Price Paid:  $300.00 from audiogon

Summary:
This is an over rated speaker. It is essentially a coaxial driver of about the same quality as a mediocre car speaker in a large enclosure. The enclosure does help get a reasonable, but not great for a cabinet of this size, bass response. They are also painfully inefficient. I tried them with an old tube amp. That was a joke. I now use them as near field monitors with a large adcom amplifier that would drive many speakers to an ear splitting level just to get any dynamic range from them. In my opinion mid range defines a quality speaker, and it just isn't there. Vocals are too often muddled, especially with material with any bass content. While the bass reflex design does extend lower registers, it comes at a cost of precise mid range control. If you are looking at speakers in this price range I would seriously look at the B&W 600 series, which sets the standard for this price range.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I bought in 1995 the dynaudio''s gemini''s, when I listened to them after a few months I missed the vocal detail and the bass. I placed my dynaudio gemini''s on a market place site and traded them for Kef Q30''s. I always loved kef speakers. I owned a pair of C80, and they sounded great. After the trade I was surprised how beautiful these speaker sounds. The vocals sounds clear and crispy, much better than the dynaudio gemini''s Ok the bass isn''t like the kef C80, but I use my subwoofer to pull up the bass.

Strengths:
Excellent vocal sound

Weaknesses:
bi-wiring, a little lack of bass

Price Paid:  $500.00 from recycledaudio.com

Summary:
This is my second pair of Q 30s. (first pair was stolen) These are the best speakers I have ever owned! Currently I have them as my front speakers in my surround system, connected to my Marantz SR5000. Awesome! Great for stereo and for surround. I have a 12" paradigm sub, so they don't have to handle the low end. With a sub, I think they sound better than the Q55s. If you can find these anywhere, buy them!

Strengths:
Excellent stereo and HT sound!

Similar Products Used:
Infinity, paradigm

Summary:
This is a floor standing speaker, but it is the smallest speaker I have ever owned except for a pair of NHT superone that I use in my bedroom.

I originally purchased the Q30 along with a pair of Q70 and the C100 center channel for home theater purposes. But, I started moving around a lot due to college, and I used th Q30s as my stereo mains while I sold the Q70s because they were too big to carry with me.

What I discovered, after using the Q30s as my mains, is that they were truly great speakers for casual listening. The balance of highs and lows are magnificent for music I listen to, jazz and house. For a small listening room with somewhat need for portability, my Q30s served me well.

I used a Nakamichi TA-1A receiver with NAD 502 cd player. Connections using Monster reference 2 and Audioquest indigo.

I have since upgraded to a pair of 103/4 for serious listening, the bigger brother of the Q30, again, these are magnificent speakers.

I sold KEFs at a local store I was working at, so I got them at cost = ).

Strengths:
neutral, musical

Weaknesses:
no bi-wire (although single driver speakers doesn't require one).

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Audiovision

Summary:
I have used this pair of Uni Q 30 speakers for about six years now, and still enjoying their sound. I use a 2x50w integrated amplifier by Philips, which will soon be replaced by the Onkyo A9211 ( after recommendations from your site).
The Uni-Q produces a very warm sound, which made me buy them instead of the originally planned Boose speakers before I entered the shop. Until today, I am still happy to have made that choice.

If you are looking for value for your money without spending thousands of dollars, this 500 us dollars speaker is what you are looking for. Ofcourse, you will have to look for it's successors since they have been replaced. The KEF website will tell you what you need to know.

I have to give them a four in value rating and a five in overall rating, in their price category.

Strengths:
Excellent speakers for their price category

Weaknesses:
none to my knowledge

Similar Products Used:
I used lo-fi material before this.