Erin's KEF Blade 2 Meta review.

[Keith_W]

Yes, the Blade 1 Meta and Blade 2 Meta use the same UniQ.

Is it the same UniQ as the R3 Meta?

 

[AOR]

Is it the same UniQ as the R3 Meta?

It isn't. The blade and ref Meta UniQs have neodymium based motors and the R Meta uses ferrite. Along with some other smaller changes.

This gives the Blade and Reference Meta much more sensitive drivers that have considerably less distortion (due to the higher steel saturation).

 

[STill]

Hi everyone!

I have failed to find a more detailed technical discussion about how the woofers achieve such a consistent and wide dispersion, despite their placement and their high crossover frequency of 440 Hz.

The only way I can make sense of it is that it is mostly diffraction waves.
My assumption is that the on-axis wavefronts of the inside drivers cancel each other out directly and the one's of the outside drivers indirectly from a wall reflection.

Does anyone have insight if that is truly what is going on?

 

[srrxr71]

Yeah, I "heard" the blades once in a showroom with some decent amplification and a digital audio source (of some kind) driving them.
Personally, I felt that the bass was pretty well done, and it sounded very "smooth" and "full". The room acoustics weren't ideal, but I could tell that they were pretty good speakers, and if set up correctly could probably give good imaging.
Now, with the asterisk that I didn't spend much time with them, nor did I really turn it up much, I must say:
They didn't have a super "fun" or energetic sound to them. They had plenty of amplifier behind them, but the music just lacked the "alive-ness" that physically larger (ie: larger midrange, acoustically large baffle) speakers can provide. Now, it's no secret that I am a fan of horn-loaded systems, I am a believer that the higher efficiency, sensitivity, and pattern control of horns does result in something that isn't fully captured in the measurements that we regularly use. (Now, it probably can be measured, we just need to figure out a measurement to show it.)
So, my problem with the blades is (probably) that above the woofer crossover, it's a mini-midrange and baby tweeter... lol. It's a great speaker for "elevator music", it just doesn't tick the boxes that I require of a loudspeaker system.

I can’t say I have personal experience with them however I see this trend of making speakers very narrow for appearance purposes.

Wide baffles and horns don’t appeal to people who need their speakers to look “good”. Personally I don’t care about that abd i’m lucky that I don’t have to.

So there is always a compromise and in audio looks are not one I care about. Even in cars for that matter. I’m sitting inside the thing I don’t care what other people see.

 

[Descartes]

Yeah, I "heard" the blades once in a showroom with some decent amplification and a digital audio source (of some kind) driving them.
Personally, I felt that the bass was pretty well done, and it sounded very "smooth" and "full". The room acoustics weren't ideal, but I could tell that they were pretty good speakers, and if set up correctly could probably give good imaging.
Now, with the asterisk that I didn't spend much time with them, nor did I really turn it up much, I must say:
They didn't have a super "fun" or energetic sound to them. They had plenty of amplifier behind them, but the music just lacked the "alive-ness" that physically larger (ie: larger midrange, acoustically large baffle) speakers can provide. Now, it's no secret that I am a fan of horn-loaded systems, I am a believer that the higher efficiency, sensitivity, and pattern control of horns does result in something that isn't fully captured in the measurements that we regularly use. (Now, it probably can be measured, we just need to figure out a measurement to show it.)
So, my problem with the blades is (probably) that above the woofer crossover, it's a mini-midrange and baby tweeter... lol. It's a great speaker for "elevator music", it just doesn't tick the boxes that I require of a loudspeaker system.

Seriously elevator music!! So funny, I guess to each their own!

 

[AwesomeSauce2015]

Seriously elevator music!! So funny, I guess to each their own!

IIRC, it's a reference to a quote which comes from one of JBL's engineers. I don't remember who it was but (once again, IIRC) it was a comment about how most hi-fi speakers aren't (or at least weren't at the time) designed with dynamic capability or thermal compression in mind.

Basically, they sound great if you don't play something complex and thermally challenging, or if you don't go full "Homer Simpson" with the volume knob, but when you do, if you compare them side-by-side to a speaker system that is more dynamically capable (ie, horns, larger midrange/tweeter, or AMTs), there will be noticeable differences as the blades start to compress due to thermals and other dynamic factors.

 

[mj30250]

IIRC, it's a reference to a quote which comes from one of JBL's engineers. I don't remember who it was but (once again, IIRC) it was a comment about how most hi-fi speakers aren't (or at least weren't at the time) designed with dynamic capability or thermal compression in mind.

Basically, they sound great if you don't play something complex and thermally challenging, or if you don't go full "Homer Simpson" with the volume knob, but when you do, if you compare them side-by-side to a speaker system that is more dynamically capable (ie, horns, larger midrange/tweeter, or AMTs), there will be noticeable differences as the blades start to compress due to thermals and other dynamic factors.

Pair them with reasonably stout subwoofers and I'm not seeing a volume limitation outside of unusually long listening distances:

This is JBL M2 level performance, and even better at points.

I guess if you expect to hear cymbal crashes at 110dB (ouch), then these probably aren't for you.

 

[traind]

IIRC, it's a reference to a quote which comes from one of JBL's engineers. I don't remember who it was but (once again, IIRC) it was a comment about how most hi-fi speakers aren't (or at least weren't at the time) designed with dynamic capability or thermal compression in mind.

Basically, they sound great if you don't play something complex and thermally challenging, or if you don't go full "Homer Simpson" with the volume knob, but when you do, if you compare them side-by-side to a speaker system that is more dynamically capable (ie, horns, larger midrange/tweeter, or AMTs), there will be noticeable differences as the blades start to compress due to thermals and other dynamic factors.

I have never heard of thermally challenging music, what is an example or two of it? Do the measurements show this problem with the Blade Metas at volumes people actually listen to in a typical home?