But from the response linearity test there is severe limiter for kii 3. The response went down so quick that there will be no output probably even at 30 Hz. The driver radiating area itself is part of the equation, the box need to be big too to accomedate the efficiency, so drivers don't waste energy on heat.
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Kii THREE Review
- Thread starter sweetchaos
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MdeVelde
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Heard several reports from studios that the 8C has a bit more solid bass than the Kii.
Measurements seem to point in that direction as well.
Would love to see the Olive score of the Kii Three.
I suspect it will be slightly below the 8C due to bass and the top octave.
Measurements seem to point in that direction as well.
Would love to see the Olive score of the Kii Three.
I suspect it will be slightly below the 8C due to bass and the top octave.
They are both really fine loudspeakers, the two best I have heard, honestly customers usually choose the aesthetic they ( or their partners) prefer.
Kii offers a complete system with their ‘control‘ roon ready alters things for the 8Cs.
I am looking forward to hearing the new GGNTKT M3s.
Keith
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I find also Erin's comment interesting:
"The treble seemed a bit sharp at times to me and this is what prompted me to adjust the tonality of the high frequency down by 2dB. Anecdotally, I have read a few other reviewers who made passing mention of this. "
which also matches my observation from hearing them in some audio fairs, the 8C sounded more natural to me without EQ from FR point, guess one reason is that its LP response above 2 kHz is a tad too flat (instead of sloping down)
"The treble seemed a bit sharp at times to me and this is what prompted me to adjust the tonality of the high frequency down by 2dB. Anecdotally, I have read a few other reviewers who made passing mention of this. "
which also matches my observation from hearing them in some audio fairs, the 8C sounded more natural to me without EQ from FR point, guess one reason is that its LP response above 2 kHz is a tad too flat (instead of sloping down)
that's also the case for the 8C as it is a constant directivity Geddes design.
We don't have the same data on the 8C, do we? So we cannot make any conclusion from this.
OP
- Thread Starter
- #27
Kii Three:
Preference Score is 7.7 and would be 8.3 with a perfect subwoofer.
Preference Score is 8.1 with an EQ and would be 8.7 with a perfect subwoofer and the same EQ.
Bass extension (LFX): 20Hz at -6dB
Dutch, Dutch 8C:
Preference Score is 7.4 and would be 8.0 with a perfect subwoofer.
Preference Score is 7.8 with an EQ and would be 8.5 with a perfect subwoofer and the same EQ.
Bass extension (LFX): 20Hz at -6dB
DSJR
Major Contributor
Keith, you kind-of know me of old
and it's great that you are one of the few people in the UK able to demonstrate speakers like this in the context of designs moving forward from my old nostalgic active-ATC position (I still love 'em but the prices are mad these days (I'm thinking 50ASL's) in the context of the Kii's and D&D's, let alone the better mid size Genelecs). Sad thing is, it doesn't stop some UK dealers selling far more expensive 'upgrade ladder' type systems which are grossly inferior at the end of the day (you know the ones).Of all these superbly performing new active models, the Kii's are the only ones I've heard - and I loved 'em! I do hope others with small to medium size rooms (in US terms) can get a chance to hear speakers like this, as they really do appear to move the goal posts. Doesn't mean I'll not want to hear the old 'muscle speakers' I also loved over the years, but it does put things into period context I feel.
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DS yes of course, we had ATCs here for a while, in fact I took them on because when we first had the Kiis some eight years ago, some visitors opined that they were good but the ‘ATC midrange would blah blah blah’.
On the advice of the ATC guy, (forgotten his name he used to be acoustics now he is sales), we went for the ‘classic’ active 50’s, they looked great yew veneer but in terms of sound quality not so fantastic, obviously no adjustment built into the speakers at all, for a large expensive box bass extension was limited and they were coloured compared to the Kiis.
When customers compared both it was completely obvious which was the better loudspeaker.
I sincerely hope that speakers such as the Kiis/8Cs/GGNTKTs will be the ‘norm’ in my lifetime.
Keith
On the advice of the ATC guy, (forgotten his name he used to be acoustics now he is sales), we went for the ‘classic’ active 50’s, they looked great yew veneer but in terms of sound quality not so fantastic, obviously no adjustment built into the speakers at all, for a large expensive box bass extension was limited and they were coloured compared to the Kiis.
When customers compared both it was completely obvious which was the better loudspeaker.
I sincerely hope that speakers such as the Kiis/8Cs/GGNTKTs will be the ‘norm’ in my lifetime.
Keith
@abdo123 Ok, the Dutch looks more horrible distortion wise due to 3rd harmonic, especially around 1 khz, but I don't think I'll offend anyone if I say that none of these are your go-to speakers for high-fidelity high output volume levels.
@hardisj Excellent review, very nicely done! The focus on high-quality speakers is just bloody marvelous. I love your reviews, eloquent, nicely structured, good and valuable subjective impressions and quite a feast for the eyes with shiny pictures and graphs. Just fantastic work all-around.
One question that I know you have spoke about in the past, but can't remember what you said. IMD measurements?
@hardisj Excellent review, very nicely done! The focus on high-quality speakers is just bloody marvelous. I love your reviews, eloquent, nicely structured, good and valuable subjective impressions and quite a feast for the eyes with shiny pictures and graphs. Just fantastic work all-around.
One question that I know you have spoke about in the past, but can't remember what you said. IMD measurements?
I think the review should be split off to its own thread because the title of this thread doesn’t reflect the actual review.
Maybe @AdamG247 can help with that, by splitting this off from @sweetchaos post #89? Would you mind doing that, Adam? I hate for the actual review discussion to get lost in this thread.
Maybe @AdamG247 can help with that, by splitting this off from @sweetchaos post #89? Would you mind doing that, Adam? I hate for the actual review discussion to get lost in this thread.
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I wasn’t performing compression tests back when I tested the 8c. But I do plan to add it hopefully this week since I still have the 8c here. I’ve just been finishing up some other tests and haven’t had a chance to do that one yet.
I don’t have a way to perform those anechoically (for a loudspeaker). That means that any influence in the room would override the true results of the speaker. For drive unit testing it’s fine because you can get in the near field and negate the room. But with a loudspeaker you need to be far enough back to capture the summed response of the drivers, and unfortunately when doing so you also capture the the room.
For HD testing I can use a room correction curve built by using Klippel’s ISC module so it’s not a problem.
Acknowledged! Thank you, sir.
Marc v E
Major Contributor
@hardisj : when I heard this speaker for the first time it took me some getting used to the clarity, the matter of fact way they portray music . To be honest at that time I realised it was something completely different but more pleasing to the head than the heart: I even liked Elvis' repertoire the best due to the added warmth (!) (It was at a dealer, so I assume for now that it was set up correctly.) I went away knowing that I heard something I never heard before, but thinking I needed time to adjust to this new window on music. I wonder if you experienced the same or that you liked it at first listen?
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A very clean and accurate reproduction of music can conflict with memories of distorted and coloured sound.
Awesome! Thanks a lot Erin.
Below are the graphs in the same scale from https://pierreaubert.github.io/spinorama/compare.html.
Below are the graphs in the same scale from https://pierreaubert.github.io/spinorama/compare.html.
This 20 dB distortion difference in 1 kHz should be quite noticeable.
It’s still 1% at 96dB. That’s still fairly loud, for a pair in a room at 3-4m. Think of the masking that’s taking place from your own ears at this level. I’m gonna need DBT results to buy into this.
Really eye-opening when compared like this. They are even more similar than I thought by these metrics.
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