KEF Blade 2 Meta review by Erin's Audio Corner

[Pearljam5000]

Does KEF use Klippel to measure their own speakers ?

 

[Kvalsvoll]

It is indeed appropriate to address some aspects of this review, and its discourse.

This speaker is presented as better than anything else. But the presented measurements show obvious shortcomings and compromises. So how can this be "best there is", for any and all occasions, for any use case.

I have (as for now) 4 issues. Here is #1:

Vocal presence:

I want a solid, confined presence of the vocal. Like there is a singer up front, where you can clearly sense the space around the singer, and present, like physically present.

How am I going to achieve that, when the speaker has no pattern control from midrange and down, measurements (from this thread) show those speakers are omni at mid to low frequencies. I can't place the speaker far away from all walls.

Now I know the answer, obviously. But do you, or all others reading this review.

 

[terryforsythe]

Does KEF use Klippel to measure their own speakers ?

Given how long KEF has been around and doing a lot of R & D, they probably have a very good anechoic chamber. So, they really would not need a Klippel, which is designed to perform measurements without an anechoic chamber. But, perhaps Klippel provides other functionality they could use. Maybe someone from KEF could chime in.

 

[Mr. Widget]

This speaker is presented as better than anything else. But the presented measurements show obvious shortcomings and compromises. So how can this be "best there is", for any and all occasions, for any use case.

No, it is presented as in the opinion of the reviewer, as the best speaker he has ever heard.

This is a very different statement than, the best speaker extant.

 

[sifi36]

Does KEF use Klippel to measure their own speakers ?

As of a conversation with someone from KEF last year they do not. They have a pretty good anechoic chamber (accurate down to a few hundred hertz) on site that they use instead. It was explained to me that they can measure and iterate much faster this way. Measuring with the NFS takes several hours as compared to a few minutes for the chamber.

 

[terryforsythe]

Now I know the answer, obviously. But do you, or all others reading this review.

In your tagline you indicate that you represent Kvålsvoll Design AS, which has its own line of loudspeakers. So, KEF is your competitor...

 

[Kvalsvoll]

In your tagline you indicate that you represent Kvålsvoll Design AS, which has its own line of loudspeakers. So, KEF is your competitor...

Then you should read more about what I do and what I am.

 

[MattHooper]

"Oh My Gosh! Erin Expressed Too Much Enthusiasm For A Loudspeaker!"

We can't have that here. He must be on the take!

Oh brother.

Do we really want to fulfill the caricature of a place filled with Vulcans who are all about reading graphs and who are suspicious about audiophiles or reviewers expressing emotion or enthusiasm?

I thought Erin's review was terrific. He's such a chill guy, gives so many caveats to his reviews, (as he did with this one) and it was nice to see him obviously excited about a speaker that measured fantastic and to him sounded amazing. So friggin' what if he dared say he felt it was the best speaker he's heard? Good for him! I'm sure we all have some candidate, or candidates, for best we feel we've heard. He's an audiophile so enthusiastic about speakers he bought a Klippel! So it's hardly surprising that he would be enthusiastic about a speaker that measures that well and is known to sound excellent.

As I've mentioned before, one reason why I still visit the subjective-oriented forums as well is to enjoy the sheer amount of unbridled enthusiasm expressed by members, whether it's about their own systems or gear they have heard. This place can just be too tightly buttoned up and dry sometimes in the emphasis on measurements and distrust of emotional expression.

 

[dshreter]

How am I going to achieve that, when the speaker has no pattern control from midrange and down, measurements (from this thread) show those speakers are omni at mid to low frequencies. I can't place the speaker far away from all walls.

Are we looking at the same measurements? It's not a very good look for a manufacturer to be trolling like this.

 

[Keith_W]

Are we looking at the same measurements? It's not a very good look for a manufacturer to be trolling like this.

Please don't go there. I don't care if @Kvalsvoll is a manufacturer or not, all I care about is whether he makes valid points. And what he said was totally fair criticism.

 

[thewas]

WELL SAID!!! There is a disturbing streak of nastiness that runs through ASR, and some of the comments in this thread are over the top. I think Erin's great.

I agree, even altough I don't agree with each of his judgement and action which is normal as every human is different, such behaviour makes me sick, even more since it comes mainly from people who haven't even contributed a small fraction of useful objective information in comparison. Guess his success makes their bile come out.

 

[kemmler3D]

Just look at the measurements and if you can don’t read or at least place any great value on the subjective.
Keith

Bingo.

Erin is great becuase he publishes accurate measurements of speakers and doesn't charge us money to see them.

He's also entitled to have a favorite speaker and say whatever he wants about it. In fact I think he's MORE entitled to do that than the rest of us, due to the previous point. He knows of what he speaks.

If you don't like his opinions, the cool thing is you can just look at the graphs and form your own.

If you can't read the graphs, the better use of time would be to learn how, rather than critique his opinions and how he shares them.

If you are worried he might unduly influence someone by being too enthusiastic about a speaker... well... he's very low on the list of reviewers you should be worried about.

 

[thewas]

Please don't go there. I don't care if @Kvalsvoll is a manufacturer or not, all I care about is whether he makes valid points. And what he said was totally fair criticism.

If it was true, I don't see what he claims but even more for an aesthetic home audio loudspeaker smooth directivity control down to 300 Hz where also most of the "solid, confined presence of the vocal" takes space.

 

[MattHooper]

Customers come to me because they understand what the measurements mean.
Keith

Nice to have an educated clientele.

The great thing about Erin (and Amir) is that he is helping to educate people to understand what the measurements mean.

Do you ever find yourself in the position of educating any of your customers?

 

[Opal]

Amirm reviews are excellent & seen most all of his YT stuff but Erin's style is better for some, especially newer hobbyist because of the actual 2-channel placement & explaining in detail the on-off axis performance in correlation with the data. Amirm gives his listening impression's too so not to far off from each other. Were just lucky to have Erin & Amirm around doing what they do regardless of anything else. The data is there for anyone to see. They both take $ & definitely deserve to receive it.

Yes, i find Erin's review to be more helpful as he explains in 2 channel, placement lingos.

he has time and time again explained in the video that the blades to him subjectively, in his personal opinion, is the best speaker he ever heard. Do some people here does not understand the meaning of personal opinion? If you say Restaurant A has the best Steak, who am i to tell you no, Restaurant A does not serve the best steak. How can someone fault another for voicing his own personal opinion in his personal youtube video which he already put out the disclaimer that he is going to share his personal opinion??

 

[Kvalsvoll]

No, it is presented as in the opinion of the reviewer, as the best speaker he has ever heard.

This is a very different statement than, the best speaker extant.

My intent is to show that there may not be a best, rather there are compromises that the engineers behind a speaker must make, and eventually those chosen compromises leads to the customer having to make a choice as well. This did not come through, at least to me, in my brief assessment of the review and looking into a few posts early in this thread.

 

[Chester]

Last I heard on Erin’s Klippel purchase, he was asking for donations to fund it. So we don’t know how much he personally dropped on it and even if the full price was paid.

He is also reviewing for a living I am assuming? That does change things, regardless of whatever some of you might think. Sooner or later it will mean compromising on integrity. He’s no different to any other human being in that sense.

I’m not a fan as I find him disingenuous, based on some of the behaviour I witnessed when he was here at ASR. If he had been more upfront about his intentions I wouldn’t have minded, there’s nothing wrong with trying to fund a living, but he went about it in a disrespectful and underhand way, in my opinion. That tells me a lot about a person and how much trust I will put in them.

We will just have to agree there’s some of us who feel this way and some who think he’s the most trustworthy guy on the planet. No need to fall out over it.

 

[terryforsythe]

My intent is to show that there may not be a best, rather there are compromises that the engineers behind a speaker must make, and eventually those chosen compromises leads to the customer having to make a choice as well.

I agree.

I think what has been confused in this entire thread is that Erin never said that the Blade is the best speaker made. Instead, he said it is the best speaker he has heard, and clearly stated that this is his subjective opinion based on his listening preferences.

Other people may have different preferences, and the Blade may not the best for them. That's OK.

 

[Kvalsvoll]

If it was true, I don't see what he claims but even more for an aesthetic home audio loudspeaker smooth directivity control down to 300 Hz where also most of the "solid, confined presence of the vocal" takes space.

Directivity changes a lot through freq range, going omni down <300hz, and at high freq the pattern is quite a bit more narrow than many other typical hifi speakers with flat mounted domes. Is this good, or is it a fault. Perhaps it is intended by the designers of the speaker. What is true, though, is that this behavior affects the sound character of the speaker.

 

[Kvalsvoll]

Next issue:

Bass:

A bass-system, properly integrated and calibrated with DSP, is required to achieve good bass. This is not addressed in the review, it does not mention what sort of bass-system was in use, or how this was set up and calibrated. What was mentioned, though, was a desire to see the speaker reach down to 20Hz. Which of course makes not sense. Those who desire 20Hz extension, surely will have a proper, separate, bass solution for that.

In this price range, it makes no sense to run the speakers full-range with no bass support. Extension and capacity does not meet requirements for bass-maniacs, not even approaching useful. For everyone, a decent bass response where anything room related is addressed in dsp is required, with bass units placed close to boundaries. 2 full-range speakers placed in the middle of the room does not work.

The review does not address proper bass solutions, and how such solutions can be integrated with the speaker.
Instead, it is implied that the speakers are run full-range. Which is misleading for those who want sound quality that matches the price tag here.