KEF Blade 2 Meta review by Erin's Audio Corner

[amper42]

Is it an accident that Erin's reviews keep getting republished on ASR? It seems like Erin is getting free promotion on ASR for his for-profit enterprise. I don't know how @amirm feels about ASR bandwidth being siphoned off for Erin's promotions. It seems out of place to me. Maybe no one else views that as an issue? To me, it's like the owner of the auto repair company across the street is consistently arranging for the distribution of his flyers on my customer's vehicle windshields while they are in for repair at my shop. I'm a little surprised this is acceptable. @amirm has a lot more patience than the normal website owner.

 

[Descartes]

Does KEF use Klippel to measure their own speakers ?

The gave anechoic chambers, there is a video on YouTube about the way they manufacture the KEF Blades 2 meta

They use five of them!!

 

[restorer-john]

Why is it that when expensive speakers are reviewed, people start fighting over the reviewers or the people involved in the speaker companies?

Because they have vested financial and often emotional interests and naturally remain loyal to one camp or another.

At the core of it, humans are tribal, and no matter how "evolved" we think we are, it all comes down to territorial disputes, just like the animals.

 

[restorer-john]

Is it an accident that Erin's reviews keep getting republished on ASR? It seems like Erin is getting free promotion on ASR for his for-profit enterprise. I don't know how @amirm feels about ASR bandwidth being siphoned off for Erin's promotions. It seems out of place to me. Maybe no one else views that as an issue? To me, it's like the owner of the auto repair company across the street is consistently arranging for the distribution of his flyers on my customer's vehicle windshields while they are in for repair at my shop. I'm a little surprised this is acceptable. @amirm has a lot more patience than the normal website owner.

He was a valued member here for a long time, before going out on his own, so to speak.

We all wished him the best in his endeavours, but I agree, the constant posting of everything he reviews, the minute the review is done (or before) on ASR by certain members is definitely out of place.

 

[Somafunk]

We all wished him the best in his endeavours, but I agree, the constant posting of everything he reviews, the minute the review is done (or before) on ASR by certain members is definitely out of place.

Is it an accident that Erin's reviews keep getting republished on ASR?

As far as I’m aware this is a Hifi/audio forum?, it’s little wonder that his reviews are interesting

 

[MattHooper]

Is it an accident that Erin's reviews keep getting republished on ASR? It seems like Erin is getting free promotion on ASR for his for-profit enterprise. I don't know how @amirm feels about ASR bandwidth being siphoned off for Erin's promotions. It seems out of place to me. Maybe no one else views that as an issue? To me, it's like the owner of the auto repair company across the street is consistently arranging for the distribution of his flyers on my customer's vehicle windshields while they are in for repair at my shop. I'm a little surprised this is acceptable. @amirm has a lot more patience than the normal website owner.

I'm curious about that.

As I understand it, Amir has said this site hasn't been about making money, it's about discussing and promoting fact-based discussions on audio gear. Is that supposed to be proprietary somehow - only facts derived from whatever Amir tests? Or are any facts welcome to be discussed? People have been citing different reviews quite often on the forum - it's extremely common to see Stereophile reviews and measurements cited here for commentary or to include data in a conversation. (And also citing off-site research on audio).

Erin is producing some of the best data available for many speakers - most of which we will not see here. So is it out of bounds to discuss that data here? Why exactly?

I'm not necessarily proposing my own view, I'm not sure what my view is. Just wondering what the general thinking is on this.

 

[restorer-john]

So is it out of bounds to discuss that data here? Why exactly?

Playing devil's advocate again?

 

[Sokel]

I too lazy to count but it seems that most posts are about price,ethics,gossip and stuff.
Last time I checked thought this was a measurement oriented forum and blades were a highly wanted-to-see-measurements speaker.

They delivered for their intended purpose and that's it in my book,I have to admit it even if it's not my cup of tea judging by the bigger one I listened too.


Maybe we should reconsider to where this thread is going?It already feels like it lucks class and feels uncomfortable.

 

[thewas]

Is it an accident that Erin's reviews keep getting republished on ASR?

Definitely not an accident, the truth is that not that I am interested to share interesting loudspeaker measurements instead of some inaudible little 100+ SINAD boxes which get an "update" every 6 months or loudspeakers that are long discontinued and didn't even interest anyone when they were sold, but that I am getting money from Erin so we both can get heavily discounted Blades from KEF because of the shill advertisement we both do for them.

We all wished him the best in his endeavours, but I agree, the constant posting of everything he reviews, the minute the review is done (or before) on ASR by certain members is definitely out of place.

When I joined ASR I appreciated your technical posts a lot, but lately I see mainly just spitting poison and bile instead of being helpful and if some posting is out of place in this thread it is your, sorry John.

 

[MattHooper]

Playing devil's advocate again?

Honestly curious.

Stereophile reviews and data are cited here all the time. Do you believe those should be verboten? I'm wondering exactly what line you'd be drawing in terms of citing reviews, especially if the data is informative.

 

[MAB]

He was a valued member here for a long time, before going out on his own, so to speak.

We all wished him the best in his endeavours, but I agree, the constant posting of everything he reviews, the minute the review is done (or before) on ASR by certain members is definitely out of place.

Erin's reviews and the speakers he tests are valid topics.
I think his reviews have some merit. And he does test some speakers I find interesting, so it compliments the tests I see here.
I 100% disagree that it's "definitely out of place". If someone was shutting down discussion of issues or positive things about Erin's review, that would be concerning. If Erin goes full-blown YouTube-influencer for instance, that alone is worth discussion.
Instead, think about what you are proposing, or demanding since it sounds more like that from you.
Some things worth discussion happen outside of ASR.

 

[thewas]

Honestly curious.

Stereophile reviews and data are cited here all the time. Do you believe those should be verboten? I'm wondering exactly what line you'd be drawing in terms of citing reviews, especially if the data is informative.

I find it also weird that reposting reviews from someone which transparently gives data and shows his income path from the affiliate links is not welcome by some, on the other hand audio companies and dealers are allowed not only to post outside of the "Desperate Dealers" section but even in threads of products of their competitors.

 

[kemmler3D]

Heck, there are always people complaining about my reviews no matter what the outcome.

IMO This is one sign that you are doing something right.

 

[cavedriver]

This is not a large production item. Another member mentioned the Muon is aluminum. To me it looks like the cabinet would have to be made in 2 halves and welded together. I suspect aluminum would cost a lot more and yield no sonic benefit.

That's not where you started. There is nothing about the blade that would make it harder than the Muon to make. KEF factory tour shows they make the Muon from two halves that they weld together. My understanding is that Rockports are made the same way. The blades could easily be made this way too. Perhaps the Genelecs are made from just one casting with inserts, keeping their cost down, but that speaker is also less than half the price of the cheaper of the blades. I would agree that the blades are probably made in GRP because it's cheaper to build them that way instead of aluminum, but don't say it's because they would be harder to make than other speakers from aluminum, only that aluminum is an expensive way to make speakers unless you have really high production numbers.

 

[cavedriver]

IMO This is one sign that you are doing something right.

By that measure Erin must be doing things right too because there sure are a lot of complaining going on here.

 

[MAB]

I too lazy to count but it seems that most posts are about price,ethics,gossip and stuff.
Last time I checked thought this was a measurement oriented forum and blades were a highly wanted-to-see-measurements speaker.

They delivered for their intended purpose and that's it in my book,I have to admit it even if it's not my cup of tea judging by the bigger one I listened too.


Maybe we should reconsider to where this thread is going?It already feels like it lucks class and feels uncomfortable.

Well said.

 

[hmt]

He was a valued member here for a long time, before going out on his own, so to speak.

We all wished him the best in his endeavours, but I agree, the constant posting of everything he reviews, the minute the review is done (or before) on ASR by certain members is definitely out of place.

You dont have to read the thread. What‘s out of place is the negativity and toxicity that is brought to another reviewer in this forum.

 

[Chester]

You dont have to read the thread. What‘s out of place is the negativity and toxicity that is brought to another reviewer in this forum.

There’s doubt and scepticism rather than toxicity. ASR takes no corporate sponsorship, advertising or paid puff pieces despite its large audience and reach. Most would have caved and sold out a long time ago. It’s motivation is purely to progress the audio industry for the better. That is incredibly unique these days.

So when someone comes along and attempts to leverage that for their own personal gain, it leaves a bad taste for some of us, it’s that simple.

 

[Colonel7]

I wouldn't put Erin in the same category as ASR. ASR reviews show the data without having to digest a ton of subjective comments or trying to scroll past them. It gets right to the point. ASR doesn't sugar coat reviews. There are just as many poorly rated products as acclaimed. ASR lets readers vote as well. That's an amazing resource. For Erin his subscribers and vendor relationships are his income. That's not the situation at ASR. Erin's format is much closer to a standard YouTube influencer than the ASR model. It's totally different. Just because someone buys a Kippel doesn't indicate the business model avoids pressures that come from trying to make income from being an influencer.

Dudes. He has a job and is an engineer. If he lived off his YouTube channel he’d be living off saltines and in a tent. The guy is an audio measurement nut and has been measuring stuff for more than a decade. Sheesh the innuendo is so petty. He got a lot of hits because of the speaker he measured.

 

[thewas]

ASR takes no corporate sponsorship, advertising or paid puff pieces despite its large audience and reach.

EAC also has no sponsorship or advertising but just affiliierte links which are mentioned how they work and that nobody is forced to use them in every video.