Kef R3 Meta vs R11 (non-meta)

[faviann]

I'm in a situation where I need some help to make a more informed decision.

I was planning, later this year, to buy a pair of R3 Meta for our living room (L&R speakers). Since I already have my endgame subwoofers I was trying to build towards my endgame speaker setup. Hence the choice of the R3 Metas.

Last week, a friend of mine offered me to sell his pair of R11 (non-meta, couple of years old) at a really nice discount. Naturally that got me excited. He's basically offering the R11 pair at 75% of the R3 Meta store price. It feels like an amazing deal for me and definitely something to consider.

What has me doubting though is the fact that I already have 2 subwoofers (PSA TV36) that would covers all my sub-100hz needs. Considering that aspect, I'm wondering what would be the wiser choice.

I would be using it 40% movies/40% gaming/20% music. The room I'd be using it is 23 x 12 and it's half open on one side of the walls.

I'm trying to understand if I would gain something interesting. My guess is mostly in the range between 100-500hz. Hopefully you can help me with the right info. (whether it's questions or links to read)

 

[ZolaIII]

In short they old drivers had a less pronounced Fs and there for less distortion under it. So that's for R3 and R3 Metas while R11 is the same as R3 with 4x woofers and at least 6 dB more headroom or lower THD there so no brainer at all especially if get them at low price and someone you know and trust.

 

[faviann]

In short they old drivers had a less pronounced Fs and there for less distortion under it. So that's for R3 and R3 Metas while R11 is the same as R3 with 4x woofers and at least 6 dB more headroom or lower THD there so no brainer at all especially if get them at low price and someone you know and trust.

I'm bit confused and still new to a lot of this so you'll have to bear with me for a bit. I realized more details might help me get the clarity I'd need

Considering additionally :
1) The "relatively" small room It would be filling
2) That I'll take the time to properly cross-over/align the subs with the speakers (with measurements)
3) I'll be sitting at less than 3 meters from them ( ~8 feet distance)
4) I mostly watch movies around -10db (still a long way from reference)

Am I wrong supposing that:
A) The headroom would go mostly unused
B) The THD difference would also not really be noticeable considering the subs' heavy lifting? (and hence reducing THD/MD considering a potential crossover around the 100hz region)
C) If I really wanted the sound signature of the Metas I could probably achieve it with some EQ and it would end up somewhat cheaper and with better speakers although at the cost of time.
D) Should I be eventually aspiring to something like Dirac ART, the R11 make for a much better choice than the R3
E) The only reason to consider the R3s meta would be if I am hellbent on getting that sound signature(the lessened "brightness") on higher frequencies with "less hoops"

 

[ZolaIII]

A) yes it is but better to have it anyway
B) move it up a bit to 110~120 Hz over the woffer Fs and same as A.
C) no such thing, they are tuned exactly the same and sound pretty much the same R3/R3 Metas (R 11 having 3 more woofers for low end).
D) if you are lazy, I ain't giving them 800$ for full multi sub licenses and besides you can do better on your own with lot of effort and time invested into it of course.
E) option B Wharfedale Linton's and you also get stands and for less money. If you want large old fashion three way bookshelf's.

 

[faviann]

A) yes it is but better to have it anyway
B) move it up a bit to 110~120 Hz over the woffer Fs and same as A.
C) no such thing, they are tuned exactly the same and sound pretty much the same R3/R3 Metas (R 11 having 3 more woofers for low end).
D) if you are lazy, I ain't giving them 800$ for full multi sub licenses and besides you can do better on your own with lot of effort and time invested into it of course.
E) option B Wharfedale Linton's and you also get stands and for less money. If you want large old fashion three way bookshelf's.

For C), I was referencing the couple of measurements I've seen (and whitepaper) that meta speakers kind of exhibit the same downward slope on their frequency response once passed the ~10khz; a downward slope for the metas instead of the flatter response of the non-meta. I might be mistaken and/or misread the white papers. It might also be too minor to be actually noticeable or even worry about. But this is what I'm referring to (the Listening window RMS average):

Regardless big thanks for the help, you already clarified a lot of what I needed help to understand.

 

[ZolaIII]

If you want wide coverage in highs you will need either speakers with berilium tweeters or large full range woofers that can go pretty high without tremble such are both expensive and rare or one's with multiple tweeters in certain angle. You can also use super tweaters to achieve similar effects.
As much as I know Kef didn't change tweeters, maybe they reworked the crossover that it slopes better with Metas but it won't make a significant difference nor much wider sweat spot anyway.