Erin's review -- KEF Q11 Meta

[MarcT]

Been waiting for this one. I think I'm more interested in the Q7 Meta, which I hope is similarly good.

 

[DearSX]

Looks great, I heard those at best buy recently and they sound very good. R11 Meta sounded better, I could here more details in the music. Lucky for us Erin and Amirm measured both!

 

[MarcT]

Hmm, I wanted these but, after watching Erin's review, I'm afraid I don't have close enough side walls and also, I don't think I can get them as close to the front wall as he recommends.

 

[thewas]

I don't think I can get them as close to the front wall as he recommends.

How close can you get the front drivers from the front wall and do you plan to use sub(s)?

 

[MarcT]

How close can you get the front drivers from the front wall and do you plan to use sub(s)?

So, I'm going to be using a wide entertainment console, the front of which will probably end up being about 25 inches from the wall and I want to have the front of the speakers end up an inch or two beyond the plane of the front of the console. So, I'm not sure where that would put the back of the speakers.

Corridor Media Media Console 8179

Award-winning design makes the Corridor 8179 a stylish entertainment center, but it’s the array of useful and innovative features that make it a must-own media console. Perfectly sized for home theater systems with a large television, this modern TV stand packs a ton of innovative features...

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I've not yet used subs for two-channel music. I have about 50/50 movies/music listening mix. I run my front L/R towers as large for movies, use a sub for the LFE channel. I have tower speakers for surrounds and also run them as large. Lol, I know this is not the "proper" way, but I like the rumble from the towers during action movies. Yes, I can localize the bass rumble from the surround towers behind me.

 

[tw 2022]

looks to be a "better" option than the r3 meta for those who want the output....

 

[thewas]

What I find most impressive on the new Q Meta series is not the directivity which was always good in the last generations of Uni-Qs but how their engineering team managed to get the (most important and audible multitone-) distortion levels to a level of their Reference models of 20 years ago (and in the bass actually even better!) :

 

[thewas]

So, I'm going to be using a wide entertainment console, the front of which will probably end up being about 25 inches from the wall and I want to have the front of the speakers end up an inch or two beyond the plane of the front of the console. So, I'm not sure where that would put the back of the speakers.

Corridor Media Media Console 8179

Award-winning design makes the Corridor 8179 a stylish entertainment center, but it’s the array of useful and innovative features that make it a must-own media console. Perfectly sized for home theater systems with a large television, this modern TV stand packs a ton of innovative features...

www.bdiusa.com

I've not yet used subs for two-channel music. I have about 50/50 movies/music listening mix. I run my front L/R towers as large for movies, use a sub for the LFE channel. I have tower speakers for surrounds and also run them as large. Lol, I know this is not the "proper" way, but I like the rumble from the towers during action movies. Yes, I can localize the bass rumble from the surround towers behind me.

If you have your fronts woofers more than 24 inches from the front wall your SBIR dip from that wall reflection gets unfortunately quite high where it can quite take out the subjective "energy" of the bass:

In such case it is often more expedient to go for bass limited loudspeakers (which in this case can and should be placed further to the front) with subs:

 

[holbob]

I got the Q7 Meta, owned them for just over 2 weeks now. Replaced the Revel M106. I had the ordinary R3 in 2023 as well. I think they are better than them both, and I loved the wide dispersion on the Revels. I think Kef have nailed it. Maybe made them too good - should be easier and smoother to listen to than the R Meta series. They've removed the extended treble whilst making the dispersion wider. The two things that bugged me about the R3 are now gone. It's like having an easier to listen to M106, which could be harsh on certain recordings (i'm an indie guy, so listen to a lot of poorly recorded material). I wouldn't say the soundstage is as impressive as the M106 though (or the M16, or even the DBR62 - which I also had) - and that's probably the biggest compromise. I have the drivers around 40cm from the wall, and they go down flat to 28hz in my room. But I wouldn't take too much from that, my room is just under 15 m2.

Marc, why don't you want them closer to the front wall - reflections? aesthetics? I'm considering moving them closer, the SBIR is pretty ordinary - loss of dynamics, though that's not the speaker.

 

[MarcT]

I got the Q7 Meta, owned them for just over 2 weeks now. Replaced the Revel M106. I had the ordinary R3 in 2023 as well. I think they are better than them both, and I loved the wide dispersion on the Revels. I think Kef have nailed it. Maybe made them too good - should be easier and smoother to listen to than the R Meta series. They've removed the extended treble whilst making the dispersion wider. The two things that bugged me about the R3 are now gone. It's like having an easier to listen to M106, which could be harsh on certain recordings (i'm an indie guy, so listen to a lot of poorly recorded material). I wouldn't say the soundstage is as impressive as the M106 though (or the M16, or even the DBR62 - which I also had) - and that's probably the biggest compromise. I have the drivers around 40cm from the wall, and they go down flat to 28hz in my room. But I wouldn't take too much from that, my room is just under 15 m2.

Marc, why don't you want them closer to the front wall - reflections? aesthetics? I'm considering moving them closer, the SBIR is pretty ordinary - loss of dynamics, though that's not the speaker.

See my comments here:

Erin's review -- KEF Q11 Meta

Been waiting for this one. I think I'm more interested in the Q7 Meta, which I hope is similarly good.

www.audiosciencereview.com

If I get them, I'll get them as close to the wall as I can.

 

[Matt_Holland]

I got the Q7 Meta, owned them for just over 2 weeks now. Replaced the Revel M106. I had the ordinary R3 in 2023 as well. I think they are better than them both, and I loved the wide dispersion on the Revels. I think Kef have nailed it. Maybe made them too good - should be easier and smoother to listen to than the R Meta series. They've removed the extended treble whilst making the dispersion wider. The two things that bugged me about the R3 are now gone. It's like having an easier to listen to M106, which could be harsh on certain recordings (i'm an indie guy, so listen to a lot of poorly recorded material). I wouldn't say the soundstage is as impressive as the M106 though (or the M16, or even the DBR62 - which I also had) - and that's probably the biggest compromise. I have the drivers around 40cm from the wall, and they go down flat to 28hz in my room. But I wouldn't take too much from that, my room is just under 15 m2.

Marc, why don't you want them closer to the front wall - reflections? aesthetics? I'm considering moving them closer, the SBIR is pretty ordinary - loss of dynamics, though that's not the speaker.

What amplifier and sources are you using with them?

 

[holbob]

What amplifier and sources are you using with them?

It's in my sig

 

[kyuu]

I'm curious if there's any explanation for the "excessive" treble downtilt on this asides from a desire to differentiate with the R series.

 

[MarcT]

I'm curious if there's any explanation for the "excessive" treble downtilt on this asides from a desire to differentiate with the R series.

Well, I think KEF knows that the average audio enthusiast(non ASR type) who walks into an audio store will pick the brighter R Meta sound over that of the "softer" Q Meta series. Perhaps that is part of their calculus to entice people to their higher series.

 

[Heinrich]

Not to long ago Dr. Toole reiterated with humble emphasis, think it was yesterday, that the in-room frequency response is a consequence of good flat on-axis response married to smooth directivity. Which explains why a certain tilt rate isn‘t crucial in preference calculation. Go for a flat on-axis, and look for smooth directives, he says.

The KEFs depart from that deliberately, Erin says. One could equalize to flat anyway, one may argue. For some that may become bothersome, though. A mixed bag with exceptional performance in all criteria except for the on-axis.

In dolby surround and similar formats the focus on diffuse sound-field linearity does make even less sense, as the reverberant part is substituted by the direct sound of the surround speakers. A strange development, what do you think?

 

[thewas]

Not to long ago Dr. Toole reiterated with humble emphasis, think it was yesterday, that the in-room frequency response is a consequence of good flat on-axis response married to smooth directivity. Which explains why a certain tilt rate isn‘t crucial in preference calculation. Go for a flat on-axis, and look for smooth directives, he says.

The KEFs depart from that deliberately, Erin says. One could equalize to flat anyway, one may argue. For some that may become bothersome, though.

I also had asked myself the same exact questions and even made an EQ for flat LW based on the KEF paper data but didn't like it on my Q7. Guess the truth is somewhere in between that we hear both direct sound and reflected sound power (of course which one more depending on the listening distance, directivity and reverberation) so a good compromise of both might be the way to go.

 

[AlexanderM]

At some point I'll get in to listen to these.

 

[kemmler3D]

They look quite solid for the money, but tend to agree the downward tilt is a little much.

 

[Chagall]

They look quite solid for the money, but tend to agree the downward tilt is a little much.

Don't understand why they did that? Q3 and Concerto don't have a tilt to that degree...might be a problem if doing surround with Q meta range.

 

[MarcT]

Don't understand why they did that? Q3 and Concerto don't have a tilt to that degree...might be a problem if doing surround with Q meta range.

This makes me wonder if KEF may at some point tweak this speaker a bit, now that this is becoming more widely known.