Best speakers in the world?

[flyzipper]

• fits on my fridge (important because the majority of my music listening is done in the kitchen)
• plays loudly enough to be heard over the stove exhaust fan, or running water
• isn't unnecessarily loud (important not to overly excite my birds)
• easy integration with YouTube Music (Google Play Music RIP)
• voice controllable (useful while cooking or washing dishes)
• easy connectivity/setup (single USB cable to wall adapter)
• available in the same colour as my fridge (blends in)
• don't mind if my birds land on it
• best price/features (factoring in the above requirements)

 

[Dennis Murphy]

KEF Blades. Had their moments but an overall a cold, barren, lifeless presentation. As if projecting images of a cold, barren lunar landscape They were loud and dynamic but had no soul whatsoever.
Possibly due to the amplification.

What gives a speaker soul? What gives an amplifier soul? I've heard the Blade on several occasions, and I thought something was off. But it wasn't a lack of soul, whatever than means. Probably something related to the inherent difficulty of integrating the side-firing woofers with the rest of the speaker over a broad radiation area. The Blade is probably the flattest measuring speaker to emerge from the NRC tests until you start going off axis beyond 30 degrees horizontally.

 

[thewas]

The smaller Blade 2 is technically a better loudspeaker as it was designed later than the Blade and Muon, I have listened to it in the acoustically good listening room at KEF and it was probably the best stereo experience I ever had.

 

[RayDunzl]

View attachment 90431

If those were about $90,000 less expensive I'd run right out and buy a pair.

Heard them at the Expo (very briefly - they didn't draw me in), and wasn't impressed for whatever reason, but I feel confident I could make them work for me here.

 

[tuga]

What gives a speaker soul? What gives an amplifier soul? I've heard the Blade on several occasions, and I thought something was off. But it wasn't a lack of soul, whatever than means. Probably something related to the inherent difficulty of integrating the side-firing woofers with the rest of the speaker over a broad radiation area. The Blade is probably the flattest measuring speaker to emerge from the NRC tests until you start going off axis beyond 30 degrees horizontally.
View attachment 90455

Is that dip really audible, or did you look at the measurements before you listened?
Would it be any it any different from the floor-bounce cancellation you get from many speakers?

Stereophile's in-room measurement shows no dip (although it is a listening window measurement).

KEF Blade Two, spatially averaged, 1/6-octave response in JA's listening room (red); and of DALI Rubicon 8 (blue).

https://www.stereophile.com/content/kef-blade-two-loudspeaker-measurements

 

[Zvu]

@Dennis Murphy

I've been thinking about that off axis dip. Up to 45 degrees it looks perfect. At first i thought it is there because of flawed design. Listening what Jack-Oclee Brown says, they wanted to follow the philosophy of point source. Thinking about it, they could use just two bigger woofers and cross it at 150Hz but they didn't. Now why would they cross it as high as that ?

My best educated guess is to reduce off axis energy at those frequencies and with that the room interaction. That's why there are four woofers, they wanted to do it in vertical plane also. The dip covers from 200-1000Hz with lowest point at 500Hz. It is very hard to absorb or difuse those frequencies because of the wavelength. Over 1000Hz and it can be done without making a room look like a studio. Under 200Hz a regular EQ and placement in room should do it. Inter woofer distance and their distance from midrange seem to be simulated and planned, as well as crossover frequency.

So, at a price of looking as Kef's pr manager - me thinks it's not a flaw but a feature. Wanting to preserve 90 degrees listening window (which is why it measures great at 45 degrees), and use partial acoustic canceling for lower room interaction.

 

[BDWoody]

What gives a speaker soul? What gives an amplifier soul?

I'm not sure about speakers, but I'm pretty sure for an amp it has to do with the magic blue smoke...

 

[Helicopter]

What gives a speaker soul? What gives an amplifier soul? ...

I think you know this, but I'll take a stab. Not sonic properties on their own. Essence, in the philosophical sense, like being hand made in France or Michigan, maybe Be, real wood veneer, ribbons and horns, VU meters, thoriated filaments, high quality capacitors.

It could be the design too, like Skandanavian cabinet design, a John Yang circuit, maybe one of your crossovers, or an Andrew Jones design. Something that looks good on paper, and in an amp, or lot of other things between source and speakers, possibly transparency at inaudible levels that indicates design competency.

 

[Helicopter]

Once you get north of £10,000.00 for a pair of speakers, I would think something that measures and performs well should be expected, rather than a pleasant surprise once you've cobbled them together.

Pooh pooh!
I would agree only in the very limited scope in which purchaser and producer agree 'measures well' is a goal, e.g. an ASR member buys Focals, Revels, Genalecs, etc. A Steve Hoffman forum guy and Klipsch or Zu might have different goals.

 

[tuga]

The smaller Blade 2 is technically a better loudspeaker as it was designed later than the Blade and Muon, I have listened to it in the acoustically good listening room at KEF and it was probably the best stereo experience I ever had.

I am not disagreeing but I still find that the Muon, which uses an identical Uni-Q mid/tweeter, has higher performance potential (low frequency extension, max SPL, directivity, HD/IMD, LF grup delay):

• it's a 4-way (6x 10" woofers < 120Hz > 10" midwoofer < 300Hz > midrange < 2.3kHz > tweeter)
• it uses two rear-mounted 10" woofers for low frequency directivity control
• the specified frequency response covers 25Hz to 20kHz (+/-3dB)
• sealed enclosures for all drivers

 

[CDMC]

What gives a speaker soul? What gives an amplifier soul?

First we need to establish if they have a soul by weighing them before and after death.

But to answer your question: Reviewers.

 

[avanti1960]

What gives a speaker soul? What gives an amplifier soul?

When I listen I hear music, not a machine making music.

 

[MattHooper]

When I listen I hear music, not a machine making music.

That's fair enough as your reaction. But of course declaring a speaker to have "soul" or not would be completely subjective and of little use to inform others of the character of a speaker. My wife hears only the music, not the machine, when listening to our sonos Smart Speaker. Or to her laptop, for that matter. Doesn't really tell me anything about the speaker, only about her.

 

[Helicopter]

That's fair enough as your reaction. But of course declaring a speaker to have "soul" or not would be completely subjective and of little use to inform others of the character of a speaker. My wife hears only the music, not the machine, when listening to our sonos Smart Speaker. Or to her laptop, for that matter. Doesn't really tell me anything about the speaker, only about her.

Being unlike your wife in this regard probably puts us all at least two standard deviations from the mean in our pickiness.

 

[Dennis Murphy]

Is that dip really audible, or did you look at the measurements before you listened?
Would it be any it any different from the floor-bounce cancellation you get from many speakers?
QUOTE]

I only saw the NRC measurements a few months ago, and it's been over a year since I heard the Blade 2. Subject to the extreme proviso that I was listening at audio shows and, as usual, the KEF people were spinning mediocre vinyl, the Blades always sounded thin to me. I find it interesting that the horizontal measurements in the 500 Hz area are unlike just about any other speaker I've seen, but who knows whether that's what I was hearing. My real point is that if a speaker lacks "soul" compared to real life, then you should be able to find the reason in the measurements someplace.

 

[SineWave]

If those were about $90,000 less expensive I'd run right out and buy a pair.

Heard them at the Expo (very briefly - they didn't draw me in), and wasn't impressed for whatever reason, but I feel confident I could make them work for me here.

Almost every time I hear MLs in stores like Magnolia, they sound like crap. Same at a lot of shows. In some hi-end specialty shops, they sound much better - incredibly good! I heard the $30K ESL 15A last week at Magnolia and they sounded like cheap $300/pr floor standing speakers. I know they should sound way better. Almost felt like the store wanted to make sure no one would buy them. If that was the best they could sound, I wouldn't even pay $300 for them.

 

[SineWave]

What gives a speaker soul? What gives an amplifier soul?

 

[avanti1960]

That's fair enough as your reaction. But of course declaring a speaker to have "soul" or not would be completely subjective and of little use to inform others of the character of a speaker. My wife hears only the music, not the machine, when listening to our sonos Smart Speaker. Or to her laptop, for that matter. Doesn't really tell me anything about the speaker, only about her.

Understood, definitely a subjective description when trying to put into words how the speakers sounded (to me). The blades in that system sounded that way to me, they had a tendency to put this subtle but noticeable icy cool wash over treble frequencies. Unnatural sounding, sounding like a system (amplification and speaker) adding something over the music.
Having owned the LS50s (which did not have that tendency) I was expecting more from the blades. Big and loud enough to fill a nightclub but overall a sonic disappointment.

 

[MattHooper]

Understood, definitely a subjective description when trying to put into words how the speakers sounded (to me). The blades in that system sounded that way to me, they had a tendency to put this subtle but noticeable icy cool wash over treble frequencies. Unnatural sounding, sounding like a system (amplification and speaker) adding something over the music.
Having owned the LS50s (which did not have that tendency) I was expecting more from the blades. Big and loud enough to fill a nightclub but overall a sonic disappointment.

I heard something similar to your description when I auditioned the KEF LS50 speakers (original).

I only heard the KEF blades briefly at a show, playing a recording of a piano. It was probably the most impressive reproduction of a piano that I've heard through a sound system. But of course I wouldn't judge them only on that encounter.

 

[avanti1960]

Almost every time I hear MLs in stores like Magnolia, they sound like crap. Same at a lot of shows. In some hi-end specialty shops, they sound much better - incredibly good! I heard the $30K ESL 15A last week at Magnolia and they sounded like cheap $300/pr floor standing speakers. I know they should sound way better. Almost felt like the store wanted to make sure no one would buy them. If that was the best they could sound, I wouldn't even pay $300 for them.

I heard the same at the Magnolia stores. They tend to have them connected to a McIntosh tube amplifier which use these poor quality tubes and it causes anti synergy. They also usually crank up the built in active woofer to the point where it is horribly detached, out of balance and lacked integration.
Contrast that to the sound of the ML ESL-11A driven by a Benchmark system which was spectacular.