Kef Q7 Meta vs R5 - medium room

[locoliberty]

Close to finishing up projects around the house and will finally have the living room setup. The room is on the larger side of medium, about 15x37, since its a fairly open floor plan with the living room, dinning, and kitchen areas.

Was looking at getting the Q7 Metas, but there are a few non-meta R5s floating around for a few hundred more. Is it worth the upgrade or is the base going to be lacking from the smaller woofers? I will likely end up with a subwoofer crossed around 70-80, but speaker size is still going to be a factor with how big the space is to fill

price difference is about 300 bucks between the 2

 

[thewas]

Although I personally own a pair of Q7 since you plan to use them with subs I would probably rather recommend you go to go for the R5 as they look more expensive and might fit your tonality taste without EQ more. The Q7 are superior in bass and SPL but also darker tuned which can be corrected with EQ tough.

 

[locoliberty]

Although I personally own a pair of Q7 since you plan to use them with subs I would probably rather recommend you go to go for the R5 as they look more expensive and might fit your tonality taste without EQ more. The Q7 are superior in bass and SPL but also darker tuned which can be corrected with EQ tough.

Currently with a set of JBL 590s, but have had a few different speakers LS50 in a much smaller room, and Revel M126be. I do know I dont prefer a bright speaker. Darker actually kinda sounds more like what id want.

The 590s are great, but they do have some rough edge, not as refined at the LS50s were(they also dont look nice). but the LS50s were not meant for this room either.

 

[thewas]

The LS50 (especially the Meta) with subwoofer(s) are in the nearfield (for example in a desktop system) for me one of the ultimate solutions that can sound better than most $$$$$$ high end systems not listened in the nearfield.

 

[Eric Natural]

I'm anxious to hear the new Qmetas in person.
OP - go big or go home in that large space - meaning towers, then tuning the room with DRC like Dirac
Best of Luck

 

[kawauso]

Close to finishing up projects around the house and will finally have the living room setup. The room is on the larger side of medium, about 15x37, since its a fairly open floor plan with the living room, dinning, and kitchen areas.

Was looking at getting the Q7 Metas, but there are a few non-meta R5s floating around for a few hundred more. Is it worth the upgrade or is the base going to be lacking from the smaller woofers? I will likely end up with a subwoofer crossed around 70-80, but speaker size is still going to be a factor with how big the space is to fill

price difference is about 300 bucks between the 2

I’d vote for the Q7 Meta for its wide dispersion and calm, easygoing treble. Even without EQ, it delivers a natural in-room response that feels well-balanced and easy to live with. On the other hand, if you’re open to applying EQ, the R5—with its controlled directivity—might reward you with a more precise and transparent soundstage.

Looking forward to seeing which way you go!

 

[Heinrich]

Close to finishing up projects around the house …

Q series lacks the refinement of the R series in drivers mostly, but also in terms of enclosure from build to finish. The meta is a hype to some degree, but drivers were changed actually in other areas too, what makes a difference for the perfectionist. If the gradual refinement of already virtually perfect is worth it, I‘m not that sure.

The R5, to me, is an oddball, in that it uses smaller drivers than the rest. The vertical radiation looks a bit compromised, but is still way better than with conventional speakers. It is overpriced due to shipping of the bigger enclosure, I assume. Thr R3 might be better value for money, but would for most need a funny stand.

Edit regarding meta: presumably the Qs just and only got the meta thing, but not the Rs‘ improvements e/ g in the motor. Ironically, the Qs, other than the Rs, could benefit from that. Can someone confirm?

 

[thewas]

Edit regarding meta: presumably the Qs just and only got the meta thing, but not the Rs‘ improvements e/ g in the motor. Ironically, the Qs, other than the Rs, could benefit from that. Can someone confirm?

Further than the meta material tweeter enclosure all drivers got some improvements compared to the previous generation:

KEF Q Series with MAT Whitepaper

Hi everyone, I’m happy to share the much-awaited Q Series with MAT whitepaper. Thank you all for your patience, and I hope you enjoy reading it! Please note that due to the upload limit on ASR, I had to compress the document before attaching it. The high-resolution PDF should be available on...

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