KEF T301C Review (Ultra-thin Speaker)

[beagleman]

Actually KEF T301C is shallower 1,5” vs IKEA’s 2”. Anyway it’s difficult not to agree with you on the rest.

I always expect KEF to deliver best in class sound quality!

The Ikea speaker is FAR better sounding.

Way better and deeper bass, plays louder, and cleaner sounding.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

except that there is a gigantic peak between 1KHz and 3KHz in the sound power, why would that energy disappear once the speaker is wall mounted?

Not true, see Estimated in-room response graph - there is a dip between 1.2 kHz and 2.5 kHz when the loudspeaker is not on-wall! When it is on-wall, response below 1 kHz will be lifted up, making huge dip between 1 kHz and 3 kHz in the total response, as I said earlier.

 

[abdo123]

Not true, see Estimated in-room response graph - there is a dip between 1.2 kHz and 2.5 kHz when the loudspeaker is not on-wall! When it is on-wall, response below 1 kHz will be lifted up, making huge dip between 1 kHz and 3 kHz in the total response, as I said earlier.

What dip?????!!!!!!

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

What dip?????!!!!!!

I see elephant in the room - dip between 1.2 kHz and 2.5 kHz. It will be much worse when you mount this loudspeaker on the wall - frequencies below 1 kHz will be augmented by as much as 6 dB, leveling with the peak at 1 kHz, making about 5 dB dip between 1 kHz and 3 kHz in the total response. That is more than octave and a half wide.

 

[lewdish]

I feel like it's pretty hard to guage these because they're architectural and probably not prioritizing the best in performance.

 

[tecnogadget]

Don't judge a book by its cover. Jamo A505 has astonishingly flat frequency response (sans crossover dip) and is only 2" deep.

Where are the measurements available? Please provide data/links. Thanks

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

I measured it myself. Will post measurement tomorrow.

 

[Mauro]

The Ikea speaker is FAR better sounding.

Way better and deeper bass, plays louder, and cleaner sounding.

I guess so, I have bought the book-shaped Symphonisk and it does sound good. A rough treble, a bad sonos app, no connectivity apart wifi/Ethernet and poor wifi range were for me let-downs and I returned it.

 

[beagleman]

I guess so, I have bought the book-shaped Symphonisk and it does sound good. A rough treble, a bad sonos app, no connectivity apart wifi/Ethernet and poor wifi range were for me let-downs and I returned it.

Sorry, I should have been more specific, but I was referring to the SYMFONISK Picture frame "speaker" specifically.

I have heard the one you have, but only briefly, and really can not remember how it seemed for sure.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Where are the measurements available? Please provide data/links. Thanks

Sorry for the delay... Here it is:
In red is Jamo A505 on-axias frequency response (2.83V/1m) - rather smooth and flat, except at 3 kHz crossover point. Drop above 10 kHz is not characteristic of the tweeter, but is artifact of the used class D amplifier - for actual tweeter response add 2 dB at 12 kHz and 6.5 dB at 20 kHz.

In green is modified crossover -10 microF instead of original 15 microF in the low-pass filter (second order).

 

[tecnogadget]

Sorry for the delay... Here it is:
In red is Jamo A505 on-axias frequency response (2.83V/1m) - rather smooth and flat, except at 3 kHz crossover point. Drop above 10 kHz is not characteristic of the tweeter, but is artifact of the used class D amplifier - for actual tweeter response add 2 dB at 12 kHz and 6.5 dB at 20 kHz.

In green is modified crossover -10 microF instead of original 15 microF in the low-pass filter (second order).
View attachment 172387

Thanks for the upload. Yes indeed, the response is very flat but only thanks to the modified crossover. Though as a fair comparison and stock form I could not call it astonishingly flat, still a good performer but a shame its a discontinued speaker and hard to find.

 

[tecnogadget]

Could any other member provide an alternative design that fits within this "Ultra-thin Speaker" category but with better response? And at the same time the speaker is a contemporary design that can be bought at stores. It would be very much appreciated.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Thanks for the upload. Yes indeed, the response is very flat but only thanks to the modified crossover. Though as a fair comparison and stock form I could not call it astonishingly flat, still a good performer but a shame its a discontinued speaker and hard to find.

One of the bigger problems of KEF T301C are pronounced resonances between 800 Hz and 2 kHz, which can not be corrected by modifying its crossover. On the other hand, frequency responses of Jamo A505 drivers are very smooth and it is very easy (and cheap) to modify the crossover for a really flat response.

 

[tecnogadget]

@Vladimir Filevski The thing is that jamo is an old speaker which is discontinued. I’ve searched them on many european second market listings and there isn’t any available.

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

Check Monitor Audio SoundFrame, it might fit the bill. I am unaware of a review with measured frequency response, though.

 

[radix]

Could any other member provide an alternative design that fits within this "Ultra-thin Speaker" category but with better response? And at the same time the speaker is a contemporary design that can be bought at stores. It would be very much appreciated.

Here's some of the others I've been looking at, but cannot find any measurements for them.

• Revel S206 (a surround, not LCR)
• Revel S16 (a surround, not LCR)
• Focal has their new 300 series
• ELAC Muro
• ELAC Debut 2 on wall

I've seen recommendations for the S16 on this forum.

I skipped straight to R3/R2c and gave up on thin LCR.

 

[Dj7675]

I've seen recommendations for the S16 on this forum.

Revel S16, while considered a surround speaker is a really good speaker. I will post some on wall measurements when I get home. It is also fairly sensitive at 89/90 I believe.

 

[nathan]

Revel S16, while considered a surround speaker is a really good speaker. I will post some on wall measurements when I get home. It is also fairly sensitive at 89/90 I believe.

They are excellent. I use a pair in my living room and frankly I’d be hard pressed to tell a difference between them and the M16.

(They don’t go as low, but I always use a subwoofer since it works better for managing bass response no matter how low a speaker goes.)

 

[tecnogadget]

I found this interesting image showing the guts of the KEF T301.

 

[Descartes]

They have these

Amir could you please ask KEF to send them to you to review