The Model Four is the largest model in KEF's current Reference series of loudspeakers, discounting the R107/2 Raymond Cooke Special-Edition (reviewed in a follow-up in October '95). It's also the largest KEF model that uses their Uni-Q® loudspeaker configuration. When I visited the KEF factory last October with a group of audio journalists from the US, KEF emphasized the importance of Uni-Q technology to their future plans. They consider it proprietary, and intend to enforce the worldwide patents they hold on the design. One look at KEF's current line will be enough to tell you why they're so serious. Uni-Q drivers may be found not only in most of the Reference series, but in most of their other models as well. The most significant exceptions: the Raymond Cooke series, a few inexpensive models, and their THX-certified loudspeaker system.
Throughout the history of the animal kingdom, sounds have always been full of meaning. They provide valuable information on the whereabouts of prey and predator, the location of family, the intentions of friend and foe. Sound cues have always been as important as information obtained by scent and sight.
<B>Kevin Hayes: </B>Valve Amplification Company arose out of my dissatisfaction with the stereo gear I could buy. I've been an audiophile since before I knew what the word meant, going back to the mid-'70s. I had an epiphany when I first heard a piece of old tubed gear, a Fisher X101, that simply <I>blew away</I> a highly touted receiver that I happened to own. It was a 25W integrated amplifier, using 7591s on the output, and except for sustained organ-pedal notes, it was far better than what I had at that time.
<I>I love the sound of glowing glass,<BR> especially when I'm lonely.<BR> I love the nuances of emotion.<BR> It's nothing new, nothing new,<BR> The sound of glowing glass...</I> (with apologies to Nick Lowe)
When <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com//interviews/66/">J. Gordon Holt</A> founded <I>Stereophile</I> in 1962, it was very much the outsider. Compared with the mass-market magazine of which he had been Technical Editor, <I>High Fidelity</I>, Gordon's <I>Stereophile</I> was the very model of an "underground" publication, with a publication schedule as irregular as its production values were inconsistent. Its writing was from the heart, however.
Records To Die For creates one of two problems for the <I>Stereophile</I> writer: either she can't come up with the names of two (or, in the case of new writers, five) recordings of world-class music in world-class stereo sound, or he comes up with so many his hard-drive crashes trying to narrow down the choices.
At the 1994 Summer CES, I was sitting in ProAc's room listening to Vangelis's <I>Blade Runner</I> score, when a couple of guys walked in carrying a shiny black board. "This is pretty interesting stuff," one of them said. "Want to hear it?"
What a thankless task! No, <I>not</I> reviewing audio equipment (though the case could be made). I'm talking about preamplification in the digital age: who needs it? The EAD DSP 9000 MK3 digital processor I'm using includes an ingenious full-resolution digital-domain volume control accessible by remote control.
<I>Stuff that works, stuff that holds up/</I><BR><I>The kind of stuff you don't hang on the wall/</I><BR><I>Stuff that's real, stuff you feel/</I><BR><I>The kind of stuff you reach for when you fall.</I>