Kef Blade one Meta - How is the sound ?

[Deleted member 56284]

Thank you Jim. I am straight out an audio hobbyist! I always applaud the engineers and super intelligent people that have dedicated their careers to the field. I always try to give an honest opinion and always learn more!

 

[Deleted member 56284]

congrats on your blade metas, when I bought my blades I knew the metas were a year or 2 away but still decided a like new pair of the originals at half price would satisfy. As you say room placement is everything.

Steve, congratulations on your blades at half off! Everyday all day that’s an awesome deal. I absolutely loved my originals. They were in matte black with the copper cones. Very gangster. They discontinued that color so I ended up with charcoal with grey and champagne cones. Also from my experience they absolutely do not need a sub. One thing that I will say is that I’ve had the luxury or headache of completely rebuilding the house over the last seven years. Acoustics was at the forefront of my mind. I have six inches of closed cell foam in the floors. All exterior walls are closed cell and attic open cell. All interior walls are insulated and I have cork floors throughout the house. I can pressurize this room like crazy. Every little step has been a piece of the puzzle. Pictures of the black ones and the charcoal ones

 

[Pearljam5000]

Why don't they offer an active version of the Blade?
That would be perfect

 

[Deleted member 56284]

You can bi amp them if desired.

 

[steve59]

The Blades aren't as power hungry as some other popular passives out there and kef is dipping their toes with the LSx and more ambitious ls60's

 

[blackmetalboon]

I’ve only heard the KEF Blades once (the original version) at an audio show. I was distinctly underwhelmed, not unusual with speakers at an audio show set-up.
I’d love to hear an optimised set-up, as a KEF LS50 owner, I know their speakers can sound good.

 

[Deleted member 56284]

I can understand your view in this as I’ve been underwhelmed with them at Magnolia, and it was definitely a set up issue imho. Also imho different equipment as well. I had a McIntosh mc452 driving them originally. Great amp, loved the sound, but in my opinion it’s not the best match for the blades. I’ve heard them on McIntosh mono blocks as well. What I noticed when driven by direct coupled amplification is that the bass became a lot faster cleaning it up in the upper mid range bass region. When that happened, everything else seemed to really fall in place. Best Buy loves to demo them on mc gear and I was wondering if that’s what they were driven with at the show. Just know that in no way am I saying McIntosh isn’t a great amp! My 452 was a beast and I’ve heard it on other speakers and loved it.

 

[Purité Audio]

Active Blades Now!
Keith

 

[blackmetalboon]

I can understand your view in this as I’ve been underwhelmed with them at Magnolia, and it was definitely a set up issue imho. Also imho different equipment as well. I had a McIntosh mc452 driving them originally. Great amp, loved the sound, but in my opinion it’s not the best match for the blades. I’ve heard them on McIntosh mono blocks as well. What I noticed when driven by direct coupled amplification is that the bass became a lot faster cleaning it up in the upper mid range bass region. When that happened, everything else seemed to really fall in place. Best Buy loves to demo them on mc gear and I was wondering if that’s what they were driven with at the show. Just know that in no way am I saying McIntosh isn’t a great amp! My 452 was a beast and I’ve heard it on other speakers and loved it.

It was in a Chord Electronics room, I can’t remember the whole system on play, but I own more Chord than your average Head-Fier

I don’t think they worked in the room, or hadn’t been set-up optimally. It is a set of speakers I’d love to listen to again.

 

[Deleted member 56284]

Can you post o picture of your system? I would love to hear that rig!

 

[Deleted member 56284]

Never had the pleasure of listening to chord!

 

[CtheArgie]

I can understand your view in this as I’ve been underwhelmed with them at Magnolia, and it was definitely a set up issue imho. Also imho different equipment as well. I had a McIntosh mc452 driving them originally. Great amp, loved the sound, but in my opinion it’s not the best match for the blades. I’ve heard them on McIntosh mono blocks as well. What I noticed when driven by direct coupled amplification is that the bass became a lot faster cleaning it up in the upper mid range bass region. When that happened, everything else seemed to really fall in place. Best Buy loves to demo them on mc gear and I was wondering if that’s what they were driven with at the show. Just know that in no way am I saying McIntosh isn’t a great amp! My 452 was a beast and I’ve heard it on other speakers and loved it.

What is “fast bass”? Asking for a friend…

 

[Deleted member 56284]

Better control over the woofers. Bass notes hit and don’t hang around. I did the most insane shoot out with my McIntosh vs what I’m running now. It got to the point that me and the wife had to step away from listening for a couple of days. The reason for such an extensive comparison is because I went into it with the opinion that my McIntosh was going to be preferred. But at the end it wasn’t. I don’t know if it’s due to the autoformers, dampening factor of 40, but the amp that‘s running now snaps those cones back toot sweet! Again these are my opinions and my environment. As I mentioned earlier this house is inanely insulated and extremely dead. I have zero slap echo. I hope that your friend likes the answer! P.S I know that McIntosh has been discussed to death, and I have no problems with them. I have had so many amps etc I’ve lost count. Some I liked better than others. Again I’m a hobbyist and really not loyal to any one brand. It’s what strikes me at the time. I dare say that I’m running Aavik class d now. Never thought that I would go here, but so far I’m very pleased with it. And yes that bass!

 

[Descartes]

Better control over the woofers. Bass notes hit and don’t hang around. I did the most insane shoot out with my McIntosh vs what I’m running now. It got to the point that me and the wife had to step away from listening for a couple of days. The reason for such an extensive comparison is because I went into it with the opinion that my McIntosh was going to be preferred. But at the end it wasn’t. I don’t know if it’s due to the autoformers, dampening factor of 40, but the amp that‘s running now snaps those cones back toot sweet! Again these are my opinions and my environment. As I mentioned earlier this house is inanely insulated and extremely dead. I have zero slap echo. I hope that your friend likes the answer! P.S I know that McIntosh has been discussed to death, and I have no problems with them. I have had so many amps etc I’ve lost count. Some I liked better than others. Again I’m a hobbyist and really not loyal to any one brand. It’s what strikes me at the time. I dare say that I’m running Aavik class d now. Never thought that I would go here, but so far I’m very pleased with it. And yes that bass!

Where are you located, I would love to come for a demo!

 

[blackmetalboon]

Never had the pleasure of listening to chord!

I am assuming this was aimed me, this was my main system, my AV Processor has since been replaced with an Anthem AVM70



This was a temp set up of my what is my bedroom system , this was taken when I first got my KEF LS 50’s.

 

[Deleted member 56284]

Where are you located, I would love to come for a demo!

I’m in central Florida

 

[Deleted member 56284]

I am assuming this was aimed me, this was my main system, my AV Processor has since been replaced with an Anthem AVM70



This was a temp set up of my what is my bedroom system , this was taken when I first got my KEF LS 50’s.

That’s bad ass!!

 

[Deleted member 56284]

Not heard the new version, but have heard both Blade One and Two many times. Once I compared the One with Kii BXT over a few hours and found the KEFs to sound sweeter and more friendly from the mids and up, even with the Kiis set to -3 dB from 2 kHz (-1 dB more attenuation than Erin had for his review of Kii).
Even though the BXT just blows the Blade away when it comes to

bass, both me and my friend preferred the Blade overall.
View attachment 225249

The Blade Metas looks to have some of the same mellow mid-tuning so I would expect them to sound very good on all kinds of music. My friend's ears in the picture are very fond of metal, symphonic metal and the like and found them to be little boring for that type of music compared to my DIY JBL M2's at home, but that could very well change if compared in the same room. To my ears the KEFs have only been rivaled by Grimm Ls1 and Piega Master Line Source at this dealer.

 

[Deleted member 56284]

This set up is temporary. New larger room being built.

 

[blackmetalboon]

That’s bad ass!!

Before the usual ASR naysayers dig their claws in, I will say that I’m prepared to pay the excess for locally (UK) built, battleship, bling. You will not hear me waxing lyrically about it compared to other equipment.