Kef Blade Meta and Genelec discussion

[Ron Texas]

If you are using the first gen LS50's as a reference then you may well not be overly impressed and reviews on here reflect this view. Having said this subjectively many reviewers have been praising the LS50s for many years, to me this has been praise for half a speaker (sub required). Further the LS50 is a near field monitor. KEF has been listening and the Meta's speakers performance now reflects the many improvements KEF has delivered.

Listening to many KEF speaker over the years the Blade 2 Meta sound grand in medium to small rooms, thats not to say that in a large room they don't, it's simply I don't know.
Compared to the other option say the Kii 3 BXT, which may sound great, but a such ugly beasts or The D&D 8c which would be great option IMHO. Having said that the room match is everything.

With a bit of EQ at 800 and 2500 Hz LS50's and LS50 meta sound nearly indistinguishable.

 

[Vacceo]

I recently purchased a pair of Genelec 8361's and their stands, the smaller 7360a subwoofer (i have a small room) and the 9320a reference monitor controller. This is now a full digital system with amplification,dsp and interface. With the GLM software it is also possible to get GRADE reports from Genelec with all the measurement information and suggestions for improvements.

I made this choice because i wanted to keep things as simple as possible, so no extra dac, preamp, amplifiers and separate dsp system.

The Kef Blades must sound great. Maybe even better? I saved myself the search for a dac, preamp, amplifiers and room correction. However this can be a lot fun to.
I'm very happy with my choice. And in comparison with my previous setup this is a huge step up.

There is an area where Genelecs, as performing as they are, can present an issue due to practicality: multichannel on Atmos reproduction. Other than that, nothing to complain about them.

 

[MTZ]

I'm very happy with them. They do sound great to me. For me the most important part is enjoying music and for that Genelec is not the only way to go.

I have no plans for multichannel reproduction and as far as i know Genelec is used in several studios for immersive audio mixing.
GLM itself can take care of multichannel setups.

But you might be right. I have absolute no knowledge on multichannel audio.

 

[Arnas]

I already had a Topping D90 DAC - pretty capable by the reckoning of most. And a Raspberry pi4 using free Volumio with the DSP feature for room correction and/or eq - actually very low cost at around £90 for the pi4 + cables. Speaker cables and DAC to monoblock power amp cables from Blue Jeans. The one luxury 2 March Audio monoblock power amps with the 1ET7040 modules and regulated 70V supples Runs perhaps 10deg over ambient temperature, No hiss on speaker output even with ear almost touching driver against a room background spl of around 27dB ‘C’ weighted. Loudspeaker drive units last for 15-20 minimum usually. Cool running electronics may also last this long, But the electronics are low cost compared to the speakers and course easy to replace - I suspect that even as an EE I might struggle to make repairs

Tremendous speakers no doubt. One of the best passives on the planet and design is super sexy to boot.
When it comes to actives no price limit i would pick Genelec's or DD 8C. Passives would be Kef or Revel (if room is bigger since Coaxials wont give much advantage in big room)

 

[Vacceo]

I'm very happy with them. They do sound great to me. For me the most important part is enjoying music and for that Genelec is not the only way to go.

I have no plans for multichannel reproduction and as far as i know Genelec is used in several studios for immersive audio mixing.
GLM itself can take care of multichannel setups.

But you might be right. I have absolute no knowledge on multichannel audio.

It takes a bit extra effort due to sockets and cables, where with passives, you'd just have a couple of wires.

It's not the end of the world, and to me, the extra cables are not a problem since I have a ton books and shelves I can use to hide those cables.

 

[fredoamigo]

It takes a bit extra effort due to sockets and cables, where with passives, you'd just have a couple of wires.

It's not the end of the world, and to me, the extra cables are not a problem since I have a ton books and shelves I can use to hide those cables.

The biggest advantage with actives is that you don't have to play little electric train with amps, dac, etc etc.
But many of us are still big kids.

 

[Avp1]

II am looking for some speakers for shared listening spaces and all the usual suspects were at the top of my list including larger Genelec The Ones and Kii 3 BXT. Kef Blade were never on my radar until very recently as my experience with the first generation LS50 was just average.

And this is your problem: shared listening space (living room) cannot be made suitable for critical listening by reasonable means. At best you will be able to make it acceptable for TV sound and casual listening of music. If you want to enjoy music in all its glory - you need to have a dedicated listening place. The only "sharing" there is possible with HT setup. For casual listing in living room you do not need speakers of Kef Blade level, it is a waste of your budget since you will never get full return from money spent.

 

[Esprit]

There is an area where Genelecs, as performing as they are, can present an issue due to practicality: multichannel on Atmos reproduction. Other than that, nothing to complain about them.

Can you explain better?

 

[Ciobi69]

There is an area where Genelecs, as performing as they are, can present an issue due to practicality: multichannel on Atmos reproduction. Other than that, nothing to complain about them.

In the studios use monitors as atmos. They could be non practical for the looking. But in a dedicated space why not. The ones as atmos are perfect

 

[Vacceo]

Can you explain better?

Simply put, more than just the usual two cables for passives being the electric plug the one with most potential problems. It takes a little extra effort and planning to integrate in a living room, which considering a speaker count of let´s say 11, is not an easy task in any case. For some cases, that could be a no-no, but still, something that can be fixed.

In the studios use monitors as atmos. They could be non practical for the looking. But in a dedicated space why not. The ones as atmos are perfect

Absolutely! It just takes a bit more work to set in your conventional living room. Doable? Some forum members have. I´d even wish it was more common, as that would make the option of sending signal in digital form (like the extremelly expensive Storm Audio processors do) to actives from conventional AVR´s a usual feature.

 

[Esprit]

Simply put, more than just the usual two cables for passives being the electric plug the one with most potential problems

I have only had active monitors for over a decade, I don't have an Atmos system but ultimately a normal electrical cable and a balanced cable don't seem like a big problem to me.

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[Vacceo]

I have only had active monitors for over a decade, I don't have an Atmos system but ultimately a normal electrical cable and a balanced cable don't seem like a big problem to me.

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Placing height speakers is probably the worst hassle. And well, it is not that terrible to be honest.

 

[Esprit]

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Placing height speakers is probably the worst hassle. And well, it is not that terrible to be honest.

Depends on building/room construction and aesthetics.

 

[srrxr71]

There is an area where Genelecs, as performing as they are, can present an issue due to practicality: multichannel on Atmos reproduction. Other than that, nothing to complain about them.

I’d look at that the other way. It’s the only pro system which lets you calibrate and manage 128 loudspeakers. Plug points issue can be solved.