KEF R3 Speaker Review

[oceansize]

they went on sale at bestbuy for $1100, all gone in under 2 hrs. Insane price, especially for the white ones.

Did you get lucky?

 

[gegegege]

Did you get lucky?

I managed to get open box black for 650, was thinking about getting new white ones but they are gone in a blink.

 

[oceansize]

I managed to get open box black for 650, was thinking about getting new white ones but they are gone in a blink.

That's probably an even better deal that you've got there!

 

[gegegege]

That's probably an even better deal that you've got there!

yeah, got lucky with bestbuy open box this time, only very minor scratches at the bottom. Man I love how they sound.

 

[oceansize]

yeah, got lucky with bestbuy open box this time, only very minor scratches at the bottom. Man I love how they sound.

Excellent! And $250 to spend on more music, gigs, beers, whatever!

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

im still dont know if change the speakers (kef r7s) or add 2 rythmik f12..... most of my interes for doing this is not using the ports from my r7s and let the subs that work, but is a pain in the butttt
im pretty sure the r7 cabinet will sound better/be happier for only doing 80hz-20khz

 

[bodhi]

im still dont know if change the speakers (kef r7s) or add 2 rythmik f12..... most of my interes for doing this is not using the ports from my r7s and let the subs that work, but is a pain in the butttt
im pretty sure the r7 cabinet will sound better/be happier for only doing 80hz-20khz

IMO whatever improvement you will get from relieving the R7 from playing low frequencies will pale compared with the extension and power you get from the subs playing the same frequencies. Unless you know R7 struggles with upper bass in your listening conditions (doubt).

So unless you plan on upgrading mains to something truly full range with equal quality (expensive) then the subs seems to be the rational choice.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

IMO whatever improvement you will get from relieving the R7 from playing low frequencies will pale compared with the extension and power you get from the subs playing the same frequencies. Unless you know R7 struggles with upper bass in your listening conditions (doubt).

So unless you plan on upgrading mains to something truly full range with equal quality (expensive) then the subs seems to be the rational choice.

To be honest im very satifated by the r7 + the in-room gain... im only curious for these people that are running the r7 and r11s 80hz-20khz with subs, i know a guy here that have the r7s 80hz-20khz with dual subs, good improvement

Im plenty of LFE and volume/distortion here btw

 

[HarmonicTHD]

To be honest im very satifated by the r7 + the in-room gain... im only curious for these people that are running the r7 and r11s 80hz-20khz with subs, i know a guy here that have the r7s 80hz-20khz with dual subs, good improvement

Im plenty of LFE and volume/distortion here btw

Think no further. Keep the R7 and add a pair of good subs.

I run Reference 3 with two KF92 and the Ref 3 has the same amount of drivers as the R7 (yes a bit stronger but not comparable to what the subs do). I plugged the Ref 3 (KF92 is also not ported and crossed them over at 80hz (Auddyssey XT32). Better extension less distortion confirmed by REW.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

Think no further. Keep the R7 and add a pair of good subs.

I run Reference 3 with two KF92 and the Ref 3 has the same amount of drivers as the R7 (yes a bit stronger but not comparable to what the subs do). I plugged the Ref 3 (KF92 is also not ported and crossed them over at 80hz (Auddyssey XT32). Better extension less distortion confirmed by REW.

When u crossed the ref3 at 80hz did u hear improvements?



I don't know at this point if its better to keep the r7 and then buy something for cross them at 80hz ... or look at the R6 meta as L & R channel and then adds the subs, because i can't with my setup run the r7 at 80hz and then delay the r7s and bla bla.

More than LFE i wonder if the main speaker sound cleaner or something like that in its bass performance, i'm just curious.

If i remember well when my friend crossed 80hz-20khz with his subs, the improvement from his ref3s was very minor but i heared more LFE btw, but the cabinet from the ref3 is much different than the R series. Only hear that setup 1 time.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

When u crossed the ref3 at 80hz did u hear improvements?



I don't know at this point if its better to keep the r7 and then buy something for cross them at 80hz ... or look at the R6 meta as L & R channel and then adds the subs, because i can't with my setup run the r7 at 80hz and then delay the r7s and bla bla.

More than LFE i wonder if the main speaker sound cleaner or something like that in its bass performance, i'm just curious.

If i remember well when my friend crossed 80hz-20khz with his subs, the improvement from his ref3s was very minor but i heared more LFE btw, but the cabinet from the ref3 is much different than the R series. Only hear that setup 1 time.

I determined the xover with REW and for my room the subs „filled“ in a room mode nicely when crossing at 80hz. Optimal xover might be different for other rooms. only measurements eg REW can tell.

Subjectively yes the lower extension is audible. As for clean bass, here a good sub(s) is critical and good placement and roomEQ. Before I tried SVS 1000, 3000 Micro, KC62 and even KH750. All too small and actually make bass worse vs the Ref3 alone ( subjectively - more „muddy“ / „boomy“) in my room.

Only one way for you to find out. Look for a shop with a good return policy and order a sub. (That’s what I did. Useless to listen to internet impressions. Including mine).

 

[EdJ]

I bought 2 R3's on the best buy sale, they became available at a different store ;-). I get them Tuesday. Hopefully I like them. A few questions. I was planning on testing them in my house before getting the center channel, but best buy has the floor model R2C on sale for $552 in what they say is satisfactory condition. How much better is the R6 meta for center. Should I just look at the floor model and buy it if it looks good?

I'm currently using a denon 920 amp with 90 W/channel in a 3.1.2 system in a large room. Is that enough for the kefs. I am considering the onkyo RZ50 or Sony AZ5000ES as an upgrade with 120 W/channel and I could biamp the left and right.

 

[gegegege]

Was listening to the dragon quest symphony collection, surprised to find that my JBL 530s are more enjoyable than the r3s with these music, don't really know why, the 590s are even better. It's completely the other way around with high dynamic music like finalfantasy 7r OST where the JBLs sound very dry and r3 has so much more energy.

 

[Mister Heargood]

I apologize if I cover old ground here, but I don't know how to dig this out of 52 pages of posts.

Looking at the spin, it seems that these speakers preserve broad (lack of) directivity vertically better than horizontally. Would there be an advantage to placing them sideways on a stand or bookshelf? Am I reading the spin data correctly?

Rick "just trying to learn how to interpret spin data" Denney

Sorry this is a few years late. I own some R3s and wonder the same thing now. It looks like moving your head from side to side would have less of an effect on loudness if the speakers were on their side. Hmmm....

 

[gegegege]

I love my R3s, but I bought a pair of white R7 with the recent deal, I thought the difference would be minor because I got a subwoofer for the R3s, but the bass is noticeably better with the R7 which is paired with the same subwoofer and crossed over same at 60hz.
I listen to them in a small listening room about 14sqm, it's a worthwhile upgrade!

 

[muad]

I love my R3s, but I bought a pair of white R7 with the recent deal, I thought the difference would be minor because I got a subwoofer for the R3s, but the bass is noticeably better with the R7 which is paired with the same subwoofer and crossed over same at 60hz.
I listen to them in a small listening room about 14sqm, it's a worthwhile upgrade!

The R7 seem to have a couple of db more energy higher up (80 to 100hz). Try crossing the sub at 80 or 90hz and see if that changes things.

Post in thread 'KEF R7 - Is It Worth It?' https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kef-r7-is-it-worth-it.17236/post-558310

 

[Mister Heargood]

Oh great, now I had to read that! I keep telling myself the R7s are too big for my room, but the truth is they take up the same floor space as my R3's. And they reach down lower than the R3 do.....33Hz vs 38Hz for the R3's, but those 5 are super important with a huge difference. No, I've been pretty frugal all my life, but I'm getting to the age where I'm going to spoil myself. It may take me a few hundred years to save enough, but I'm going for the Reference 1's. I'm very very happy with my R3's though so I'm a bit crazy in the head maybe : |

 

[muad]

Oh great, now I had to read that! I keep telling myself the R7s are too big for my room, but the truth is they take up the same floor space as my R3's. And they reach down lower than the R3 do.....33Hz vs 38Hz for the R3's, but those 5 are super important with a huge difference. No, I've been pretty frugal all my life, but I'm getting to the age where I'm going to spoil myself. It may take me a few hundred years to save enough, but I'm going for the Reference 1's. I'm very very happy with my R3's though so I'm a bit crazy in the head maybe : |

Add a couple of good subs, and room eq

 

[Mister Heargood]

Add a couple of good subs, and room eq

I'm running Dirac Live on a MiniDSP SHD, and it's ridiculous! Took me awhile to home in on a solution ....mic placements etc, but man did I ever hit on it finally! I have an SVS for my surround setup, but not enough space for a sub in my HiFi room unfortunately

 

[gegegege]

The R7 seem to have a couple of db more energy higher up (80 to 100hz). Try crossing the sub at 80 or 90hz and see if that changes things.

Post in thread 'KEF R7 - Is It Worth It?' https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kef-r7-is-it-worth-it.17236/post-558310

I crossed over at 100hz and indeed they become very similar to R3. So R3 plus a better subwoofer would be the way to go. The other thing is that the R7 tweeter sits a notch lower than R3, more difficult to align them to ear level.