hugh

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $800.00

Summary:
I've had my Keosas for several years, and been really pleased with them. They're good all-rounders: delicate and quite refined, but easily capable of rocking very hard when you want them to.

There are two sets of binding posts, for really easy bi-amping (no need for a dealer to mod the crossover or anything). I absolutely recommend bi-amping: not only do you get twice the oomph, but also a noticeably more precise sound.

Strengths:
Inconspicuous: designed to sound good placed close to the wall.
Decent bass without boominess.
Easily bi-wired or bi-amped.
Price!

Weaknesses:
Top-end lacks some of the "shimmer" you can get from the very best speakers.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Auditioned the Keosas at my local Linn dealer (hooked up to a Linn Classik) and loved the rock'n'roll sound. Yeah! Brought them home (hooked up to Rotel hardware) for a weekend and at first still loved the rock'n'roll sound. Yeah! Tried other types of music and realized that the Keosa is all about mids. Yuck! To be honest, in my system they couldn't play anything but rock/metal, anything else sounded really weird. They are specifically engineered for Linn Classik, which I guess has a really weak midrange.

Strengths:
Plays rock and metal quite nicely ... at least that's what you think at first.

Weaknesses:
Has a very weird tonal quality. Didn't suit me. I strongly suggest auditioning a wide range of musical styles. After a while you want to switch of the "loudness" effect, only realizing that you don't have a Loudness button, it's the darn speakers that exaggerate the mids ....

Similar Products Used:
Linn Index II Linn Ninka Audiovector M3

Price Paid:  $1000.00

Summary:
I have a conrad johnson pre, dynaco st70 fully rebuilt in single ended mode, mit interconects and a velodyne sub..(one of the older models built when they were still making quality musical subs not intended for movie watching., in other words very musical and fast fast fast.) The keosas are not very impresive when hooked up to the linn system they were intended for. I am not very impressed with the linn classic or much of the linn line of amps at all. Once you go tube,transister stuff just doesn't cut it. Yes, some whales are very good.... mabey better than tube but you better win the lottery first. Dollar for dollar you can't beat tubes....sorry! The keosas are clean and put out almost as much bass as the sub but i find the crossover and sub add that extra realism and snap to the whole thing. OK, here is my point.... I see in other reviews people are using Nad, and Rotel amps. These folks don't realy know the true potential of the Keosas. If you have a cheap transister amp don't buy these speakers!!!!. The keosas are a good example of how one should spend more on they're front end and amp before they spend lots on speakers. These are great speakers, they don't quite disapear as well as the more expensive linns but for 1000 cnd. they are very transparent. They are fast, lots of bass but not boomy. They will give you what you put into them, that is to say they dont tend to ad their own foot print to the sound .This lets you enjoy each recording's personality and what the engineer's idea of what he or she wanted you to hear. When used with lesser amps. the speakers are quite impossible to set up right and sound grainy, slow, trashy and just about any other bad thing you can come up with. 4 out of 5 because only the very best get 5....right?

Strengths:
linn, spikes

Weaknesses:
not forgiving when using lesser amps

Similar Products Used:
mission sansui linn keltiks vanderstine

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I, I'm resubmitting after a few years and changes. I have to say that the somewhat "grainy" nature of the treeble have completely disapeared after changing amplification (yes only that). Goog god what a difference. I purchassed some Exposure combo (the VI, VII, and super VIII) still new, but very old stuff (old stock at a small retailer in Montreal). What a delight. I always liked that combo and even after 15 years, I can't find anything I like more.. they got 2000$ us out of me for this. It used to sell for 3500$ I think. Nonetheless, it changed the speakers unbelievably. Better than a 6000$ Linn combo (k140 and Kairn), and better than a YBA intégré DT, or the new 2010 integrated (from Exposure but what is that?). The Exposure kit is 55W but at high current (22,5 amps output current for the super VIII). What nice comtrol and detail is scarry sharp. Room effect, sharp imaging, soundstage dept, it's all there or should I say back (I remember my old days with my sugden a21, and rogers ls4, in a small room of course, and tons of tweeking). Now I'm gonna have fun with sources. Let's see, the Rotel, the Exposure or the Planet?

Strengths:
Wow, where all that detail came from?

Weaknesses:
A little bright? I donno...

Similar Products Used:
Almost everything, too long to list.

Price Paid:  $1000.00

Summary:
I have chosen the Keosa after comparing with similar speakers from Castle Acoustic Energy, PSB Image, System Audio, B&W, Infinity. What I love is their sense of seduction and true musical qualities. Seduction because not entirely revealing, but revealing enough to go directly to the music and the rythm of songs, and letting you dreaming freely about what you are hearing, according to a good match with the other components. They let you think about the music by letting you entering into it without any effort. At the trebel end, pristine clarity is there thanks to a ceramic coated metal tweeter. At the bottom, tight and fast bass keeps on thanks to a closed design. Medium is immediate and still coherent with all the rest of the spectrum. But could be fussy (like with silver cables and too analytical amps). After some experimentations, I found them working at best as a whole with (in my budget and taste range)a Rotel 971 cd player, a Nad integrated amp C350, Nordost Black Night interconnect and Audioquest Type 4 speaker cables. Better than with a Celeste PW4000 amp, and than with Van del Hul Cleartrack cables. Nordost cable seems to be made for them, extending their transparency (wich is on the smooth side with the Nad, but the Nad suit so well the otherwise sometimes "crude" Linn''s revealing nature). The Nad autosensing impedance circuitry and plenty of power keep control over them and let them sing at full will without any stress (Keosa are 4 ohms design - Nad is 60 Watts at either 8 or 4 Ohms). The Rotel (and its HDCD decoding plus)give the extra details to fullfill the Nad a bit smooth nature. And good copper cables (over silver) let all the details sings without any aggresiveness. Finally, they let you follow easily and happily a full symphonic orchestra, or let you concentrate with joy on a small ensemble either. And they stand with panache against the JM Lab Cobalt 926 ($3,500 worth value!)of my friend. I love them!

Strengths:
Musicality,Clarity, Rythm.

Weaknesses:
Careful matching