Kii THREE versus KII THREE/BXT

[svart-hvitt]

You forgot to mention:

The "component variations" issue was taken care of long ago and is no longer an issue. It was only an issue in some of the very early models.

You only quoted part of the distortion measurements from that article, and the article itself mentions how for the vast majority of the spectrum the results are better. Hence "remarkable".

Other measurements in other reviews gave better results and much closer to those claimed by Kii. Maybe your quoted article is the outlier?

Listen to them: at any kind of even close to normal volume the last thing you would say is that they sound distorted or colored. In my room they give quite useful bass output even below 20 hz. Yes, not as loud as at 30hz, but quite audible.

The BXT module clearly isn't for most users. Clearly for those with very large listening spaces or those who have to have that last bit of bass or realistic sound pressure levels for certain types of recordings. So I don't think the BXT says anything negative about the Kii. The original standmount was built to a specific purpose and certain decisions were made about what couldn't be done in order to get there. Bruno once described it as (my paraphrase) not wanting the pursuit of the perfect to prevent the actual production of the speaker. The Kii people said years ago they intended to produce both bigger and smaller models.

This seems to me simply them fulfilling that idea. What's the big deal?

The Kiis are fine speakers. I’ve heard them numerous times, in my own room too, and with BXT. The Kii may in fact be the one speaker I have heard the most times in different environments...

But the Kiis are hyped. Cardioid? ME Geithain did that decades ago. Their marketing is of the audiophile kind (even their product specialists during official presentations). The price is too high for what you get. And they are small speakers, and size matters in speakers, especially in lower frequencies, of course.

 

[Purité Audio]

The moment Svarty is voted Genelec fan of the year.
Alternatively Genelec’s flat in -room response can sound a touch thin.


Keith

 

[svart-hvitt]

The moment Svarty is voted Genelec fan of the year.
Alternatively Genelec’s flat in -room response can sound a touch thin.


Keith

@Purité Audio , you are a former ATC and Genelec dealer. Now you seem to do nothing but talking negatively about the companies that you previously represented.

 

[Purité Audio]

When Genelec and ( especially ) ATC bring out something truly exemplary I will sing their praise to the heavens, until then I speak as I find.
Keith

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

I have heard on a grapevine that Kii is going to increase their pricing. @Purité Audio is this correct?

 

[Purité Audio]

Yes that is correct ,all the elements are rising in price, the THREEs, control and BXTs, from the first May.
Keith

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

That's a pity
How much is the increase ?

 

[Purité Audio]

Speakers 8%, BXT 13%,control 5%.
Keith

 

[Absolute]

Wow, that's a stupidly huge increase. I listened to BXT both on Friday and Saturday, and while it transforms the capability of the system, there's just no way it's worth that kind of money after the price increase.

It's like the fourth time they increase the price on the speakers and accessories, which points to excessive costs in the company- or possibly greedy people. Either way it's a bad sign and just stopped my interest in any further purchases from Kii Audio.

The Control is mandatory if you want any kind of predictable ownership, so that should be included with the speakers. There's been 8 or 9 times where my speakers have unsyncronized, stopped making sound, locked itself in a mode or setting, refusing to turn on while a signal was playing etc, all of the cases only solvable by connecting the Control to the Kiis again.
I use minidsp as digital pre-amp, but I'm stuck with the Control as a fail-safe just in case. Silly that necessary hardware should cost a months salary - not to mention keep increasing in price every six months.

I have no respect for this kind of behaviour.

 

[Purité Audio]

Why would you use a MiniDSP box when you have the control?
Keith

 

[Absolute]

Because the Control can't integrate several subwoofers or do parametric equalizing.

 

[Purité Audio]

Sounds interesting , how many subs and how are they being used?
Keith

 

[Absolute]

Two 15" subs placed in different locations to even out response and reduce ringing in the time domain. While BXT certainly matches the impact and exceeds them in speed, accuracy and shock-factor, it can't do anything about ringing or standing waves.

 

[Aaron Garrett]

A nice feature of the Grimm subwoofer is you can place it anywhere, although I don't think you can run more than 2.

 

[Absolute]

But can you delay and eq them?

 

[Purité Audio]

Yes you can, Tom from Kii recommended PSI’s AVAA Active has traps, they do work, but you need a number of them and they aren’t cheap .
Keith

 

[Absolute]

Are you talking about the Grimm subwoofers and confirming that you can eq and delay the subwoofers according to the needs when placing them somewhere in the room, Keith?

 

[Purité Audio]

There is a facility to EQ/delay third party subs with the Grimm’s , I would need to ask them whether you can use their own motional feedback subs and other ‘generic’ subs used destructively .
I know that Dutch&Dutch plan to include this facility into their subwoofer software.
Keith

 

[Absolute]

Nice, then we're talking a complete high-end system!

 

[SoundsGood]

Wow, that's a stupidly huge increase. I listened to BXT both on Friday and Saturday, and while it transforms the capability of the system, there's just no way it's worth that kind of money after the price increase.

It's like the fourth time they increase the price on the speakers and accessories, which points to excessive costs in the company- or possibly greedy people. Either way it's a bad sign and just stopped my interest in any further purchases from Kii Audio.

The Control is mandatory if you want any kind of predictable ownership, so that should be included with the speakers. There's been 8 or 9 times where my speakers have unsyncronized, stopped making sound, locked itself in a mode or setting, refusing to turn on while a signal was playing etc, all of the cases only solvable by connecting the Control to the Kiis again.
I use minidsp as digital pre-amp, but I'm stuck with the Control as a fail-safe just in case. Silly that necessary hardware should cost a months salary - not to mention keep increasing in price every six months.

I have no respect for this kind of behaviour.

Which miniDSP device do you use with the Kii Threes? Any decrease in SQ with this device in the signal path? I am wanting to integrate a couple of subs but could not find a solution to the Kii 90ms DSP delay.