I would second that option. That's what I did with a damaged woofer and have been happy with that solution.
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KEF R3 Speaker Review
- Thread starter amirm
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ThatGuy1337
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Oh, interesting - didn’t realize it was that economical / accessible. I found this post and it seems fairly easy to access the woofer - but couldn’t find whether I need to solder the cables back on or whether they’re easy to detach / reattach. Any insight? (Or detailed instructions? Couldn’t find those.)
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
digitalfrost
Major Contributor
When I disassembled my LS50 the cables were plugged and could be removed with pliers.
You don't have anything to solder. The cables are attached to the woofer with spade connectors, just as shown in the previous post.
theglobalelite
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This is probably a silly question, but the floorstanding step-up model, the R5, is there any reason to assume it would perform any worse than the R3? Aesthetically I prefer the look of floorstanding speakers, so the R5 looks to be the next best option, but not sure how much going from bookshelf to floorstanding would affect the audio quality.
Actually, it is a good question. For some reason (likely to do with cabinet size and shape), the R5 is the only model in that series with 5.25 inch woofers. The R3, R7 and R11 all use 6.5 inch woofers, and tend to sound more like each other. If you search this site for the KEF R5, you should find some more discussion about measurements and impressions, which tend to be pretty negative in comparison with its siblings. It's a pretty different speaker from the others in the series. If you can afford the R7, that is the way to go.
No need to assume as the R5 has been measured here: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/kef_r5/
It isn't quite as linear as the R3 but if you have the ability to apply PEQ filters you can make them just as good.
The R5 uses the same woofers as the R2c center channel.
I bought them because they were on sale cheaper than R3 with stands, but if the R3 were cheaper then I suggest you get them instead. FR hardly matters, in any reasonable application you would have DSP anyway. And despite not being quite as flat, the R5 are still very much neutral speakers owing to their ultimately small deviations in FR (keep in mind: what the Klippel is able to resolve, simpler measurements you see in most magazines would just show as a straight line) and very even directivity. For both I‘d recommend a sub, bass extension is surprisingly decent, but the coaxial unit can handle 96dB easily with minimal distortion and the small woofers just won‘t fill a room at those levels in a satisfying and realistic manner.
My room is 25sqm with a listening distance of 3.5m.
The finish is very nice, but screwing on the feet is not too easy by yourself since the speakers are surprisingly hefty for their size and the finish must be handled carefully to avoid scratching - better get someone to help. The R3 are quite a bit easier to handle of course.
On all of them remember to press the rings around the driver in as far as possible.
I bought them because they were on sale cheaper than R3 with stands, but if the R3 were cheaper then I suggest you get them instead. FR hardly matters, in any reasonable application you would have DSP anyway. And despite not being quite as flat, the R5 are still very much neutral speakers owing to their ultimately small deviations in FR (keep in mind: what the Klippel is able to resolve, simpler measurements you see in most magazines would just show as a straight line) and very even directivity. For both I‘d recommend a sub, bass extension is surprisingly decent, but the coaxial unit can handle 96dB easily with minimal distortion and the small woofers just won‘t fill a room at those levels in a satisfying and realistic manner.
My room is 25sqm with a listening distance of 3.5m.
The finish is very nice, but screwing on the feet is not too easy by yourself since the speakers are surprisingly hefty for their size and the finish must be handled carefully to avoid scratching - better get someone to help. The R3 are quite a bit easier to handle of course.
On all of them remember to press the rings around the driver in as far as possible.
Want a pair of Kef R3, but lack funding, however, you own a jigsaw and it's fully paid off?
Look no further, this shop has you covered:
All you need to add is some MDF, a port, terminals and some dampening. I guess you could complete a pair for 600€.
I almost did it, ALMOST ...
Look no further, this shop has you covered:
All you need to add is some MDF, a port, terminals and some dampening. I guess you could complete a pair for 600€.
I almost did it, ALMOST ...
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I must confess that for my ears the R3 and R5 were almost identical in store. Got the R5 because I like the look. Dealer also claimed R5 would have faster bass in my room. I seriously doubt that but what do I know. I like the dealer so I went with "Ok man, that's great!"
To be honest, with what I know now I think whole R lineup would sound pretty same with good subs.
To be honest, with what I know now I think whole R lineup would sound pretty same with good subs.
Well at a minimum the dual woofer arrangement on the R5s should help mitigate floor/ceiling SBIR effects compared to single woofer of R3.
Problem is you cannot source the shadow flare which is critical. Without that it’s never going to sound like a factory made R Series.Want a pair of Kef R3, but lack funding, however, you own a jigsaw and it's fully paid off?
Look no further, this shop has you covered:
View attachment 253660
All you need to add is some MDF, a port, terminals and some dampening. I guess you could complete a pair for 600€.
I almost did it, ALMOST ...
Last year, I had looked at their European website and it said the same during the holiday season. Even if a meta comes out for a reasonable period of time it is going to be on full price which would be atleast 40 percent more than the current sale prices. If anyone is on a strict budget for current sale price, then looking forward to get the meta at this point is waste of listening time. Instead get the regular version now and enjoy it until the sale of new meta comes up and upgrade. If KEF sound is your sound the current R At the current prices are a perfect bargain.
The heckerino is a shadow flare?
Hope they have a bass reflex tube for a bit of bass extension.
The wave guide like thing around the uniq to manage the diffraction so that the tweeters waves won’t hit the edges of the cabin if am not wrong. Without it R3 won’t sound like R3. It’s plastic ring, but you need to make it in the exact smoothness and curve to get it right which is not easy. So for the current price of 529, a unit, it’s a good value for money especially considering you get a warranty of 5 years on the drivers even. With diy, if you blast it you got to buy it paying out of your pocket. Again, gettting that mirror finish painting, pin hole grill everything is hard. Don’t forget man hours. Consider if you don’t do the lowest paying job in Europe the average earning per hour would be around 25 euros. You need atleast 20 hours if your very good at this. Then, that alone is some 500 euros worth. On the top of it, if you try to sell the Orginal ones after 2 years, it would fetch you atleast 700 euros. The DIY speakers are hard to sell. If you are trying to make R3 manually it’s pointless imo.
Hope they have a bass reflex tube for a bit of bass extension.
It sure is. If i hadn't had bought my ATCs, this would be it.
Finally I find the time to set up these new babies as they deserve (please don't blame me about the stands painting, they're handmade by me and I am no expert about wood DIY
).Obviously I have no kids nor pets eheh...
Aesthetics apart, they sound gorgeous; frankly I was surprised by their bass extension and quality, for sure my room plays a big role in it, but they're absolutely not bass shy, I'm even tempted to sell my subwoofer now ...
They're a little bit hot around 2Khz, nothing annoying to be honest, but it's a thing that jumped to my ears with the very first listenings, now I think my brain is getting used to it. Maybe my next "present outside Christmas" will be an Elisya Xfilter ...
My chain is Tidal Connect through a Raspberry Pi into a SMSL SU9n into Hypex Ncore 252MP.
Cheers!
Someone here is selling a pair of R3s, one of which has a similar (though lesser) mark on its woofer. He'd been in touch with Kef about it and his communications with them are shown in his ebay listing, along with the price of a replacement speaker. Here's his listing on ASR, click through to ebay for further details, images, etc.
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