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KEF R3 meta Measurements

Descartes

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I don't think I have universal tastes when it comes to speaker setups.

I'm a music producer (that's what I do for a living) and critical monitoring is important to me, so my taste in music has evolved accordingly.


View attachment 266569


This is my studio, my listening environment. :)

I'm using an Arendal 1961 Tower, which is a fairly narrow directivity speaker.
You are using Arendal? Why not Genelec The Ones?
 

JRS

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KEF should send it to them!
The great thing about having members send in equipment is that we know it's a random sample and not cherry picked for excellence. I trust Amir to be as about unbiased as is possible, and he takes pains to mention factors that might be otherwise suspect, but he still has no way of knowing whether a sample is hand picked. I doubt KEF would stoop to such tactics, but I have no doubt it happens (especially when the first sample was defective--it never fails to amaze me how often this occurs with cost no object product, and then when "fixed" the entire tenor of the review goes from ho-hum to gob smacked--maybe things are better these days, just recalling my days when subjective review was about the only game in town).
 

phoenixdogfan

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The great thing about having members send in equipment is that we know it's a random sample and not cherry picked for excellence. I trust Amir to be as about unbiased as is possible, and he takes pains to mention factors that might be otherwise suspect, but he still has no way of knowing whether a sample is hand picked. I doubt KEF would stoop to such tactics, but I have no doubt it happens (especially when the first sample was defective--it never fails to amaze me how often this occurs with cost no object product, and then when "fixed" the entire tenor of the review goes from ho-hum to gob smacked--maybe things are better these days, just recalling my days when subjective review was about the only game in town).
Someone will get them and send them to Amir and Erin soon enough. Think we already know this is a really good speaker at a really fair price. Just wish they came in a matte black cabinet.
 

Vdrum

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The main difference will be in distortion. Being a 3 way, the R3 is a lower distortion speaker. LS50 owners deal with this by crossing higher, but with your necessary sub location, that will not work for you. Eighty to 90Hz is about as high was you would want to go. So, if distortion is a problem for you, upgrading to R3s is a viable solution.

Are the speakers hi pass filtered?

Can you add broadband absorption panels behind the TV and speakers? It needs to be at least 5" thick to work for low frequencies, but it will greatly help with SBIR in your situation.
Hi Steve, thanks for the input. I just wanted the whole system to sound more “beefy” but the Dirac takes care of the distortion ( not that my ears percieve them anyways ), no place for acoustic panels also. Will put on hold for now until a dealer here gets the new R3s then I will be able to upgrade with a LS trade in.
 

thewas

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Here is also the spinorama from KEF:

index.php

Source: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...eta-series-release.41420/page-51#post-1518026
 

thegeton

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Just received my R3 Metas last Thursday. Have spent the weekend listening to them. I upgraded that system from Revel M16s to the R3Ms. Subjectively, they are amazing. Very happy.
 

Descartes

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Just received my R3 Metas last Thursday. Have spent the weekend listening to them. I upgraded that system from Revel M16s to the R3Ms. Subjectively, they are amazing. Very happy.
What do you find better than the Revel, we understand it is just a subjective opinion, but please share.
 

thegeton

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I've been listening to the M16s since January 2022. Vinyl, Hi-Res streaming (Qobuz, Radioparadise), and CDs. All through the same system in which they were replaced by the R3Ms:

(Analog) U-Turn Orbit Theory/Ortofon 2m Bronze + Cambridge Audio Alva Duo - Schiit Freya S - Buckeye Purifi 1ET400A - KEF R3 Meta + Emotiva SE12 ; (Digital) Bluesound Node 2i/Audiolab 6000CDT - Topping D70s - Schiit Freya S - Buckeye Amps Purifi 1ET400A - KEF R3 Meta + Emotiva SE12.

Arguably a very clean and highly transparent system, at least on the digital side ;).

I still love and respect my M16s, enough so, that they are now a valued part of my desktop system. I'm not letting them go.

The M16s are nearly flat, clear, punchy, detailed, yet smooth without sounding like the highs are rolled off. No listening fatigue, as in zero. They have good directivity, so it doesn't seem to matter where you sit or if you're standing. Obviously the sweet spot remains the sweet spot, but outside of it you're not suffering for tonality or imaging. They will play as loudly as you can stand (using some BS app on my android phone, I've measured sustained output >95dB before I felt like I was going to damage my hearing) and they continue to crank out the music undistorted. I've listened to all genres of music through them, I'm sort of a musical omnivore. As stated before, I love these guys.

That said, their general "sonic envlope"TM is modest. in a small/medium room they punch well above their weight class, expecially with a sub. In a medium/large room they sound great when you're within 10-15 feet of them. As you might predict, as you move away from that distance, both volume and coherence drop markedly.

The Kef R3 Metas are "larger." They sound more full, richer, and output a much bigger "sonic envlope"TM. Their highs seem to me to be more detailed, but not like someone jacked up the treble. Just more high frequency information available to hear. Midrange is a bit better, female vocals a bit more full and balanced. Bass is punchy without being boomy, and might even blend better with the sub.

I want to repeat that EVERYTHING I'm writing is completely subjective. No instrumented testing, no double blind anything (unless of course you want to include the results of some Don Julio 1942 testing which I thought had left me blind, but that's off topic...)

It appears to me that the R3Ms need slightly more amplifier power to drive them than the M16s. I had the gain on the Freya S set to 6dB for the 6Ω M16s. I have it set to 12dB for the 4Ω R3Ms when playing digital sources. The Buckeye Purify gain was set to "High" (25.5dB/2.17Vrms) for all scenarios.

The bottom line for me is that my musical listening experience is better. As a lover of music, I'm grateful for this. This next bit might be a bold and foolish statement, but these might be the endgame speakers for that system.
 
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Descartes

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I've been listening to the M16s since January 2022. Vinyl, Hi-Res streaming (Qobuz, Radioparadise), and CDs. All through the same system in which they were replaced by the R3Ms:

(Analog) U-Turn Orbit Theory/Ortofon 2m Bronze + Cambridge Audio Alva Duo - Schiit Freya S - Buckeye Purifi 1ET400A - KEF R3 Meta + Emotiva SE12 ; (Digital) Bluesound Node 2i/Audiolab 6000CDT - Topping D70s - Schiit Freya S - Buckeye Amps Purifi 1ET400A - KEF R3 Meta + Emotiva SE12.

Arguably a very clean and highly transparent system, at least on the digital side ;).

I still love and respect my M16s, enough so, that they are now a valued part of my desktop system. I'm not letting them go.

The M16s are nearly flat, clear, punchy, detailed, yet smooth without sounding like the highs are rolled off. No listening fatigue, as in zero. They have good directivity, so it doesn't seem to matter where you sit or if you're standing. Obviously the sweet spot remains the sweet spot, but outside of it you're not suffering for tonality or imaging. They will play as loudly as you can stand (using some BS app on my android phone, I've measured sustained output >95dB before I felt like I was going to damage my hearing) and they continue to crank out the music undistorted. I've listened to all genres of music through them, I'm sort of a musical omnivore. As stated before, I love these guys.

That said, their general "sonic envlope"TM is modest. in a small/medium room they punch well above their weight class, expecially with a sub. In a medium/large room they sound great when you're within 10-15 feet of them. As you might predict, as you move away from that distance, both volume and coherence drop markedly.

The Kef R3 Metas are "larger." They sound more full, richer, and output a much bigger "sonic envlope"TM. Their highs seem to me to be more detailed, but not like someone jacked up the treble. Just more high frequency information available to hear. Midrange is a bit better, female vocals a bit more full and balanced. Bass is punchy without being boomy, and might even blend better with the sub.

I want to repeat that EVERYTHING I'm writing is completely subjective. No instrumented testing, no double blind anything (unless of course you want to include the results of some Don Julio 1942 testing which I thought had left me blind, but that's off topic...)

It appears to me that the R3Ms need slightly more amplifier power to drive them than the M16s. I had the gain on the Freya S set to 6dB for the 6Ω M16s. I have it set to 12dB for the 4Ω R3Ms when playing digital sources. The Buckeye Purify gain was set to "High" (25.5dB/2.17Vrms) for all scenarios.

The bottom line for me is that my musical listening experience is better. As a lover of music, I'm grateful for this. This next bit might be a bold and foolish statement, but these might be the endgame speakers for that system.
Thank you for your subjective impressions and opinions!

What kind of music do you listen to?
Also have you tried them with movies?
 

Vacceo

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I've been listening to the M16s since January 2022. Vinyl, Hi-Res streaming (Qobuz, Radioparadise), and CDs. All through the same system in which they were replaced by the R3Ms:

(Analog) U-Turn Orbit Theory/Ortofon 2m Bronze + Cambridge Audio Alva Duo - Schiit Freya S - Buckeye Purifi 1ET400A - KEF R3 Meta + Emotiva SE12 ; (Digital) Bluesound Node 2i/Audiolab 6000CDT - Topping D70s - Schiit Freya S - Buckeye Amps Purifi 1ET400A - KEF R3 Meta + Emotiva SE12.

Arguably a very clean and highly transparent system, at least on the digital side ;).

I still love and respect my M16s, enough so, that they are now a valued part of my desktop system. I'm not letting them go.

The M16s are nearly flat, clear, punchy, detailed, yet smooth without sounding like the highs are rolled off. No listening fatigue, as in zero. They have good directivity, so it doesn't seem to matter where you sit or if you're standing. Obviously the sweet spot remains the sweet spot, but outside of it you're not suffering for tonality or imaging. They will play as loudly as you can stand (using some BS app on my android phone, I've measured sustained output >95dB before I felt like I was going to damage my hearing) and they continue to crank out the music undistorted. I've listened to all genres of music through them, I'm sort of a musical omnivore. As stated before, I love these guys.

That said, their general "sonic envlope"TM is modest. in a small/medium room they punch well above their weight class, expecially with a sub. In a medium/large room they sound great when you're within 10-15 feet of them. As you might predict, as you move away from that distance, both volume and coherence drop markedly.

The Kef R3 Metas are "larger." They sound more full, richer, and output a much bigger "sonic envlope"TM. Their highs seem to me to be more detailed, but not like someone jacked up the treble. Just more high frequency information available to hear. Midrange is a bit better, female vocals a bit more full and balanced. Bass is punchy without being boomy, and might even blend better with the sub.

I want to repeat that EVERYTHING I'm writing is completely subjective. No instrumented testing, no double blind anything (unless of course you want to include the results of some Don Julio 1942 testing which I thought had left me blind, but that's off topic...)

It appears to me that the R3Ms need slightly more amplifier power to drive them than the M16s. I had the gain on the Freya S set to 6dB for the 6Ω M16s. I have it set to 12dB for the 4Ω R3Ms when playing digital sources. The Buckeye Purify gain was set to "High" (25.5dB/2.17Vrms) for all scenarios.

The bottom line for me is that my musical listening experience is better. As a lover of music, I'm grateful for this. This next bit might be a bold and foolish statement, but these might be the endgame speakers for that system.
I'm particularly interested about your last impression regarding amp juice. Would you say that being bookshelves they are "AVR friendly' (around 100W) or it'd be a good idea to give them more power?
 

juliangst

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Descartes

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Looks like the 'BBC dip' is still present.
My LS50 also have this dip (but around 1-1.5kHz) and after Dirac corrected for it they sounded way clearer and more detailed in the midrange.
I wonder if it will be a similar situation with the R3 Meta
Interesting let’s hope not!
 

Steve Dallas

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Looks like the 'BBC dip' is still present.
My LS50 also have this dip (but around 1-1.5kHz) and after Dirac corrected for it they sounded way clearer and more detailed in the midrange.
I wonder if it will be a similar situation with the R3 Meta
In a speaker with good directivity, predicted in-room response closely matches sound power, and look how flat sound power is, with no BBC dip to speak of.

The Revel F206 is similar in that regard. On-axis is not flat, but sound power is flat. The speaker sounds and measures flat in a typical room as a result.
 
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BrokenEnglishGuy

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Personally i do that dip with eq to all of my things.
My ether flow, my kef r7 and my airpods 2nd gen have eq preset called loud which make the mids smoother
it doesnt sound less “detailed” only more natural to me.
 

thegeton

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Thank you for your subjective impressions and opinions!

What kind of music do you listen to?
Also have you tried them with movies?

I'm an omnivore so a little bit of everything, but I focus mainly on alternative music. Whatever I listen to, I like it loudish, in the 80-85 dB range.

I have not used them for movies, but you might do a search on "KEF R3" because I have read/seen a moderately large number of posts from others who have R3s in their home theater setups.
 

thegeton

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I'm particularly interested about your last impression regarding amp juice. Would you say that being bookshelves they are "AVR friendly' (around 100W) or it'd be a good idea to give them more power?

I don't feel qualified enough to offer a meaningful answer to your question. That said, I will offer my subjective opinion that they would be fine with 100W but would perform better with more. I think you could invest in these and your 100W AVR will be perfectly serviceable and allow you to successfully audition the speakers. Then you can decide if you think you need more wattage.
 
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