Front-end equipment used in this review included a Lexicon CP-3 Plus surround processor, EAD DSP-7000 D/A processor, Sony CDP-X779ES CD player, Sony DTC-2000ES DAT recorder, SOTA Cosmos turntable with vacuum hold-down, The Well Tempered Arm, and the Ortofon MC-3000 cartridge and its mating step-up transformer. Video equipment consisted of a Pioneer CLD-97 laserdisc player, Ampro 2000 video projector with the Dwin LD-2 line doubler, and a Stewart 6'-diagonal projection screen. Audio interconnects were Monster M-1000s, and the front loudspeaker cables were AudioQuest Emeralds.
My initial listening to the KEFs was done with a Boulder 500AE stereo power amplifier feeding the front channels and a Boulder 250AE feeding the surrounds. I then listened for some weeks to a six-channel Parasound HCA-1206 THX power amplifier. (The amps were similar but not identical. The Parasound was a shade laid-back in comparison with the 500s and a little drier at the high end. Since neither was feeding bass, I was unable to compare them there.)
Software consisted of two DAT compilations I had digitally copied from recent laserdiscs and CDs, several Classic Records RCA Living Stereo LP re-releases, a variety of old, older, and oldest LPs, and some live-performance DAT recordings (symphonic and chamber works) made locally by Steven Stone and myself.—J. Gordon Holt
 | |||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||
COMMENTS
Wow, things were interesting in 1996. You could still get a critical review, and manufacturer response, back then. Should we take this posting to mean that Stereophile will actually be reinstating critque inplace of marketing?
I was lucky enough to audition the passive version of this combination back in the mid 90's with Proceed Amps and the sound was beyond amazing, the salesperson was displaying the movie Twister, it felt like you were in a tornado the only drawback was the price at the time.
still use them at least 3-5 times a week. Got them from a kef dealer in 2000 for $600, they were demo speakers from kef. They even threw in a "KEF The experience of sound" sign
| Loudspeakers Amplification Digital Sources | |
Analog Sources Accessories Featured | |
Music Columns Retired Columns | |
Show Reports | |
Features Latest News Community | |
Resources Subscriptions |
© 2024 Stereophile
