Honestly I'm surprised the cost / performance ratio of 3D printing is still not worth it to consider it over a wooden box. you don't need a stupid shadow flare if the whole baffle is a sphere.
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Kef R Meta Series Release
- Thread starter emybaneesim
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That is a big price increase. Its like 50%, that's insane. I was looking at the R5/R7 as an upgrade for when I move to a new place, but that's not going to happen with prices like this.
I don't have anything against vintage dad boxes. but they are very different from lifestyle product like Kef does.
It's not event like the R series is shaped like a straight forward design speaker. They are not a B&O product.
There are some more info on KEF's site .
Not a complete new whitepaper but it goes trough some of the changes to the uni-q drivers , so its a bit more than just the mat thingy
As I wasn’t born yesterday, i do get some reviewers will want to give positive review no matter what, but I do believe they could achieve that in multiple ways not necessarily over praise the speakers. Cause if turned out to be false could mean readers would turn away from them. So if he decided to over praise them it’s a hint that indeed they might be at the very least noticeably better. Whether this price vs improvements means they are worth it is a personal matter and each person will decide in their own room. I just might find out over this weekend
))As I wasn’t born yesterday, i do get some reviewers will want to give positive review no matter what, but I do believe they could achieve that in multiple ways not necessarily over praise the speakers. Cause if turned out to be false could mean readers would turn away from them. So if he decided to over praise them it’s a hint that indeed they might be at the very least noticeably better. Whether this price vs improvements means they are worth it is a personal matter and each person will decide in their own room. I just might find out over this weekend
Did the reviewer compare old and new versions side by side? If not I find it very unlikely that he could give realistic comparison of the two.
Although I guess it is possible that the reviewers are of different breed and can remember clearly how some speaker sounded in the same space a few years ago. But for us common people when even the old model sounded just great it would be very hard to say how much better the new version is.
To be clear, I'm not saying at all that the reviewer is making things up, just that we know how difficult job he has in this case.
Mario Sanchez
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I find it curious that they actually bumped the XO frequency up for the woofer/midrange and down for the midrange/tweeter for all(?) of their R metas, perhaps this will result in a wider directivity in the higher octaves with better controlled directivity vertically across the lower mid-frequencies?
I guess, now the directivity in the midrange should be better as upto 330hz is played by the midrange as opposed to 400hz. This shouldn’t be a small thing.
Now woofers have more headroom to settle down fast.
Anything played above 330hz would feel like they are staged at the uniq axis or even above that.
In both versions, bass is normally dominated in a room by the bottom woofers as they are close to the wall than the top ones closer to the ceiling. We used to hear more direct wave from the top woofer and more direct + reflectled from the bottom ones. In that case upto below 400hz the woofers dominated the stage pulling it down. With the new one this would be pulled up as the midrange is now handling more.
So Position of bass objects like kick drums in space would be more accurate than before. I guess the stage would be felt overall a step above the old one which to me would be a welcome change.
If we are in a space where there is no cieling or floor I guess we would hear them more or less same. So depending on where it is tested our mileage would vary. If we measure it at the midrange axis is an anechoic chamber they should not show much difference. The difference should be not much evident from graphs but should be evident in a real room.
I'm kind of surprised they kept the R5 to be honest, and that the R8 wasn't modified to match the size of the R3,7,11. In fact I'd have killed the R8 and offered R3 and R11 versions with built in atmos. But I guess it's easy just to upgrade the existing models.
Up firing Atmos speakers, whether built in or toppers, are a waste. The R8 can be wall mounted making them very effective for Atmos when ceiling is not an option.
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All that plus R8 price increase by whopping 65% and FR is better by 8Hz with massive distortion compared to other speakers. That is shocking.
I guess surrounds only valid option are in walls/in ceiling unless you have space for R3
While I’m waiting for r3 meta and r6 I’m think wether not repurpose R2C as surround, get another one for a pair. It’s sealed so can be close to wall, it’s narrower than R3, and shallower than R5 and has +/- 3 db 74Hz so enough for HT 70-80 XO. Is there anything that would speak for R3/R5 instead ? ( they would be nearly touching back wall at high angle though, so partly bunged up)
The current/old R8a are $1,549. The meta are $1,599. That’s not a 65% increase, it’s more like 3%.
The current/old R8a are $1,549. The meta are $1,599. That’s not a 65% increase, it’s more like 3%
Standing up an R2c vertically would concern me. They are narrow and tall, stability would be an issue.
Again US is benefiting from current £ to $.
In UK it was 850 now is 1400
R2C is narrow and tall but there is magic thing called blue tack that sticks stuff like glue with a difference you can take it off later and leaves no traces, besides it would be going into space where there are no people walking nearby.
Debating this, benefit being its narrow and twitter would be at ear level plus not needing to sell R2C, or getting current R3 - have got some character stands if flipped upside down twitter ear level as well and it would be 100-200 cheaper. Seems R3 has got lower distortion.
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There will be a white paper released soon, including spinorama data. The engineering team are still finishing it off.
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