Kii Audio Three loudspeaker Page 2

The Limit Indicator might be of interest to some. Given the relatively small size of the Three's drivers and enclosure and the potency of its multiple amplifiers, it can be assumed that some users might run them at damaging levels. The designer, Bruno Putzeys, has implemented limiters based on multiple-intelligent-detection algorithms that predict when the incoming signal would be harmful to drivers or amps. He thinks it is "the most unintrusive limiter ever used in a playback device." I agree. In fact, I never turned on the Limit Indicator, because I didn't want that cue to bias my subjective assessment. At no point was I aware of the limiter's operation.

That said, I did sense a limit of how loud the Kii Threes would play. Putzeys explained:

"The average output in digital recordings varies between –4dB for a lot of modern pop and rock and –20dB for some audiophile recordings, especially classical. What other high-end systems do is simply put in so much gain that you can play quiet recordings ridiculously loud but the risk of what happens when they forget to take the volume down when playing something else is borne completely by the user! I don't find that an acceptable solution. So I set the input sensitivity such that a maximally loud signal replayed at 100 is the loudest the speaker can do (allowing excursion limitation for sub frequencies, of course). Normally speaking, good recordings will be mastered such that at least the loudest passage will actually hit full scale, give or take, which means that 100 is still as loud as the speaker will go and that ought to be plenty."

It was plenty—once I stopped trying to find the Kii Threes' limits and just paid attention to the music they made.

Le tout ensemble
With the Kii Control connected to the Baetis Prodigy X music server via S/PDIF and USB, I was able to do a little fine-tuning while sitting comfortably in my normal listening seat. I settled on a minimal attenuation with the >3kHz shelf filter, which removed a slight glint from the top end. My visual bias goaded me into bumping up the bass ever so slightly from 300Hz down, but ultimately I rejected that and left the bass set flat.

917kii.3.jpg

Now I'll try to disregard all the above and deal with these unusual speakers as if I know nothing about their underlying technology.

As is my usual procedure, I cued up all my favorite recordings. All of them, including the many that I love to a fault and more than a few that I love to fault, sounded better than ever.

Let's first dispense with issues of bass. I've long prized a recording of Mendelssohn's Organ Sonatas, performed by Thomas Murray on the E. & G.G. Hook instrument in the sanctuary of the First Religious Society, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (CD, Raven OAR-390). The fourth movement of the Sonata in F is my go-to for low-frequency articulation and extension. You may be incredulous to hear—I was—that the Kii was entirely satisfying in delineating the descending pedal notes. In fact, I found the Kii's ability to convey the sensation of a single throbbing column of air rather than a seemingly louder but more diffuse and indiscriminant growl to be almost unique. It was the kind of performance not ordinarily possible in a typical listening room, and for which one usually turns to a well-placed, well-equalized subwoofer.

But that was more of a party trick compared to listening to the more usual instruments, voices, and ensembles on which the bulk of musical enjoyment is built. For reasons that now escape me, I played "It's Now or Never," from Elvis Presley's 24 Karat Hits! (SACD/CD, RCA Living Stereo/Analogue Productions CAPP 2040 SA). After I'd savored the broad but somewhat foreshortened soundstage of the intro, Elvis's entry startled me with its presence. Sibilants were sufficient and natural, and I felt in the presence of the warmth of his open voice.

Even more than Elvis (!), baritone Matthias Goerne appeared in almost spooky verisimilitude from a recording of early Mahler songs orchestrated by Luciano Berio, accompanied by Josep Pons and the BBC Symphony (SACD/CD, Harmonia Mundi HMC 902180). I've been familiar with Goerne's voice a long time, and it has warmed and deepened over the years. Now he seemed to be in my room, about 4' farther from me than the Kii Threes, the orchestra behind him and extending back from there. Also on this disc is a good performance of Berio's Sinfonia for Eight Voices and Orchestra, whose complexity is almost surgically revealed. For drama, however, I'll stick with the recording by Peter Eötvös leading the London Voices and the Gothenburg Symphony (CD, Deutsche Grammophon 0289 477 5380 3). They come at the listener with Schwung and range, and were even more engaging through the Kii Threes.

I had similar responses to John Hammond's Rough & Tough (SACD/CD, Chesky SACD346), and Christina Pluhar and L'Arpeggiata's La Tarantella: Antidotum Tarantulae (SACD/CD, Alpha SA503). I chose them because they lack any center-channel solo/voice content, and playing them in stereo should affect only soundstage depth and spread. The Chesky is a 4.0-channel recording; in two-channel with the Kiis, Hammond's voice had added bite. La Tarantella is 5.0-channel, but the center channel carries only ambience. In two-channel stereo with the Kii Threes, the interplay of voices and instruments was disarmingly natural, with complexity and depth. With either recording, the soundstage lacked only the widely lateral contribution that would come from having rear speakers.

Returning from Seurat's Circus Sideshow, a recent exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that included artworks preceding, inspired by, and otherwise related to Seurat's 1887–88 masterpiece, Parade de cirque, I was inspired to listen to Satie's 1917 ballet score, Parade. My choice was the recording by Antál Dorati and the London Symphony (CD, Mercury Living Presence 434 335-2). I'd listened to this track once before, but through the Kii Threes the performance and sound were simply stunning, and lived up to my vague but happy memories of the 1967 LP (Mercury Living Presence SR90435). Strikingly revealed were the intricate wind and string scoring, interspersed with outbursts from the brass and spiced up with a typewriter!

But could the Kii Three deal with the really big stuff? Yes, the Threes proved perfect for impressing my friends with Rimsky-Korsakov's Dance of the Tumblers, in the recording by Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra (SACD/CD, Reference RR-71SACD). The dynamic range was huge, the explosions of brass and percussion had almost palpable impact, and the soundstage was spacious. Did you notice that almost? I chose the word not to imply a limitation, but to acknowledge that many listeners will not have heard this recording of a bass drum without a room boom that conveys the physical impact while blurring the sound. Through the Threes, it sounded like a real bass drum.

917kii.family.jpg

Comparisons and Considerations
Comparing the Kii Three to non-DSP speakers is difficult—the latter are co-opted by their rooms and placements, to say nothing of the possibility of external DSP. Ignoring all that, the Kii Threes were competitive with any speaker I've heard in my listening room. They produced a bigger soundstage and more midrange transparency than Focal's Sopra No3s, though the latter offered greater harmonic weight and more center-stage focus. If I use Dirac Live equalization to correct my room's sound, my current reference speakers, the Bowers & Wilkins Diamond 802 D3s, don't sound much different from the Kii Threes, but the correction makes for a smaller sweet spot with the B&Ws. Without EQ, the 802 D3s are a little brighter in the highs and, in the upper bass, have just a bit of warmth due to placement and room acoustics. The audible effect of a Dirac Live calibration with the Kii Threes was inconsequential.

In a way, the only valid comparison was with B&O's BeoLab 90, a much larger, much more expensive ($84,990/pair) powered speaker with DSP that is theoretically capable of much greater output levels than the Kii Three. However, in my room (see below), the Threes didn't lack for SPLs, and were certainly easier to set up and live with.

A pair of Kii Threes, the Kii Control, and a truly high-quality server—such as the Baetis Prodigy X running JRiver Media Center or Roon—would constitute an almost perfect audio system with a minimal room presence. I haven't gone that route because the Kiis aren't yet easy to integrate into a multichannel system: You can feed them individual analog signals, but not multichannel, high-resolution digital. In addition, the 90ms latency of the optimal Exact setting makes it hard to integrate them with other, more conventional speakers. All of this may change—the Kii contains a WISA interface that is inherently compatible with hi-rez, wireless multichannel communications. But the Kii Three could never be my reference loudspeaker. I couldn't assess separates—speakers, amplifiers, processors—if my reference speakers already included all of those components.

Conclusions
The Kii Audio Three is an outstanding loudspeaker. However, it took a bit of getting used to—in addition to visual bias, under all but the most ideal situations each of us is adapted to the effect of his or her room on the sound. While I was struck by the transparency of the Kii Threes' soundstaging and transparency, freed as they are from most acoustical influences, the result was somewhat surreal. I found myself groping for explanations that apply more to conventional speakers: What happened to the warmth? Isn't it a bit bright? Is there a midrange suckout? Are the rear-mounted drivers spraying sound out the back to be washed back at me from the front wall?

There was none of that. The Kii Three didn't just lift a veil away from the music—it removed a heavy cloak.

COMPANY INFO
Kii Audio GmbH
US distributor: GTT Audio & Video
356 Naughright Road
Long Valley, NJ 07853
(908) 850-3092
ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
tonykaz's picture

It is, isn't it?

$15,000 +/-

Not a good fit for tweekie Audiophiles ( like many of us )

But, I could easily live with this solution, I think, I know my Wife could!

Deep power down to 30 Hz, phew

Where do we send it when it needs repair ?

Will it survive the humid environment of Florida ?

Tony in Michigan

ps. I loved the Meridian M-2 Active Loudspeakers when I owned them ( back in 1985 )

Kal Rubinson's picture

Why is Tony from Michigan concerned about the humid environment of Florida? Just curious.

tonykaz's picture

I'm moving South

Can't handle the Ice

Considering the Alum. Generic with DSP

and

Now these lovely Kii speakers that my wife could operate.

Thanks for writing and asking,

I like your reviewing.

Tony in Michigan

Kal Rubinson's picture

Thanks. On the serious side, I don't think they would be any more affected by the humidity than any other system. On the other hand, such a level of integration means that, if any part is affected, you cannot just swap in a spare while that part is repaired.

tonykaz's picture

Well, thanks again for writing

Seems like much of our technology stuff (including Cars ) are dependent on Manufacturers supporting their products.

Typically, the Germans are best at this category of customer support.

Here in the States, we manufacturers abandon Service after about 5 years of product life.

Thank you for taking the time to evaluate this device, Kii's CEO claims it to be compatible with 5.1 ! , which would've made an even more revealing review.

Tony in Michigan

Kal Rubinson's picture

Well, I did ask about multichannel, I searched all the documentation for it and the manufacturer did not offer to dispute my statement, so it must have been a secret. Where did you find this out?

Oh well, perhaps it is an opportunity.

tonykaz's picture

Their CEO spoke about the Speaker's design at the Introductory Showing. It's in a Video that I found on Google while looking for Bruno videos that the Kii people recommended I search for.

Anyway, the individual loudspeakers are designed to daisy chain together for multi-channel. ( even two speakers are multi-channel )

Tony in Michigan

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

You can indeed daisy chain more Kii THREEs with the included CAT5 cables and control volume from one Kii CONTROL. We have tested seven so far.

Kii AUDIO

Kal Rubinson's picture

Details? Does one feed the CONTROL with multichannel via USB?

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

Hi Kal,
In a multichannel setup you feed the signals to the speakers directly via a multichannel processor as the TRINNOV or alike. This can be done analog or digital - the Kii CONTROL then functions as the volume control for all speakers.

Thank you for the "refreshing" and very precise review of the Kii THREEs.

Kii Audio

c1ferrari's picture

"While I was struck by the transparency of the Kii Threes' soundstaging and transparency,...the result was somewhat surreal."

Indeed...interesting loudspeakers -- a worthwhile audition. Thanks for the review.

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

Hello all,

there is a service centre in the USA - Grace Design in Lyons CO handles repairs for the Americas.

All the best and thanks a lot for reading and taking the time to listen to the Kii THREE.

Kii Audio

tonykaz's picture

Thank you for responding.

The theme of this month's Stereophile is a worrisome philosophy concerning the lack of serviceability, see the Lead Storyline "As We See It" by the Editor, a Mr.Art Dudley.

We all should be concerned with this aspect, shouldn't we?

As an Industrialist myself and having some knowledge of Germanic traits of Best Build Quality and Endless Serviceability, I might suggest that some mention of the Kii Company's 'long-view' intentions are in order. This is the primary reason we Yanks buy and love our Festool, BMW, Leica, etc.

I'd love to see a Factory Tour and a detailed Video of how these Three are made and perhaps read a story about how this Company got started and venture financed. I think you have a darn good story that needs telling, bashfulness is not a valuable trait.

Thanks again,

Tony in Michigan

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

Hi Tony,

If you are on Facebook please have a look inside our production facilities here:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/KiiAudioHiFi/photos/?tab=album&album_id=142944526244430

Also you might want to google our CTO Bruno Putzeys who is kind of famous in the audio industry.

Have fun

tonykaz's picture

Hello Kii people, again,

I did just have a closer look at your new factory plant and a I watched a few of the videos featuring Bruno Putzeys & your CEO doing introductions to this fascinating technology you are starting to deliver to the Audio Industry.

Which doesn't seem like anything new to the Engineering World.

I'm impressed with your application of Phased Arrays for the Home Audio folks & the incredibly small dimensions of your transducer system.

Audiophiles here in the 'States' have focused on keeping Vinyl alive while refining Digital Playback.

You intelligent lads in Europe are making applause worthy advancements in music reproduction.

I'm becoming rather excited to audition your designs.

You seem to be a legitimate group of capable industrialists & designers.

Looks like we now have a better 'Mouse Trap'.

Tony in Michigan

Scott R's picture

I'm curious how this system compares with the Devialet Phantom, which could be purchased for $4k for their entry-level Silver system.

intouch1's picture

cant be compared....difference is night and day.
I have both....Phantoms are mid-fi while the Kii`s really are great sounding monitors. I own Maxx3's, Sasha's, Focal Stella Utopias, Scala Utopias and Diablo Utopias....The Kii's combine traits of the best of them...and up them in sheer resolution and imaging. Surely cant have the scale of the Maxx3 but these require larger rooms.

Kal Rubinson's picture

I am curious about this, too. However, I have never(!) been able to hear the Devialets under anything but awful acoustical conditions. Needless to say, they sounded awful. Until I get a decent demo somewhere, I am unconvinced that it would be worth my time and effort to review them.

Is that fair? (I hope that someone from Devialet sees this.)

sasami's picture

There was talk of Kii two and four from Bruno Putzeys. Especially Kii four supposed to be half the size of three still able to dive down 30Hz!! While two is floor stand Kii. Also I heard about a full size "Kii control" with even more digital input via module base inputs and DSP base phono stage similar to Mola Mola Makua. I would also like to see steamer build for Kii for complete solution.

DH's picture

I bought these based on an extensive in store audition.
Kal R. wrote a thorough review that accurately reflects the capabilities of these speakers.

I'd simply stress the amazing clarity of reproduction these bring to the table. It is unlike other systems you've heard - and makes you realize that everything you heard before had a sort of fuzz added to the sound.
In my room I'm getting bass extension down to 20 hz with about a 1.5 db roll off, and very significant, but more rolled off output at 10hz.

BTW, Kal, good to know that adding DRC with these is pretty pointless. Thanks for saving me the cost and time involved to to try it.

avanti1960's picture

nice unique design and appears to be of extremely high build quality. with 750 active watts per channel no chance they will have a "small" sound!
i am surprised that the tweeters see 250 watts- usually active systems supply the tweeters wattage in proportion to the demands of their bandwidth.
no surprise that clarity and transparency are in big supply- this is one area where the class D Ncore amplifier modules truly shine when compared to other amplifier topologies.
well done, i am looking forward to hearing them!

-tony, chicago area

sasami's picture

Actually it is 1500w per channel. 250w ncore amplifier per driver. There is also 40 bit DAC per dirver, i.e. 6 DAC per channel.

Just image having DSP to process EQ and cross over send to 12 40bit DACs to 12 ncore 250w mono block to 12 drivers. That is what Kii three is.

I remember in Munich show a Vivid Giya G1 driven by Trinnov's digital active crossover system. Kii is just that in a small box.

Onwatershipdown's picture

I heard them last November at my third annual attendance of NYAS. Before hearing them, my ear-brain was always most pleasantly stimulated by Harbeth MK40.x and SHL5. Volti Audio Showings also really pleased me... and Vinnie Rossi units when paired with any of these were pure magic.

But the Kiis made me forget everything else while I was in room with them. Listened to Waits and Krall (shoot me for being basic) and I forgot about soundstaging, micro, macro, frequency response... nothing stood out except what I was listening to. Honestly the most seductive part of the Kiis is their austerity. As I take steps to simplify and declutter my own surroundings, I'm looking at my Hifi rack with a bit of a side eye these days... do I really need an endless insatiable wish list of rotating boxes that only fulfill part of the equation each? ( Another reason I am considering the Lio to pair with my Druids) I would boldly say that these are THE speakers for anyone like-minded where you're looking for great sound and are ready to drop the nervosa from the audiophilia. It's the next step from the one-box solution, but sounds better than any one-box, I've yet to hear... or seperates for that matter. And for value... to get close to these in performance with anything else I've mentioned, you're going to spend more.

tonykaz's picture

Taking typical Loudspeakers outdoors, performance falls flat.

The Directed low frequencies of these Kii Threes just might make an ideal Patio System.

Any comments Kii ? , or anyone else ?

They certainly aren't too heavy or awkward, are they?

Tony in Michigan

Kal Rubinson's picture

It depends on you. I had some trouble moving them around on the stands within my room only because of the spikes and carpet. OTOH, moving them over a greater distance, I would separate stands from speakers since they are not bolted to each other and I would be quite careful since the drivers are not protected by grilles and are on many sides.

tonykaz's picture

I'm thinking about this design and how versatile it could be.

I could put them on little roller carts and have some protective coverings to keep em safe.

I suppose it depends on how good they actually prove to be. I never would've brought one of my Big Sound Systems out on the Patio to play a Piano Concerto, they all would've been part of a Room Tuned & very Fixed arrangement. ( 'Live' End / 'Dead' End , and of course a very limited Ambient Sound Level of about 25 db. and weighing in like your B&W 802s or like the B&W 801's I was so fond of; heavy stuff.

The descriptions I read about the Three is that it can project low frequencies without the assist of 6 or 9 db. boost from walls and/or corners, almost like a Parabolic Reflector with 8 db. of forward gain. Hmm. I like what I'm reading.

I'll re-read your report to see if I get the same understanding; the second time thru. I'll also have a look-see at the 6-Moons report ( again ).

You lads might be onto something pretty good. Fingers crossed.

Are you aware that Kii people are referring to the Three as performing with the capabilities of a 2 Meter Square Inclosure?

Tony in Michigan

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

Hi Tony,

we are indeed using the Kii THREEs for our outdoor barbeque parties and it works great...crossing over ultra high-end reproduction with PA directivity...

Mathematical dispersion model: 2m x 2m in wall soffit mounted. So if you ever wanted to own a huge system here it is - without the physical size that is...
Just listen and you will "see"

Kii Audio

HammerSandwich's picture
Quote:

2m x 2m in wall soffit mounted

How do the 2m x 2m dimensions apply here? Wouldn't the same drivers in, for example, a 1m x 1m baffle work the same once mounted in the wall?

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

Hi,

thats not quite how it works...one needs to part ways with the size/dispersion ratio thinking of passive speakers or active non-DSP ones. The Kii THREEs produces a so called "virtual baffle" of 2m - 2m size...Some Physics: All frequencies down from 200 Hz (and thats where all fundamental information of music takes place) are dispersed omni directionally around a loudspeaker. This is the oldest problem everyone is having in consumer HiFi because it causes all sorts of reflections in you room...resulting in boomy undefinded fundamentals and exciting the rooms nodes aso. Now Bruno has designed the Kii THREEs to also get rid of that problem by creating a socalled Cardioid System that only fires to the front...Back and side walls dont come into play at all, resulting in the cleanness and precision Kal is writing about so correctly. The Kii THREEs can be put up to three (3) Inches to a wall or in a corner without them acoustically "seeing" these boundary surfaces...

HammerSandwich's picture

Thank you for the clarification; that makes more sense to me: the Kii has the bass dispersion of a 2m x 2m baffle, not flush in an infinite baffle. This matches other things I've read about the K3 - namely that it becomes omnidirectional below ~80Hz (& behaves as a DXT mini-monitor above ~700Hz).

Cardioid behavior over the middle 3 octaves (exactly where you want it) is a great accomplishment! I look forward to hearing these speakers one day.

Les's picture

This does seem to be a genuine advancement. (How refreshingly rare!) And the price seems more than reasonable (in the realm of high-end audio), considering all that it entails. Quite impressed! BUT, I find the design a bit lacking... It's a personal call, but I think they would look much better without the metal facia. Just a pure look of the drivers on high-gloss body would look far more elegant, in my opinion. The metal plate with its screws gives it a rather chintzy look, I think.

Tommy Antonsen's picture

Hi Kal, just a few quick questions;

In the review you mention that Dirac Live with Kii was "inconsequential". What do you mean by that? I'm asking because I have Kii myself but are struggling with some strong modes- the strongest one at around 40hz, and was contemplating buying Dirac to attack those issues.

And since nobody has asked yet, would you deem the likes of Dynaudio C20, C1, Sonus Faber Olympica 1, Extrema, Focal Sopra No1 and the likes of this world to be in the same league of the Three's - disregarding the all-in-one solution and focusing only on the quality of the sound?
Or would you say this, finally, represents a solid step forward?

Greetings from Norway.

Kal Rubinson's picture

1. If your room has a particular characteristic problem, I would guess that Dirac Live would be very useful. I have two large diaphragm corner traps that handle an annoying mode.

2. I have not had any of those speakers in my room, so I can only speculate that, unless one had a proper top-shelf EQ, I would prefer the Kii.

MacProCT's picture

I heard these at the NY audio show 2016 and they were the most amazing compact speaker I've ever heard. Yes the Devialet Phantom is impressive sounding but it's a dazzling sound, not an audiophile sound. The Kii Three is a true audiophile speaker.... but with the kind of lively dynamics that I love and find essential for convincing reproduction.

Richard D. George's picture

RMAF 2017?

Particularly being based in Colorado?

Jason Victor Serinus's picture

At this moment, neither GTT Audio nor any of its brands is listed as exhibiting at RMAF 2017. I would contact Bill Parish at GTT Audio to confirm. 1-908-850-3092
av@gttaudio.com

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

Hi - we did the show in 2015 but it got crazy in 2016 when they wanted to put exhibitions in a tent on the parking lot outside the hotel...so decision was made to not join this Year. For Colorado residents we would suggest getting in contact with Bill PArish at GTT for a personal home demo.

All the best
Kii AUDIO

tnargs's picture

Where is the (usually infamous on most audio sites) white paper showing measurements of how the principles work and how they correlate with delivering what research tells us listeners prefer?

Kii Audio GmbH's picture

Hi, please go to the news section on our website and download the AUDIO Review from August 2015 in the english version - it contains a lot of technical insights and measurement plots.
http://www.kiiaudio.com/en/press.html

All the best
Kii AUDIO

Carl4130's picture

I'm one of those lucky people that owns a pair.
For years (25) I spent buying/upgrading/swapping to the point where I had a tower of Class A with Transports, Dac, Cables coming out of my ears and a very large hifi footprint,

As the years pass by and life changes, I was finding myself listening to less and less to music since it was like powering up mission control - I recognised that Houston had a problem at the beginning of 2017.

I do remember that I visited the Premier London Devialet store in January, which was an indication of my intent to go digital and simple.
The Devialet's, and I only listened to their Top End pair, The Golds ? or something like that were terrible, just terrible. Was this the end of the road ? ... was this as good as it was going to get for what I wanted ?

I can't remember how I happened upon the Kii's, really can't, the Google search term or anything but I must have certainly caught one of the You Tube videos and one thing led to another.

I've been living with them for almost 2 months now, streaming Tidal with a Lumin U1 server. I have the Kii control (for room correction only) and they are sat on a pair of Townshend podiums.
Send them music from Tidal and they switch on, perfect.

For anybody thinking about them, absolutely trial a pair.

Iansr's picture

Kal, you mention that the Kii 3 is easier to live with, but I'm curious, setting aside the admittedly huge difference in price, how do you think the 3 compares sonically to the 90? Is the 90 significantly better?

petewilson's picture

Just a quick note to say that for reasons of domestic rearrangement, I needed to move my original B&W 800D's into a much smaller space. Hooked 'em up (with a pair of bi-amped PSA Stellar 300's) and Dirac'd them and lo! it all sounded pretty good.

But the damn things were much too big (visually) for the room. And so I looked around for a while, and decided that the Kii Three's looked a pretty damn perfect fit (I have a pair of Celestial SL6i's, and these things are the same size, except being twice as deep). So I contacted Bill Parish of GTT, and we came to a deal, and I installed the Kii Three's and - well, gosh.

The major first impact is o my goodness the bass sounds right (play Mino Cinelu - Moun Madinia, on his album entitled Mine Cinelu). ooo lovely.

They sounded a bit bright/harsh to begin with, but were behaving as Kal says after a week or two. And I concur - Dirac Live makes a difference technically, as does a DSPeaker (which I bought for the country cottage), but I can't say it sounds any better with Dirac Live.

System is Linn LP12 (hardly altered) into a PS Audio Nuwave Phono Converter (recommended!) which feeds 24/96 into a discontinued Nuforce AVP 18 digital preamp (because the MiniDSP doesn't have enough inputs and because the AVP 18 handles HDMI), which feeds the MiniDSP Dirac Live box, which directly drives the Kii's. Oppo 103 hooks into Nuforce, as does the evil satellite box for TV etc, as does a Mac mini holding the music library using BitPerfect, hooked up by SPDIF. The MiniDSP box happily provides a volume control, else I'd have needed a Kii Control, too.

Just my two cents. Very pleased with the product, and the service from GTT

-- P

c1ferrari's picture

Hello Kii Audio,

Should Kii Audio monitor -lol - this thread, would the company comment on the rumored Kii Two and Kii Four?

Thanks for the attention.

itsfred's picture

This has been an interesting discussion of the Kii speakers. I just wanted to mention that Dynaudio also has a worthy entry in this new product category - their Focus 20 XD at half the price of the Kii's. JVS reported favorably on an earlier version - the 200 XD's - and JA was impressed with the test findings. I am really enjoying them in my rig, simply fed by a Sonore MicroRendu streamer. They do not seem to offer the truly intense tech spec of the Kii's but they sure do sound good!

Jan Kuypers bis's picture

You wrote: “At the risk of offending nearly every designer and manufacturer of loudspeakers, I think we have not seen anything really new in a long time.”
And the Kii three’s are that new thing. I’ve heard them and if I were in the market for new speakers, I would buy them. I was finally listening to music, not a system, just like some other readers/ listeners mentioned.
And now there is this new company in Belgium and they have a speaker where the woofer has electromagnetic suspension, no spider and no surround. Imo, that is something really new. I only have been reading about it (in Dutch), but the review was extremely positive. Here’s a link to their site: https://www.ilumnia.be/. The site’s in English.
I don’t know if they’re in Vegas or have a representative in the US, but if you want something new, here it is. Check it out!

Yours sincerely,

Jan

kerryharp1's picture

Was able to hear this system at the 2017 LSAF, and, perhaps they weren't properly dialed in, but, thought it was one of the worst sounding rooms at the show. After just a few minutes of listening I couldn't get out of that room quick enough.

Noah Katz's picture

Just learned about these; I had heard of Kii but just assumed (big mistake) that it was just another tweaky non-science-based product.

Anyway, isn't the same objective of the active wave focusing (avoiding delayed reflections) achieved by in-wall or shallow on-wall speakers, which is what Lyngdorf advises.

X