KEF R11 Meta boomy and muddled bass at dealers

[xkhjkdwq]

I auditioned the KEF R11 Meta at two dealers.

Dealer 1: small shop. had a small dedicated room for kef R11. Speakers were placed around a feet from back wall and 0.5 feet from sidewall. Almost all songs I played had boomy and muddled bass. Some songs I remember playing were - Who is it by Michael Jackson, Take Five and Some song by Madonna I don't remember exactly(dealer played this one).

Dealer 2: Home theatre installer. Big shop, dedicated big theatre room with Kef R11. Around 2 feet from wall and more than a feet from sidewall. I played at least 15 songs. 14 of them had very good bass - no boominess at all. But one song ""Tell Yer Mama" by Norah Jones was absolutely terrible. I could not even listen to the full song, it was that terrible. Boomy and muddled bass overpowering everything. I came home and listened the same song on my B&W 804 Nautilus, absolutely fine bass. Some of the songs that I tried and sounded fine were Who is it by MJ, Bass Drops by Nenad Vasilic, Take Five, Warning Call by CHVRCHES, Everloving by Moby, Princess Familiar by Alanis Morisette, Know your enemy by Rage against machines.

Are the speakers at issue here or the dealer setup?

 

[kyuu]

Based on measurements, the R11 has effective output down to 30Hz no issue. With that much extension, it's almost certain it was exciting some room modes. Unless the dealer was applying room correction, I would put it as 99.9% likely the speakers were only at fault insomuch as they play with authority too darn low for their own good.

 

[dfuller]

Room sucks, not the speakers.

 

[terryforsythe]

My guess is that neither dealer implemented room correction or, if they did, it was not done properly.

 

[Jim Taylor]

I played at least 15 songs. 14 of them had very good bass - no boominess at all. But one song ""Tell Yer Mama" by Norah Jones was absolutely terrible.

Speakers don't change characteristics selectively. If the "boominess" you heard was inherent to the speaker, you would have heard it on at least half of the other songs, including the MJ song, the Vasilic piece and Know Your Enemy.
The Jones recording has a good bit of overhang to the bass. That, combined with the dealer's room's acoustic characteristics, could possibly have caused the sound you heard. Other than that, I have no idea.

 

[raindance]

Or they had boosted the bass!

 

[middlemarch]

Just to amplify Jim's point, we all have a tendency to attribute what we hear to the system we're listening to, but if you're hearing something unpleasant in a track you're not that familiar with chances are it's an issue with the music. My system can go from incredibly tight to bloaty and flabby with the switch of a song (usually the whole album shares those characteristics). It's often in the recording, then with respect to bass particularly, the room. It's really, really hard to properly characterize the true sound of a set of speakers in a dealer's showroom, in fact I'd say virtually impossible. Hate to say that, but it's usually the truth...

 

[jayapple]

I have been looking at the latest Q meta series products, the price is very reasonable.

Compared with the R series, the stereo box is different.
Unfortunately, I haven't seen any review on the Q series, and I can only wait and see for the time being.

 

[Jim Taylor]

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any review on the Q series, and I can only wait and see for the time being.

These two might give you some worthwhile impressions, due to the similarities between them.

KEF Concerto Q META Bookshelf Speaker Review

KEF Concerto Q META

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

KEF Q3 META Bookshelf Speaker Review

KEF Q3 META

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

 

[holbob]

Erin reviewed the q11 meta as well. He seemed to really like it despite the steep roll off.

 

[anphex]

Or they had boosted the bass!

A while ago I auditioned the KEF Reference vs. the KEF R series at a nearby shop. There was so much gear between the source and the speakers — two towering racks full of equipment and cables — that I couldn't help but wonder if the R series was getting a bit of “tube amp magic” to boost contrast. The R series was noticeably inferior to the Reference line, and the gap genuinely surprised me. I don’t make such assumptions lightly, especially in person, but with no clear signal path and that much processing in between, it's hard not to question what exactly I was hearing.

 

[tineared]

I auditioned the KEF R11 Meta at two dealers.

Dealer 1: small shop. had a small dedicated room for kef R11. Speakers were placed around a feet from back wall and 0.5 feet from sidewall. Almost all songs I played had boomy and muddled bass. Some songs I remember playing were - Who is it by Michael Jackson, Take Five and Some song by Madonna I don't remember exactly(dealer played this one).

Dealer 2: Home theatre installer. Big shop, dedicated big theatre room with Kef R11. Around 2 feet from wall and more than a feet from sidewall. I played at least 15 songs. 14 of them had very good bass - no boominess at all. But one song ""Tell Yer Mama" by Norah Jones was absolutely terrible. I could not even listen to the full song, it was that terrible. Boomy and muddled bass overpowering everything. I came home and listened the same song on my B&W 804 Nautilus, absolutely fine bass. Some of the songs that I tried and sounded fine were Who is it by MJ, Bass Drops by Nenad Vasilic, Take Five, Warning Call by CHVRCHES, Everloving by Moby, Princess Familiar by Alanis Morisette, Know your enemy by Rage against machines.

Are the speakers at issue here or the dealer setup?

That's why it's beneficial to bring your own music to the audition. Better to have familiar recordings to determine your preferences and rule out poor recordings. Hard to believe a shop would do a demo with a poor recording, but...

 

[Taiga]

My R11s have tight clean bass, but some recordings are clearly unpleasant.

 

[post]

I auditioned the KEF R11 Meta at two dealers.

Dealer 1: small shop. had a small dedicated room for kef R11. Speakers were placed around a feet from back wall and 0.5 feet from sidewall. Almost all songs I played had boomy and muddled bass. Some songs I remember playing were - Who is it by Michael Jackson, Take Five and Some song by Madonna I don't remember exactly(dealer played this one).

Dealer 2: Home theatre installer. Big shop, dedicated big theatre room with Kef R11. Around 2 feet from wall and more than a feet from sidewall. I played at least 15 songs. 14 of them had very good bass - no boominess at all. But one song ""Tell Yer Mama" by Norah Jones was absolutely terrible. I could not even listen to the full song, it was that terrible. Boomy and muddled bass overpowering everything. I came home and listened the same song on my B&W 804 Nautilus, absolutely fine bass. Some of the songs that I tried and sounded fine were Who is it by MJ, Bass Drops by Nenad Vasilic, Take Five, Warning Call by CHVRCHES, Everloving by Moby, Princess Familiar by Alanis Morisette, Know your enemy by Rage against machines.

Are the speakers at issue here or the dealer setup?

Your observations are correct. Compared to your 804 Nautilus (congrats, thats a damn good loudspeaker) the kef R11 will have more sub bass. Although both floorstanders have almost similar freq response of 46 Hz - 28 kHz, kef R11's typical room bass response is 26 Hz. I guess you don't like that freq and can't tolerate it in some recordings. Personally, I also favour loudspeakers will a very fine-tuned low bass. I don't like too much low rumble especially when I'm listening to metal and classical.

 

[Marin]

Tvoja zapažanja su točna. U usporedbi s tvojim 804 Nautilusom (čestitam, to je prokleto dobar zvučnik), KEF R11 će imati više subbasa. Iako oba samostojeća zvučnika imaju gotovo sličan frekvencijski odziv od 46 Hz - 28 kHz, tipičan odziv basa u prostoriji KEF R11 je 26 Hz. Pretpostavljam da ti se ta frekvencija ne sviđa i da je ne možeš tolerirati u nekim snimkama. Osobno, također preferiram zvučnike s vrlo fino podešenim niskim basom. Ne volim previše niskog tutnjanja, pogotovo kada slušam metal i klasiku.

Yes, I thought the same and I certainly wouldn't switch from a Nautilus 804 to an R 11 unless I was paying for my daughter's wedding or school intuition.
I bet Nautilus would be my end game and many other people here....?