KEF R11 Meta Tower Speaker Review

[Opal]

Hope KEF sends you the reference series next for review

 

[exm]

First there is the Reference 3, which costs roughly twice as much and the Reference 5 three times. But can we be sure that these two are considerably better, or just ever so slightly?

As someone who has owned the non-Meta R11 and now the Reference 5, the Reference 5 is a clearly superior speakers in all aspects. I was never fond of the LF in my R11 (I liked the older R900 better, but that speaker had 2x8"LF drivers instead of 4x6.5"). However, the Reference 5 LF is by far the best I've heard out a speaker. The Uni-Q driver is also on a different level, which really opens the room compared to the R11. Unfortunately I don't have measurements (hopefully Kef will send a Reference 3 or 5), but the Reference is absolutely a superior speaker. Now is it worth 3 times the price? At retail, no (unless you can afford it). However, used non-Meta Reference 3/5 speakers can be found for a bit over MSRP for the R11 Meta speakers... Just saying.

 

[exm]

The Reference series are made in the UK, and look at the price

To comment on the build quality, it's night and day between the R and Reference. The R Series, although they look beautiful are made of very inexpensive (pressed?) wood that chips very easily. The Reference Series build quality is clearly in a different league (but you would expect that based on the price).

 

[DSJR]

Hi,

the crossovers and tweeters were serviced in 2020, so the internals are sound. They are magnificent beasts, just a very low WAF.

I'm yet to be fully convinced that two smaller drivers can be as good as one large one, but I'm keeping my mind open...

 

[KMO]

Doesn't exist. @jackocleebrown sorted that out too.

Or at least suppressed it beyond where we should care - other measurements have shown KEF's tweeter designs start to resonate up around 38kHz. The stiffened dome has pushed that resonant frequency well beyond hearing range (and usual output filters), and the tangerine waveguide reduces the resonance intensity (if I understand all the various white papers correctly).

 

[id.ray]

@amirm Is there anyway you could measure them with the port plugs? I'm having a lot of trouble integrating the subs with these towers in my house and i think its due to the weird shelving, I actually prefer them more without subs running at all and just keeping them a couple feet off the front wall. I'm also curious as to rear wall bounce drastic slope at 700hz and above. Is there something i should be doing to my rear wall? Unfortunately i cant really pull my couch up towards the speakers due to room constraints. maybe this is why dialog in movies is sometimes very difficult.

Thank you in advance, Ray

 

[amirm]

@amirm Is there anyway you could measure them with the port plugs?

Unfortunately not. I had to get help to get them on measurement stand. I meant to make that measurement but just forgot. Integrating subs with speakers is always very difficult. Are you measuring your room to do that?

 

[amirm]

Someone asked for comparison against my Revel Salon 2. I actually thought of that when listening to R11 Meta. They are not in the same place so I can't tell you about a direct comparison. Commenting anyway , I thought the apparent image size of the R11 Meta is smaller than Salon 2. Without EQ, it has far less bass. With EQ, the R11 has about 70% of the bass of the Salon 2. On the positive front, every track that sounded great on Salon 2, sounded great on R11 Meta with EQ. Not many speakers can do this.

 

[amirm]

On tweeter position it is slightly below my ear at my listening position. However, I have the R11 Meta on a foam pad, not its dedicated footers. I don't remember how tall they are. From my rather far listening position, I didn't get the sense of tweeter being too low whereas I think my Salon 2 tweeters are too high.

 

[staticV3]

Is there anyway you could measure them with the port plugs?

Erin's measurements of the R3 Meta with/without port should give you a pretty good idea of what the R11 Meta's response might be like with its port plugged:


The same roll-off applied to Amir's measurement of the R11 Meta, leaves you with the following approximate response:

 

[hlevinson]

First there is the Reference 3, which costs roughly twice as much and the Reference 5 three times. But can we be sure that these two are considerably better, or just ever so slightly?

I did a demo of the R11 to the Reference series (non-meta models). the reference were much more detailed. I bought the Reference 1 but then upgraded to the Reference 3 as my local dealer had a demo pair for 50% off so basically the same price as the current R11.

Build quality between the Reference and R series is also vastly different. Different drivers, different cabinets, real wood veneers, aluminum front baffle, etc.

 

[SlothRock]

Anyone using these for home theater? Currently have the Gen 1 Klipsch RP8000F's and center which I know measured terribly on here but have been OK for home theater usage specifically. Curious how much of an upgrade we'd be talking here for Home Theater .

 

[pkgriffith814]

Anyone using these for home theater? Currently have the Gen 1 Klipsch RP8000F's and center which I know measured terribly on here but have been OK for home theater usage specifically. Curious how much of an upgrade we'd be talking here for Home Theater .

I just replaced my Martin Logan Theos and Montif X fronts/center with the R7 Meta's and R6 center channel. I picked the R7's because the low end was not that much different than the R11's and I have two Martin Logan 1100x subs anyway. Movies never sounded to good.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

This kind of speakers measurements is what we need
thx.

 

[Talisman]

Anyone using these for home theater? Currently have the Gen 1 Klipsch RP8000F's and center which I know measured terribly on here but have been OK for home theater usage specifically. Curious how much of an upgrade we'd be talking here for Home Theater .

My main listening system consists of a KEF R3 OG with 3 subs, but in the TV room I have two Klipsch RP280Fs, I wouldn't change the Klipsch for the KEF in that position for any reason.

 

[Music1969]

All dome tweeters have an “oil-can” resonance. In the case of soft domes it is damped to reduce audibility but is in the audio band, in the case of a well designed metal dome it is too high to be audible and therefore pointless to add damping and increase the dome mass, but look like a scary spike to the ignorant on a measurement.

I'm aware it is past 20kHz which is why I asked for wider band plot.

Another user said it has been solved.

I never mentioned it is audible - it is a technical query

 

[MEGB1262]

Hi all,

the R7 Meta has a brand new review in the new Audio / Stereoplay german audio magazine

even though they have a new reference as new testing winner every month, their conclusions for the R7 Meta are very close to those made here for the R11 Meta

two more bass chassis, higher over all SPL and lower distortion in the bass range

i believe there is a great potential to come close to the performance of the Reference series models through the activation with a decent plate amp like the Hypex FA models

my impression is that beside the made in England more accurate finish of the Reference series the biggest difference is in the passive crossover

Reference crossover boards use much more complicated 18 / 24 dB topology than the 6 / 12 dB topology of the quite simple R series crossover

the quality of the caps, the coils and even the resistors is much better in the Reference models

some people say that the drivers are the same even for the Blade model, other people say that the driver of the Reference / Blade use custom drivers with more sophisticated magnetic motors with a lot of expensive neodymium instead of ordinary ferrite

i have never seen photos of an A / B comparison of the dismounted coax driver of a R series / Reference series driver

there is also potential to improve the quality of the damping material of the bass speaker and the coax, for the coax you can improve a lot with something like Mundorf angel air (small cabinet, does not cost a fortune) especially with such details the cost reduction efforts for the mass production of the R series make a substantial difference

so far - so good, Stefano

 

[Sprint]

The blades have better cabinet shape and even larger bass drivers also 4 of them , so they fit an even larger room.

You have two sizes of the blades .

The reference also has more powerful drivers for each size . But they are expensive due to being handmade in Britain ouch I like the rough 1:1 correspondence between R and Reference models.

I would also pick R11 over the small reference 1 for example. So they are luxuries not value for money ( but if had that money .... )

If you want the blade driver configuration in a smaller scale there is LS60

For me, it would be the other way around. I did AB comparison of Reference 1 and R11 classic. The Reference 1 definitely sounded more pleasant and enjoyable (minus the bass of R11).

 

[Ciobi69]

As someone who has owned the non-Meta R11 and now the Reference 5, the Reference 5 is a clearly superior speakers in all aspects. I was never fond of the LF in my R11 (I liked the older R900 better, but that speaker had 2x8"LF drivers instead of 4x6.5"). However, the Reference 5 LF is by far the best I've heard out a speaker. The Uni-Q driver is also on a different level, which really opens the room compared to the R11. Unfortunately I don't have measurements (hopefully Kef will send a Reference 3 or 5), but the Reference is absolutely a superior speaker. Now is it worth 3 times the price? At retail, no (unless you can afford it). However, used non-Meta Reference 3/5 speakers can be found for a bit over MSRP for the R11 Meta speakers... Just saying.

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

 

[AdamG]

Science and excellent engineering works!

Indeed and why you have created this site and dedicated yourself to proving this over and over. It’s not magic, it’s science.

Thanks Amir for the detailed and informative review Sir.