A match made in Maidstone…
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In the late 1980s, KEF, then as now a leader in bringing new technology to loudspeaker design, developed a unique coincident driver that positioned the tweeter in the throat of the midrange/woofer cone. In a flash of inspiration, they dubbed it the Uni-Q, and the driver immediately not only found its way into the company's more upscale speaker designs, but also became a key element in a major European research project on room acoustics. That study's results appear to have been inconclusive, but the Uni-Q lives on as the defining element of KEF loudspeakers.
I also replaced the Integra pre-pro with my now-vintage but still pristine Jeff Rowland Design Group Consummate line-level analog preamplifier, driven by the analog outputs of the Marantz player.
The improvement in the bass was quite apparent. While the KEFs were still unlikely to satisfy headbangers, their bottom-end extension often surprised me. With Daft Punk's score for the film Tron Legacy (CD, Walt Disney D000567201), the KEFs certainly didn't sound like minimonitors with a pair of 6.5" drivers in a largish box thrown in for appearances. True, if you're familiar with how the gut-…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, four-driver, floorstanding loudspeaker with vented enclosure. Drive-units: Uni-Q coincident driver array with 1" (25mm) vented aluminum-dome tweeter and 5" (125mm) aluminum-cone midrange; two 6.5" (165mm) aluminum-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 500Hz, 2.9kHz. Frequency response: 42Hz–28kHz, ±3dB. Frequency range (–6dB): 37Hz–45kHz. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 3.2 ohms minimum. Harmonic distortion: <0.4%, second and third harmonic, at 90dB/m, 100Hz–20kHz. Amplification required: 25–200W.
Dimensions…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Marantz UD7006, Oppo BDP-105D universal players.
Preamplification: Jeff Rowland Design Group Consummate line preamplifier, Integra DTC-9.8 preamplifier-processor.
Power Amplifier: Parasound Halo A 51.
Loudspeakers: KEF R900, Monitor Audio Silver 10, Paradigm Monitor 11, Revel Performa3 F208; Hsu Research VTF-15H subwoofer.
Cables: Digital: Kimber AGDL coaxial (sources to pre-pro), AudioQuest Carbon HDMI (to pre-pro for SACD), TARA Labs Rectangular Solid Core (sources to preamp), Cardas Hexlink (preamps to power amp).…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the KEF R700's frequency response in the farfield with DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield response. All measurements were performed with the grille removed and with the twin ports' supplied foam plugs removed.
My estimate of the KEF R700's B-weighted voltage sensitivity was 87dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is 2dB lower than the specified 89dB/2.83V/m. KEF specifies the R700's impedance as 8 ohms with a minimum magnitude of 3.2 ohms. My own measurement (fig.1) shows that the minimum…
“There are no time signatures: the tempos and rhythms are always governed by either the heart rates or the breathing rates of the individual players…to enable the players to hear and play in sync with their own heartbeats, they wear stethoscopes.”
Uh huh
[This] “results in a delicate musical `pointillism.’
Oh yeah
“The idea is less about `performance’ in the traditional musical sense and more about attempting to translate directly into music the quiet internal rhythms of the body.”
Of course
There are records where one look at the cover art and…
A highlight for Stereophile editor John Atkinson at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show last January was auditioning GoldenEar’s new Triton One tower loudspeaker, which costs $4999.98/pair. On September 4, from 6–9pm, GoldenEar founder Sandy Gross will be presenting the Triton Ones at Gramophone, 8880 McGaw Road, Columbia MD 21045. RSVP to (410) 381-2100. Click here for more details on the Tritons—Robert Deutsch is working on a review of the Triton One, to be published in the New Year.
Toronto is turning into a happening place for audiophiles. The Toronto Audio Visual Entertainment Show being held October31–November 2, 2014, promises to be bigger and better in their new venue at the Sheraton Centre Hotel downtown. The Update TV & Stereo Elevated store, with a strong high-performance audio orientation, opened last spring in the Toronto suburb of Unionville. And now, Angie's Audio Corner, devoted to high end celebrated its second anniversary with the opening of the Annex Clearance Center in the coach house next to the main building, acting as a clearing house for used…
Debussy: Three Nocturnes; Jeux
Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Bernard Haitink conducting.
Philips ACD 400-023-2 (CD).
Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, Bernard Haitink conducting.
Philips ACD 400-023-2 (CD).
This is the first classical CD I have heard that was originally mastered on analog tape, and the sound is quite different from what I'm accustomed to hearing from the silver discs.
I had read so many critics' complaints about excessive background (tape) hiss from analog-mastered CDs that I was fully prepared to be appalled. I wasn't. Perhaps my speakers (Watkins WE-1s as of now) are smoother than what some other critics listen to, perhaps I prefer a…
He was a victim of his own success. From 1925 to 1929, when he was in his mid-20s, Louis Armstrong changed the world of jazz music forever with his Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings, and his solos in tunes like "Cornet Chop Suey," "Potato Head Blues," and "West End Blues." Almost immediately, however, he was faced with a question: Now what?
Like all great artists, Armstrong was immediately and forever asked to outdo his own masterpieces, to top himself creatively. No artist in any medium, including the Beatles, can stay on the cutting edge forever. For Pops, who moved the needle early,…