Bump, What ever happened? I had the R 107/2 for some years and it took a lot more $$$’s to find a pair that were an appreciable upgrade.
KEF Blade 2 as replacement for Reference 107/2
A former owner of KEF Reference 107/2s posted that he moved to Blades, and that it is the obvious progression. I really love the sound of my 107/2s, and John Atkinson and Tom Norton raved about them in their reviews a few decades ago, but I'm wondering if it's time to move on. I haven't heard either the Blade or Blade 2s. Anyone had the opportunity to compare 107/2s with Blade 2s? I've had a lot of opportunity to compare the sound of the 107/2s with LS50s supplemented by Velodyne HGS-10 subs. The LS50s are amazing speakers, but not quite 107/2s, especially for large orchestrations.
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@steve59 I see you are selling your Blades now. What are you keeping or replacing them with? I have 107's, Tannoy Arden's, and LS50's. Was all content but then I went to AXPONA. I really liked the Janszen A8-SE's, of all things. But would have to do another audition before I'd give up what I have. Plus the price of those Janszens (new) is as much as used Blades, which I have kind of lusted after... How did you find the Blades compared to the 107/2's? I do really like my 107's...especially for the money. Ridiculous Price:Performance ratio, IMHO. |
I’ve often regretted giving away the 107/2s. I did so because the KUBE wasn’t balanced, and I was moving to an all Ayre set up: DX-5 DSD, QX-5 Twenty, KX-5 Twenty, and VX-5 Twenty, that sounds best balanced. I replaced the 107/2s with Reference 1s, augmented with a pair of Velodyne HGS-15s with SMS-1 acoustic bass management and high-passed with a passive balanced Marchand filter. I’ve yet to hear Blade 2s or 207/2s. db |
ddunne83, I have the Blades and a pair of meridian dsp 8000 I bought the se upgrade for and I just have too much money into speakers right now, both are for sale on usam. I took a fixed amount of money and decided to try every speaker I could find at used prices I could resell at or close to what I paid for them and I’m trying everything I can.
The R107/2 has deep bass that avoids the midbass hump every other speaker design has, but the mid tweeter is slightly colored, my pair never had the ferrofluid replaced so that could have been the cause. The blades need more room around them and don’t go as deep, (my R107/2 measured down to 17 hz!) but the blade1 can pressurize a room just as well if not more down to 30 hz and decent output at 25. Both speakers xover at 350 hz but the blade takes more care in placement to get male vocals right, something that was so natural for the R107/2 to do. I agree the soundstage with the blades is amazing and again the tweeter is smoother while the midrange needs more care with placement. The Blades are more of a refined R105/3 than R107/2 and less of the traditional ’British’ sound of the Raymond Cooke days. |
@dbphd Blades around Santa Barbara are limited. The best bet would be the next Los Angeles show when the Blade Meta should show up. Excel Audio in Newport Beach had a pair of Blades a few years ago but I think they are sold now.
Wait a year and you can hear them at my place. |
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