KEF Reference 1 Floorstanding Speakers Reviews

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:

Honest and smooth, does not resist big orchestras.

Good speaker, maybe new models are better.

Mario Franco

sporty

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 2 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.80 of 5, 5.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
LES KEF REFERENCE ONE ONT UNE BELLE IMAGE ET C`EST TOUT. LA MUSIQUE QU`ELLES RESTITUES EST
SANS VIE. LES BASSES SEMBLENT VENIR D`OUTRE- TOMBE ET LES AIGUES SONNENT LE PLASTIQUE .
JE LES AI REMPLACÉS SANS REGRET PAR DES EMINENT TECHNOLOGY LFT8 .

Price Paid:  $1200.00

Summary:
I had read a great review about the Kef Q series, so I went to Harvey in Manhattan to take a look. I had a helpful salesperson that told me to forget the Q's and step up to the Reference One. I'm really glad I did! I love these speakers. I never fail to marvel at how good they sound every time I listen to them. I since added the TDM-45B subwoofer, and it is really the icing on the cake. It does not make for good neighbor relations, particularly when you live in a highrise apartment. I get noise complaints sometimes from two floors away. Oh well...

Strengths:
Beautiful tonality, accuracy and imaging. They just sound great and they are quite attractive.

Weaknesses:
None

Price Paid:  $1000.00 from eBay

Summary:
I also would have to disagree with the comments about these speakers' bass response. Of course these things are relative to the size of your listening room (mine is rather small), but I found when I upgraded my amplification to a high-end Marantz model, the speakers seemed to gain another octave of depth! I now get similar depth to that of my Rel subwoofer (although without the headroom). The thing about the Kef Reference range is the impedance drops rather dramatically around the mid-bass region, so if your amp isn't able to deliver the necessary current, you're going to lose out in the bass response. Besides the rich, full-bodied bass, the detail in the upper frequencies is excellent. When partnered with suitably able equipment, vocals do seem to leap out, and acoustic guitars and strings in particular seem very natural, and finely textured. Perhaps these were expensive speakers when they were first released, but now you cna pick them up second hand for as little as £600, and for that price they really are a steal.

Strengths:
Detail, sweet treble, startlingly real vocal and acoustic instrument reproduction. And they look lovely.

Weaknesses:
A difficult speaker load, with some quite sever phase swings and impedance drops for your amp to deal with...

Price Paid:  $1300.00 from United Audio Center

Summary:
These are one of my favorite speakers. I cant believe the imaging and detail these produce for the money. I would have to disagree with everyones negative review of bass responce. I was originally powering these with a 75 watt a channel receiver and they sounded pretty good, but did lack bass. I then upgraded to seperates and added a Adcom 5500 200x2 Amp. Holy Cow! these speakers opened up after that. The bass came alive. These things shake my whole house while using them for Theatre playback. Everytime I have someone over to watch a movie they ask me what kind of sub I have. I tell them none and they cant believe it.

Being a recording engineer I am subjected to all kinds of speakers. I mix down on Tannoy NFSM 8's which use the uniQ style speaker placement. I wish the KEF's where smaller so I could tote them around to mix on.

If you can audition a pair please do yourself a favor and listen to them with a lot of power behind them.

Strengths:
Imaging, Detail and very flat full range of sound.

Weaknesses:
None