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Official KEF Ci5160REF -THX spinorama

sarumbear

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I am in the process of replacing my JBL C222HP LCR speakers with KEF Ci5160REF -THX. I asked KEF to send me the spinorama chart. It took them a while but the delay turned out to due to their updating the model to THX spec.

I thought the chart will be valuable information for the forum. I have ordered the speakers but not yet received them.

Ci5160REF -THX-v1.png
 

Dj7675

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I am in the process of replacing my JBL C222HP LCR speakers with KEF Ci5160REF -THX. I asked KEF to send me the spinorama chart. It took them a while but the delay turned out to due to their updating the model to THX spec.

I thought the chart will be valuable information for the forum. I have ordered the speakers but not yet received them.

View attachment 203881

Thanks for sharing. That is great info. Also, pretty great for KEF to provide them to a customer. Maybe JBL will see this and start providing them again.
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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Looking good! I hope you enjoy your new speakers.
Thank you. I am re-building the false wall to accommodate them. KEFs are much less deeper than the JBLs and that will help visually.
 

abdo123

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Also your current speakers are beasts!

The kind of speakers i would not expect anyone to replace in a life time. Is there a reason why you made the change?
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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Also your current speakers are beasts!

The kind of speakers i would not expect anyone to replace in a life time. Is there a reason why you made the change?
The main reason is the height of the JBL C222HP. The centre speaker horn is too far down from the bottom of the TV. There is a single woofer model, C221, which can allow me to reduce that distance but there is no HR version of it. I do not know what will be the difference between HR and non-HR models but I'm a firm believer of using the same speakers for LCR. KEF speakers will allow me to reduce that distance dramatically.

However, I am keeping the two in-wall JBL SSW-3 subwoofers.
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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I just received an email from KEF informing me that my speakers are shipped. It’s a Bank Holiday here in UK. Their distribution centre must be abroad or they work on holidays. Either way I’m happy. The false wall will be finished in a few days (fingers crossed) just on time for the speakers to arrive.
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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The speakers have arrived. I will be able to report on sound in a week or two when they will be installed.
 

Ciobi69

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i am loving kef tratransparency, they did become my favorite brand by far, among the HI-FI markets, there is like no other brand that provides all those data's, probably because they don't have nothing to hide..
 

TomekNet

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The speakers have arrived. I will be able to report on sound in a week or two when they will be installed.
Have you prepared any enclosures / boxes for it behind the wall? If yes, how many liters?
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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Have you prepared any enclosures / boxes for it behind the wall? If yes, how many liters?
I have a false wall where these three speakers will be mounted around the TV as LCR with around 90l volume behind each. There are two JBL SSW-3 subwoofers, which have their own enclosures and two height KEF Ci200RS-THX speakers, which also have their own enclosures. A simple diagram is below. (Measurements are in metres.)

House Design v20b0.jpg
 
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TomekNet

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I have a false wall where these three speakers will be mounted around the TV as LCR with around 90l volume behind each. There are two JBL SSW-3 subwoofers, which have their own enclosures and two height KEF Ci200RS-THX speakers, which also have their own enclosures. A simple diagram is below. (Measurements are in metres.)

View attachment 207526
Amazing setup!
Btw, may I ask about your LR and subwoofers location decision? Wasn't it worth to put LR a bit wider (ie "outside" of subs) to have more stereo separation and then put subwoofer closer to screen? Did subwoofers with fixed position (no "subwoofer crawl" possible) required lot of DSP in your case?
 

KSU2002

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You’re going to love those. I have the 3160’s behind a 180” screen. I tested the speakers with all 3 vertical and preferred the center horizontal. Space doubles as a golf simulator and the padding for the golf sim on the walls and ceiling inadvertently made an amazing acoustical area for listening. My friend who is an audiophile with Wilson speakers enjoys coming over to listen to my atmos setup and is thinking of upgrading to atmos now. I have 4 Ci200RS on the ceiling as well and the setup sounds awesome.


E738D5EC-3EB7-4BDE-B90A-87B233E8AB9B.jpeg
906DE2FC-DE45-4810-A3C8-96D744D8EE6B.jpeg
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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Amazing setup!
Btw, may I ask about your LR and subwoofers location decision? Wasn't it worth to put LR a bit wider (ie "outside" of subs) to have more stereo separation and then put subwoofer closer to screen? Did subwoofers with fixed position (no "subwoofer crawl" possible) required lot of DSP in your case?
Subs operate below 80Hz. The wavelength at that frequency is more than 4m. The location of the subs will not have any affect within +/-4m.
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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You’re going to love those. I have the 3160’s behind a 180” screen. I tested the speakers with all 3 vertical and preferred the center horizontal. Space doubles as a golf simulator and the padding for the golf sim on the walls and ceiling inadvertently made an amazing acoustical area for listening. My friend who is an audiophile with Wilson speakers enjoys coming over to listen to my atmos setup and is thinking of upgrading to atmos now. I have 4 Ci200RS on the ceiling as well and the setup sounds awesome.

View attachment 207633
May I ask why you orientated the centre speaker vertically if it is behind the screen?
 

KSU2002

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May I ask why you orientated the centre speaker vertically if it is behind the screen?
I tested both ways. I was leaning towards the recommended all 3 speakers vertical but when I tested it, I preferred the sound of having the center speaker horizontal. Each speaker still has a speaker box which is identical with 136l volume sealed cabinets with fiberglass insulation inside.You'll notice, all of the tweeters are still at the exact same height. I found the sound more pleasing with the center woofers lined up at ear height along with the tweeter. Panning from left to right and vice versa is seemless. Each speaker is located in a precise location down to the milimiter to match distance from the padded walls. The result is pretty astounding. 2 channel stereo creates a stereo image where you can stand in the center about 2 feet in front of the wall and still swear the center speaker is on when its off. It works for my situation but every room is unique so others may prefer a different setup. I'm sure someone is cringing knowing I could have put all 3 verical but I wouldn't change it after having the room setup. I built false walls at the back of the room in the corners so the rear surrounds are mounted at 45 degrees. When sounds pan behind the seating, it sounds like there are speakers directly behind you so it works quite well. The 45 degree corners also seem to act as bass traps which is nice. Even with the side of the theater open to the main living area, the room correction in the receiver has done an amazing job of creating a well balanced listening area.
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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Amazing setup!
Btw, may I ask about your LR and subwoofers location decision? Wasn't it worth to put LR a bit wider (ie "outside" of subs) to have more stereo separation and then put subwoofer closer to screen? Did subwoofers with fixed position (no "subwoofer crawl" possible) required lot of DSP in your case?
When I replied to you earlier (#14) I misread your message. I thought you were talking about the LR subwoofers. Sorry.

However, now that I have the system up and running (albeit in a raw form without any the cosmetic treatment yet) I realise that you were correct. 2m between LR is not enough when the viewing distance is 4+m. My carpenter sends his regards as he now is re-doing the partitions -- hence charging me more :)
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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This is the new layout of the false wall. Listening position is around 4m and that makes the LR are at at an angle of 25 degrees to perpendicular. Dolby suggest 22-30 degrees. This has the added benefit of upgrading to a larger TV when they became available.
House Design v20c0.jpg
 
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sarumbear

sarumbear

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As I am re-building the false-wall I decided to integrate two bass-traps (Helmholtz resonators) on at the ends of the wall. I already have three traps like that hidden inside the false ceiling. Two more will give me better control. The new layout is below.

House Design v20d0.jpg

Yellow: KEF in-wall LCR, Red JBL subs LR, Green: bass-traps, Yellow circles, KEF ceiling heights.
 

TomekNet

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Are those bass traps behind dry wall? How does it look exactly?
 
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