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.

db
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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.

yyzsantabarbara -- I'll take you up on that offer.

I never actually tried the R107/2s with the Ayre setup, because I had had a poor experience inserting a Bryston high-pass filter between the preamp and amp, and I was admonished not to put anything between them because of the zero-negative feedback used in Ayre designs.  R107/2s rely on the KUBE.

db

I also never compared the R107/2s with the R1s except with a length time gap.  Anyone do a closer comparison and if so what are your thoughts.

 

db

I went through an extensive restoration on a 107/2 in rosewood. I found a Kube, recapped everything, built a power supply, serviced the drivers. I’m using old Mitsubishi seperates with them for a spell. Their remarkable. Never sell. No matter what system drives them, there beautiful.