KEF R11 Meta Tower Speaker Review

[MSRP-Buyer]

I decided on Ascend ELX towers and their Horizon center with ribbon tweeters. Their dedication to measurements, company reputation and high quality to dollar ratio made the decision easier but it was tough between them, KEF, SVS, etc

I'm in a similar situation. To get the R11 META with the R2 center is about $6500 here locally, and the Ascend ELX towers and Horizon center (raal versions) $9000 delivered to Japan. I don't know if the value is there for the Ascends when the R11 META scores so high on the review. If I was in the states there would be more choices but there isn't a huge variety here except on the higher end.

 

[Crosstalk]

EQ-ing a speaker can create phase issues or pre-ringing if linear phase EQ is used. If you try to boost an SBIR null you are just going to more cancellation and eventually distortion.

So are you saying when @amirm eqs speakers sometimes after measuring them, it’s pointless ?

 

[Crosstalk]

I took some pictures of the R and Reference drivers. This link also has some more information. But hey, they are equal!
https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...-lf-drivers-reference-vs-r-series-pics.45676/

Doesn’t matter unless it shows really an improvement in measurement. r11 has lower distortion than ref 3 with bass. Nice looks on ref woofers, great for marketing. Also it makes owners of those speakers feel good that they are having something sophisticated! Check out bass distortion measurements of R11 vs Reference 3.

 

[Crosstalk]

, the quality of how they mount the drivers into the cabinet are better in the references,

How are they different ? Did you open a reference to see how it’s “better”?

 

[songOVERsound]

So are you saying when @amirm eqs speakers sometimes after measuring them, it’s pointless ?

This is another one of your attempts to redirect the conversation. And you do so by name dropping the guy who runs the forum?

EQing speakers is not pointless and I never said or implied that it was. Go back and read the conversations and see the patterns because so far you ate arguing with everyone. Notice the common denominator

 

[richard12511]

True you can buy the ref 5 at 7k, just bought blade 2 meta for 12k

Damn, for that price I probably would have pulled the trigger, even though I don’t need them.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

How are they different ? Did you open a reference to see how it’s “better”?

There is pictures of these, you can see both speaker inside..

Btw, i just want to point something, i guess the main problem with you, is when bought the R11 was because u think that going to be a 5 start performance by everyone, but here in audio world... you just cannot aggre with everyone, there is people who hate revel and kef sound and might love their B&W SPEAKERS, if you take a momment, there is no much of them here because usually you see members washing their speakers, for some people Revels speakers just do bad cabinet with cheese crossover, you ALWAYS gonna find someone that just dont like your speaker. But being very honest, you are not going to have the best if you dont pay the '' best '', in this case is not the R11 or the R11M, are the Reference 5 META..

If you just wanna have always the best, sell the r11 and buy the REF5M, then save 20,000 usd for the next KEF REFERENCE, buy these used might have a better deal. But im pretty sure there is someone that are going to think something like this '' pff for that money you can buy this speaker: xxxxx ''
Worth to mention: The expensier the speaker, the less people have acces to that speaker, the less bad comments you are going to see

Damn, for that price I probably would have pulled the trigger, even though I don’t need them.

Usually people tend to change too much his speakers for room problems, so the second market is very interesting.

 

[songOVERsound]

The irony here is that I own the basic r11’s. I think they are fantastic and I also EQ them… however, I also understand there is plenty of scientific proof that many other speakers can out perform them. By how much? That’s beyond my design… but they are marginally better and KEF’s own white paper documents have matched others Klippel measurements.

So unless KEF speakers have some kind of technology that can sway testing equipment in the same way that Volkswagen cheated test equipment with their diesel motors, then the reference series are indisputably better

 

[MSRP-Buyer]

The irony here is that I own the basic r11’s. I think they are fantastic and I also EQ them… however, I also understand there is plenty of scientific proof that many other speakers can out perform them. By how much? That’s beyond my design… but they are marginally better and KEF’s own white paper documents have matched others Klippel measurements.

So unless KEF speakers have some kind of technology that can sway testing equipment in the same way that Volkswagen cheated test equipment with their diesel motors, then the reference series are indisputably better

Not to digress, but German engineering is on a whole different level and I chuckled when that made the news.

 

[songOVERsound]

Not to digress, but German engineering is on a whole different level and I chuckled when that made the news.

I think they learned their lesson from that one haha

 

[Crosstalk]

Not to digress, but German engineering is on a whole different level and I chuckled when that made the news.

Kef is a Chinese company.

There is pictures of these, you can see both speaker inside..

Btw, i just want to point something, i guess the main problem with you, is when bought the R11 was because u think that going to be a 5 start performance by everyone, but here in audio world... you just cannot aggre with everyone, there is people who hate revel and kef sound and might love their B&W SPEAKERS, if you take a momment, there is no much of them here because usually you see members washing their speakers, for some people Revels speakers just do bad cabinet with cheese crossover, you ALWAYS gonna find someone that just dont like your speaker. But being very honest, you are not going to have the best if you dont pay the '' best '', in this case is not the R11 or the R11M, are the Reference 5 META..

If you just wanna have always the best, sell the r11 and buy the REF5M, then save 20,000 usd for the next KEF REFERENCE, buy these used might have a better deal. But im pretty sure there is someone that are going to think something like this '' pff for that money you can buy this speaker: xxxxx ''
Worth to mention: The expensier the speaker, the less people have acces to that speaker, the less bad comments you are going to see

Usually people tend to change too much his speakers for room problems, so the second market is very interesting.

I won’t buy references now! It’s a waste of money for aesthetics. In second hand market if they cost the price of a new R11, and if they come with left over warranty I will consider. Anyway, so much negative press here will lower their value and it will eventually become something in my budget

 

[staticV3]

Kef is a Chinese company.

KEF is a British company, owned by a Hong Kong-based corporation.

 

[amper42]

KEF is a British company, owned by a Hong Kong-based corporation.

Hong Kong owned by China?

Hong Kong[e] is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. With 7.4 million residents of various nationalities[f] in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated territories in the world.

Hong Kong - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Crosstalk]

KEF is a British company, owned by a Hong Kong-based corporation.

Which makes it a Chinese company. When you buy a kef product, you are making a Chinese corporation rich. They pay good payment to some British employees. But I think xiaomi or Huawei also has English or American employees on their higher posts. Also their engineering is done partially in Europe. British heritage is a nice thing to market though.

Eventually some Chinese corporation and Chinese govt. is the main beneficiary here.

 

[exm]

Which makes it a Chinese company. When you buy a kef product, you are making a Chinese corporation rich. They pay good payment to some British employees. But I think xiaomi or Huawei also has English or American employees on their higher posts. Also their engineering is done partially in Europe. British heritage is a nice thing to market though.

Eventually some Chinese corporation and Chinese govt. is the main beneficiary here.

What's your point? How's that related to the R11s?

 

[songOVERsound]

I got my r11’s at 50% off NEW. Nobody made money on that unless they figured out a tax write-off. Which they probably did

 

[montyliam]

Which makes it a Chinese company.

Nope, it's a British company headquartered in Maidstone.

 

[Crosstalk]

What's your point? How's that related to the R11s?

I like Chinese people a lot. They are hardworking and clever. I strongly believe they are the next super power. Infact I have kef R11, and lot of smsl and topping gear for this cause.

 

[Crosstalk]

Nope, it's a British company headquartered in Maidstone.

KEF, GP Acoustics: your father's loudspeaker company no more | Darko.Audio

A tour of Gold Peak's Hong Kong headquarters.

darko.audio

Basically the money goes to china every time when you buy anything KEF.

 

[GoDawgs]

KEF, GP Acoustics: your father's loudspeaker company no more | Darko.Audio

A tour of Gold Peak's Hong Kong headquarters.

darko.audio

Basically the money goes to china every time when you buy anything KEF.

Basically some money goes to China for most modern manufactured goods. But let's not digress into politics or we'll never get the smell out of here.