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KEF R5 Meta worthy upgrade to Dynaudio Audience 72?

I must have replied and not realized I hadn't scrolled to the bottom of the thread. Reading the whole thing now, looks like you are in excellent shape. I hope they arrive quickly for you!
Yeah, things precipitated when I found the open box offer... did not want to miss the chance and dived in. R6 is already with me. I have not hooked it up but I've opened the box and the speaker appears to be in pristine conditions (saw some reports of speakers arriving with aesthetic damage from KEF... not sure if directly from KEF, but anyway, fingers crossed mine seems to be ok).

R7s should be with me early next week. The 250W stereo amp from Audiophonics arrived, the SB2000 arrived (already laid out cabling for it). I'm just waiting for R7s to hook up everything and then recalibrate the whole system.
 
Yeah, things precipitated when I found the open box offer... did not want to miss the chance and dived in. R6 is already with me. I have not hooked it up but I've opened the box and the speaker appears to be in pristine conditions (saw some reports of speakers arriving with aesthetic damage from KEF... not sure if directly from KEF, but anyway, fingers crossed mine seems to be ok).

R7s should be with me early next week. The 250W stereo amp from Audiophonics arrived, the SB2000 arrived (already laid out cabling for it). I'm just waiting for R7s to hook up everything and then recalibrate the whole system.
There is an element you´ll realize quickly with KEF and in general any concentric/coaxial based speaker: they are very forgiving with placement.
 
There is an element you´ll realize quickly with KEF and in general any concentric/coaxial based speaker: they are very forgiving with placement.
Having watched the whole of Erin's review for R5s I am planning to have them facing the back wall, with no toe in. Am I right in understanding that's what he suggested? He actually did a video where he specifically goes to explain what he means by "toed out", which is supposed to be toed out compared to the in-ax positioning toward MLP.

But one can always get things wrong and I'm surely not immune from this phenomenon :D
 
These were initially powered by a demon x3800h but I upgraded to separate amps. When really pushed hard, there was a harshness to the sound. Increasing the power eliminated that harshness by eliminating amp distortion
One question on this, since you mention the same AVR I use: are your separate amps just for the R11 or did you add a third amp for the R2c? I decided just for 250W stereo amp for the R7s, at least for now. Would prefer to avoid the extra complexities of having two external boxes if I can live with just one.
 
Having watched the whole of Erin's review for R5s I am planning to have them facing the back wall, with no toe in. Am I right in understanding that's what he suggested? He actually did a video where he specifically goes to explain what he means by "toed out", which is supposed to be toed out compared to the in-ax positioning toward MLP.

But one can always get things wrong and I'm surely not immune from this phenomenon :D
Try and measure both. I run my old IQ´s perpendicular to the front wall and they sound fine. You may like that too or you may want the twitter facing your listening position (toed in). Once you have them, try both and measure both.

With measurements, what you get is an expectation of behavior, but once the speakers play in your room, who knows what interactions you´ll get. What measurements don´t tell is how you´re supposed to enjoy your speakers; that is up to you.
 
The R7´s, by manual, recommend up to 400 Watts.
While waiting for the speakers to arrive I re-read the manual. I see "Amplifier requirement: 15-250W" for the R7 Meta. Where did you find the 400W figure?

I see 400W just for the Reference 5 Meta and Reference 4 Meta on KEF's website documentation.
 
While waiting for the speakers to arrive I re-read the manual. I see "Amplifier requirement: 15-250W" for the R7 Meta. Where did you find the 400W figure?

I see 400W just for the Reference 5 Meta and Reference 4 Meta on KEF's website documentation.
Probably misquoted thinking about the Reference, yes.

Still, having extra power on your amps is not a problem. You can play the lower frequencies without a second thought.
 
Probably misquoted thinking about the Reference, yes.

Still, having extra power on your amps is not a problem. You can play the lower frequencies without a second thought.
Sure. But, am I right in guessing that, with 250W for left and right channels, and three subs to help... I should be ok? Considering 250W is the maximum suggested, that is.
 
Sure. But, am I right in guessing that, with 250W for left and right channels, and three subs to help... I should be ok? Considering 250W is the maximum suggested, that is.
Absolutely! Even if you end up with Dirac ART, you have power in spades to move those speakers.
 
As the title describes, I want to upgrade my front speakers from my old Dynaudio Audience 72.

So the question is: after reading reviews and looking at Erin’s measurements (and spinorama.org’s rankings), plus considering I’d be using subs and equalisation, am I right in believing KEF R5 Meta will sound great and hopefully better than my current Dynaudio (which already are satisfying)? Size of the speakers would be ok. I dont’ want bigger towers.

You should listen to KEFs in your setup...
Contour i are phasing out to make room for new Contours... there are 50% discounts going on, so I strongly recommend that you try Contour 30i.... here's the review:
 
I've set them up. Apparently it all works. For Dirac calibration I will have to find the time later. The R7 are kinda at the edge of what one can handle alone, especially if not young and valiant. : oldgeezer :
 
I've set them up. Apparently it all works. For Dirac calibration I will have to find the time later. The R7 are kinda at the edge of what one can handle alone, especially if not young and valiant. : oldgeezer :
Not sure what you mean by that. Care to elaborate? I ask because I've been close to pulling the trigger on a set of those. And I'm far gone from young and valiant!
 
Not sure what you mean by that. Care to elaborate? I ask because I've been close to pulling the trigger on a set of those. And I'm far gone from young and valiant!
At 30Kg each (more than 60 pounds), lifting them above my isoacoustics stand was... Challenging. Doable but challenging. Just that. :)

It's not the weight by itself. It's the weight combined with the way you have to handle them to lift. Maybe I'm just a wimp. :)
 
I was surprised by how much more the Reference series costs when compared to R. Because I had looked. But then I looked away.

I actually have to confess that, after completing acoustic treatment of the room and redoing the Dirac DBLC calibration... that led me to the "now updating speakers could probably be worth it" but, on the other hand, there's a part of me that is absolutely *terrified* by the idea of changing the current setup. Which sounds as I've never been able to hear music before (not with my equipment, that is).

To this day the best sound I've heard in my life has been a Radiohead concert at the Arena, in Milan. It was awe inspiring, to the point that I got a little depressed by the thought "I'll never hear music like this again". And, since then till now, I've been right. It was about ten years ago, maybe fifteen. What a setup they had...
I'm sure you'll be very happy with your R's.

I compared the R3 meta and R5 meta with the Reference 1 meta and Reference 3 meta.

I ended up with the Reference 3 meta. But it certainly wasn't a "value for money" upgrade in terms of sound quality. There really wasn't that much difference between them all. If you like the Kef sound, as I do, you'll be happy with any of them. I bought the Reference 3 metas as a treat for myself - and to avoid any chance of future FOMO. They'll probably be the last speakers buy (apart perhaps from some matching surrounds at some time)
 
At 30Kg each (more than 60 pounds), lifting them above my isoacoustics stand was... Challenging. Doable but challenging. Just that. :)

It's not the weight by itself. It's the weight combined with the way you have to handle them to lift. Maybe I'm just a wimp. :)
Thanks, I thought you might have meant the sound of them. Oh, sorry. I was thinking of getting the Q7 Meta, not R7, which are heavier.
 
I know I've asked this already but it's the equalization part that leaves me doubtful. See below.

I've got a question regarding the directivity of the coaxial tweeter. In Erin's review he suggests having them "toed out", kinda facing the backwall and not the MLP. Not the R7 specifically but the R5 Meta, which share the same coaxial mid/tweeter.

Now I'm wondering... if using full range equalization with Dirac, would this matter in any way? Aesthetically I dislike having them facing the back wall, maybe just force of habit but still... So what do you think? For now I've placed them slightly toed in, say 3 or 4 degrees toward the MLP. But I wonder if I am losing out somehow in sound quality, considering Erin's suggestion. I think maybe he was talking about cases with no equalization going on, but I'm not sure.
 
Another question I have is regarding the bass plugs. The speakers (end of the speakers, where the bass ports are) are at 30cm / 1 foot from the backwall.
KEF suggests using "half the plug" (it's concentrical, in two pieces) at that distance. The store I purchased them from forgot to put the bass plugs in one on the speakers boxes. So I have them for just one speaker. To calibrate I placed the half part on the bottom port of each, so as to at least have them equally ported.

Do these plug influence sound strongly, if I'm using the speakers with three subs and Dirac DLBC? Maybe somebody has experience with this, I don't know.

Last thing, but this is purely aesthetical, I'm not liking the brown grille on the R6. I wanted it in walnut because having a glossy speaker below a big TV is not my idea of a good time but... the brown grille attracts my attention when listening to music. I have asked KEF if they sell just the grille in black. The grilles are really nice, it's just the color that maybe is too nice... :-D
 
I have Dynaudio Contour 30i speakers. I tried the bottom and top plugs (half and whole) in all combinations (top, bottom, top & bottom) and decided not to use them. The speakers are positioned 50 cm away from the back wall and around 1 m away from the side walls. The plugs will greatly influence the sound. So, if you decide to use the plugs, run the optimisation software again.
 
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