance loudspeaker should never be on a transporting roller as the speakers will be moving which can definatly affect bass response in a negative way.

The 9t should sound excellent with the Blades they do like a wamer amplifier.

We should the Blades with all Chord Reference electronics and the sound of this $150k system was one of the best at the 2012 New York Audio show we felt the $107k YG Sonjas were not better on Solution gear and that system was $400k plus.

The moral of the story is the Kef Blades offer remarkable performance for the money, when feed with good gear and setup carefully their performance envelope is very very high.

You should use Isoacoustics footers instead of the stock spikes for a very nice improvement.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ Kef Blade dealers

The only differences are the side-firing woofers, so maybe the crossover isn’t optional due to them being larger.  
 
The Blade and Blade 2 have the same bass response for +/-3dB, 40Hz, but the Blade states 28Hz at -6dB and the Blade 2 states 34Hz at -6dB.
  
Which ever you get, make sure to get room treatment, especially along the side walls, as the speakers have a huge nulls around 50°-70° and large peaks around 80°+, this is due to the side firing woofers.  
 
I would check out the Vivid Audio Oval B1 Decade. It also has the opposing bass woofers to cancel cabinet vibrations, is spec’d at 38Hz +/-2dB and 34Hz at -6dB. Also, since the woofers are firing front and back, it doesn’t have the peaks/nulls like the Blade and Blade 2 have. But then you would want some acoustic panels/bass traps/diffusers along the front wall.

I'd consider getting the Blade 2s since they're virtually identical from the lower bass on up, and with the $7000 saved I'd get two good subs and some form of sub integration system (i.e. DSpeaker, etc.). You'll get better and deeper, true full-range bass that should integrate with your room much better than fussing with how to place your two main speakers to integrate with your room. My guess is you'd be amazed at the improvements two good subs can make in so many ways, even with speakers as good as the Blades. And I agree, they're awesome speakers. I'd also consider some room treatments (at least a few bass traps) if you're not already using them, as properly integrated they can be transformative and likely resolve many of your bass issues while making speaker placement even easier. FWIW, and best of luck in whatever you decide.

Never heard the Blades but did hear the Blade Two's.  If I could afford them and had a larger room, I would buy them in a heartbeat.