KEF R8 Meta Dolby Atmos Speaker Review

[juliangst]

Are you suggesting that I drill holes and screws into my (rather pricy) KEF speakers?

Yes exactly this.
You could also try a large adhesive pad or use wires or other contraptions to hang
them from the ceiling.

Is there any risk of causing damage to internals or impacting the audio in any way

I haven’t found pictures from the inside yet unfortunately.

 

[Pinky]

Yes exactly this.

Okay, I did a bit of research and design thinking around this and think I may have a graceful solution.

This plate can be fixed to the speaker (https://www.thomann.co.uk/km_19615.htm) and attached to this bracket (https://www.thomann.co.uk/km_24471_speaker_wall_mount_black.htm) after it is fixed to the ceiling. I think these brackets are sufficiently sturdy to support the 4.5kg weight, but there is even a more robust version with 6 screw holes (https://www.thomann.co.uk/km_24481_speaker_wall_mount_black.htm).

Furthermore, they allow for correction of the ~20 degree angle. In my case, I would benefit from artificially shortening the height as I have a relatively high ceiling compared to the size of the room.

What do you guys think?

This all hinges on drilling holes and screwing a plate to Q8 Meta, which can be a KEF support question, but there already is precedent for this with KEF's B2 Wall Brackets. Basically, Q3 Meta, Q1 Meta, Q350 and Q150 come with predrilled holes and you are expected to the bracket directly into the rear of the speakers without damage.

 

[K man]

@pthakkar24 I think you guys need to start looking into on ceiling speakers. (Not just on wall and in ceiling.)

 

[juliangst]

I think a great way to install ceiling speakers is building a large absorber and attaching it to the ceiling.

Ceiling speakers can be nicely hidden behind the fabric, you can install light spots and indirect RGB light and have a large area of absorption to help with reverberation time.

 

[Shimrra Jamaane]

Does anyone have personal experience with how well these work as side surrounds? I really could use some on wall speakers and would ideally match my other R series speakers. My subs can easily work with a crossover of like 120hz so will I for sure not be missing out on anything?

 

[KenMasters]

Does anyone have personal experience with how well these work as side surrounds? I really could use some on wall speakers and would ideally match my other R series speakers. My subs can easily work with a crossover of like 120hz so will I for sure not be missing out on anything?

This is the natural response of my wall mounted R8s at my MLP with a 120Hz crossover slope overlay:

 

[Shimrra Jamaane]

This is the natural response of my wall mounted R8s at my MLP with a 120Hz crossover slope overlay:

View attachment 455099

Nice. That boost in the upper bass/low mid is interesting. Is that the effect of being on the wall?

 

[KenMasters]

Nice. That boost in the upper bass/low mid is interesting. Is that the effect of being on the wall?

I would imagine so, solid concrete wall and speakers up high, close to the ceiling.

 

[No_hair_left]

Really wish kef would just add a vesa 100 mount to all their speakers, these would be great if they could be mounted on the ceiling like the svs elevation or arendal height speakers, could also be used as side surrounds.

 

[Descartes]

@pthakkar24 I think you guys need to start looking into on ceiling speakers. (Not just on wall and in ceiling.)

The problem is what if you can’t install them
In ceiling due to coffered ceiling

 

[Descartes]

How do they perform on wall close to the ceiling

 

[KenMasters]

How do they perform on wall close to the ceiling

You can see my posted response above, mounted close to the ceiling:

 

[Descartes]

You can see my posted response above, mounted close to the ceiling:

View attachment 555951

How do they sound?

 

[KenMasters]

How do they sound?

They required a bit of EQ to better match my LS50 up front, but very happy with them as surrounds.

 

[napfkuchen]

You can see my posted response above, mounted close to the ceiling:

View attachment 555951

Nice! Are these height speakers? Where are the surround speakers located?

 

[KenMasters]

Nice! Are these height speakers? Where are the surround speakers located?

Not height speakers, they serve as my surrounds.

 

[Billy Budapest]

These speakers are clearly well designed.
However, there are obvious issues with this bouncy sound.

Placed on-top of a speaker they can interfere with each other.

There has to be loss for distance to the ceiling and loss for bouncing.
I don't think 6 dB is out of the question, so this speaker needs (at least IMO), 4x the power handling, not tested here.

It is reasonable to measure speakers, but up firing speakers are in the snake oil category.

Dolby Atmos is a marketing machine with very little regard to implementation.
For $$ you get the Atmos label. This cannot be argued as my ThinkPad has the Atmos logo, clearly ridiculous.

If mounted to aim at the listener, I'd give them a fine/good.
If mounted to bounce, then the wide dispersion is a negative. I'd give them poor because the concept is bad.
Bouncy sound for Atmos is where the product becomes all marketing and deserves to be called Crapmos.

- Rich

I’ve been utilizing the KEF Q8 Meta (not the R8 Meta reviewed here, although they look exactly the same) for my Atmos fronts and rears in their “ceiling bounce” application and the overhead effects are very convincing in my room. It’s not snake oil at all.