Kef R Meta Series Release

[sigbergaudio]

this kind of bullshit has no place here! You cannot judge the sound of a speaker by ear like this.

But we cannot judge it by measurement alone either, so in reality it's pretty difficult to convey information about a speaker. We cannot rely entirely on measurements and we cannot rely entirely on subjective impressions. But possibly both have some merit?

 

[buz]

While measurements may not tell the entire story (for speakers anyway), I will much rather buy on the results from a klippel scan than based on audio poetry.

 

[Mnyb]

The video was kind of meaningless , we got some nice photos thou . It has entertainment value but not more.
Speaker is looking good.

It has one thing that makes it much better than some other videos . Thank god there is no sound demo part where your suposed to listen to the speaker recorded in room it's like watching a movie on the phone while friend is sitting in the theater recording it an absolutely useless idea that simply cant work.

 

[goat76]

While measurements may not tell the entire story (for speakers anyway), I will much rather buy on the results from a klippel scan than based on audio poetry.

You don't have to choose between measurements and reading subjective reviews, you can do both you know. If a speaker looks good in the spinorama but 10 different subjective reviews tell you they find the speakers have a somewhat bright sounding characteristic, will you completely ignore that information?

When you are about to buy something as expensive as a pair of HiFi speakers, why wouldn't you look for all the information you can before you decide which ones you want to demo or buy? You can choose to ignore the most "poetry-like" subjective reviews as much as you can choose to ignore measurements you find badly done or incomplete.

I often find real users' subjective reviews to be highly informative. I just try to ignore the new buyer's overexcited "honeymoon sexy time", but I put some extra attention to why someone decided to get rid of the speakers because they often mention something that I usually don't like with speakers as well.

 

[Daka]

this kind of bullshit has no place here! You cannot judge the sound of a speaker by ear like this.

Hence tagged “impression”
To judge a speaker I personally rely usually first on measurements plus impressions of people who listened and compared with other speakers I owned. If both look promising I will then demo in my room.
However I’ve pulled a trigger very quickly this time round lol.

What he says about ls50 meta I would agree - it’s still excellent speaker especially for its price. Btw he was absolutely delighted with KEF Reference 3 Meta. Unsurprisingly he doesn’t seem as excited with R7 Meta.

 

[Mnyb]

Weird thing is that he claims that Ref 3 is almost to big for his room but R7 is not ? these have similar sized drivers and distances between them , why would one be overwhelming but not the other , they seems acoustically similar even if one has more output capacity and can go louder and probably also cleaner and better ( you must get something for the $$ ref costs you )

 

[Mnyb]

Weird thing is that he claims that Ref 3 is almost to big for his room but R7 is not ? these have similar sized drivers and distances between them , why would one be overwhelming but not the other , they seems acoustically similar even if one has more output capacity and can go louder and probably also cleaner and better ( you must get something for the $$ ref costs you )

On the other hand it's subjective impressions by a youtuber . I put my foot in it myself sorry . it should not be considered information

 

[Absolute]

He JUDGES More expensive speakers in that room. Sad that KEF as a engineering company still needs subjective reviews to sell their products. Audiosciencereview should be the only one place they should really care.

In other words they shouldn't care about selling as many speakers as they can, just about bragging rights in a small corner of the internet?

To me a subjective impression is a data point. The more data points I have, the likelier I am to make good informed decisions. Not all data points are equally important or valid, but the recognition of trends is what keeps humanity alive.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Weird thing is that he claims that Ref 3 is almost to big for his room but R7 is not ? these have similar sized drivers and distances between them , why would one be overwhelming but not the other , they seems acoustically similar even if one has more output capacity and can go louder and probably also cleaner and better ( you must get something for the $$ ref costs you )

Driver size are similar… but the cabinet its much smaller for the r7, he can easily put the r11 in that space too

 

[Daka]

Weird thing is that he claims that Ref 3 is almost to big for his room but R7 is not ? these have similar sized drivers and distances between them , why would one be overwhelming but not the other , they seems acoustically similar even if one has more output capacity and can go louder and probably also cleaner and better ( you must get something for the $$ ref costs you )

This is not the first time I’ve heard it though - you do need big room for ref 3/5 - it’s because reference line has bigger extension - it’s not only about size of the woofer - reference uses much stronger neodymium magnets.
He doesn’t use dsp and we don’t see room treatment so I can see ref 3 overpowering room easily whereas R7 don’t extend that low and would work better in such conditions.

 

[pjn]

Weird thing is that he claims that Ref 3 is almost to big for his room but R7 is not ? these have similar sized drivers and distances between them , why would one be overwhelming but not the other , they seems acoustically similar even if one has more output capacity and can go louder and probably also cleaner and better ( you must get something for the $$ ref costs you )

Looking at the Kef manuals, the Reference speakers are designed for a larger room, with recommended placement well away from boundaries (1 m from side walls, vs 0.5 m for the R series). You certainly get some serious weight from the Reference series - they are nearly 2x as heavy as the equivalents in the R series)

 

[Mnyb]

Driver size are similar… but the cabinet its much smaller for the r7, he can easily put the r11 in that space too

This is not the first time I’ve heard it though - you do need big room for ref 3/5 - it’s because reference line has bigger extension - it’s not only about size of the woofer - reference uses much stronger neodymium magnets.
He doesn’t use dsp and we don’t see room treatment so I can see ref 3 overpowering room easily whereas R7 don’t extend that low and would work better in such conditions.

Looking at the Kef manuals, the Reference speakers are designed for a larger room, with recommended placement well away from boundaries (1 m from side walls, vs 0.5 m for the R series). You certainly get some serious weight from the Reference series - they are nearly 2x as heavy as the equivalents in the R series)

Ok then I take your words for until I can experience it myself

 

[MattHooper]

this kind of bullshit has no place here! You cannot judge the sound of a speaker by ear like this.

LOL.

This place, sometimes…..

 

[goat76]

LOL.

This place, sometimes…..

The unavoidable question is: What is the point of chasing better sound if we can never judge it by ear? Which senses are we trying to satisfy here?

 

[buz]

The unavoidable question is: What is the point of chasing better sound if we can never judge it by ear? Which senses are we trying to satisfy here?

Graphs of course.

 

[NTK]

The unavoidable question is: What is the point of chasing better sound if we can never judge it by ear? Which senses are we trying to satisfy here?

... by somebody else's ears, in somebody else's room, with or without somebody else's room EQ, using somebody else's music, through somebody else's musically taste, subjected to somebody else's priorities on the various audio quality attributes, under somebody else's mood at the time ...

 

[goat76]

Graphs of course.

Are we supposed to satisfy the graphs?

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

The unavoidable question is: What is the point of chasing better sound if we can never judge it by ear? Which senses are we trying to satisfy here?

Listen and enjoy the music lol, thing is you and I cannot judge, audiophiles loves to judge and thinks they got the best thing

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

There is a pic of the r7 and the ref3 together? I know both sprakers in person, and the difference is quite big

 

[goat76]

... by somebody else's ears, in somebody else's room, with or without somebody else's room EQ, using somebody else's music, through somebody else's musically taste, subjected to somebody else's priorities on the various audio quality attributes, under somebody else's mood at the time ...

I never put all my eggs in one basket. I read and watch everything I can find about the speakers I’m interested in, and make notes about trends, similarities, and nonsimilarities. If someone makes comparisons to other speakers I’m well aware of, and if the person seems to have a similar taste as me judged what he thinks of those speakers I know of.

If a friend of you (who you are well aware of his taste) say to you that a speaker have a bright sound, don’t you ever trust his judgement unless you hear it for yourself?
If 20 different person mention the exact same thing, don't you think it's a good chance that speaker truly have a bright sound?

The main characteristics of a speaker don't change in an extreme way from one room to another, it’s still the direct sound that is the main thing we hear, except for the lower frequencies.