Price Paid:  $620.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I have just purchased the speakers (105/3 Reference, rosewood finish) 2 weeks ago. Real steal on Ebay at 620€. Went to England (I live in France) to pick them up and took the Eurostar back. Fun trip that was with over 80kg (180 pds) of speakers to carry around... Anyhow made it home safe and sound, not a scratch on the delicate rosewood. The Kube 200 was with them but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe with home cinema to boost the bass ? My system is made of the following : Micromega Tempo P amp, Micromega AVP as a preamp and DAC, Audioquest Emerald Superliszt interconnects, MIT Terminator 2 speaker cables, Pioneer DV737 as a CD drive for now (plan on upgrading to a Teac VRDS T1 drive and a Wadia DAC I have my eyes on). My prior speakers were still Kef, but vintage ones : Calinda's. T27 and SP1153 and passive bass radiator. Great warm speakers but out of date. They're in my office now. The 105/3 has the most amazing sound. Fast, precise, detailed, holographic image to the point where I have had to check that the center speaker was not on. Right now my source is the weak point in my system, but it already delivers the most incredible sound. Actually I don't where to start to describe how neutral the speakers are. They litterally vanish behind the music, it that transparent. I went today to my music store to listen to a pair of Martin Logan Quest. Great stuff. But the Kef are just better. The bass is fast, clean, incredibly articulated. The midrange is heavenly, a forever Kef characteristic. The highs are just the way you want them : accurate, never harsh or acid. They blend incredibly well thanks to the 2nd gen UniQ. Right now my listening room is too small for those big guys, but we are moving next year to a much bigger place where they'll be able to breathe real good. They are sensitive to room placement, and things have greatly improved since I moved them further from the back wall. The bass also greatly improved since I removed the rubber feet and used the spikes instead. The great thing with these speakers is that any small change in your system will be immediatly heard. I am planning on toying around with cables to see how they react since my friend at the music store lets me borrow cables. The finish is somptuous, the rosewwod veener is wonderful, totally WAF compliant. They are bi-amp and I'm planning on trying that next week. All in all a wonderful speaker, that will kick some serious butt even today by its total neutrality, fantastic build, sonic integrity. If you can get your hands on a pair just go for it, you'll never regret it.

Strengths:
Transparence, wholeness of the sound, state of the art technology (UniQ, coupled-cavity...), build quality, a true Reference speaker that will tell what is bad and where.

Weaknesses:
A big heavy bulky speaker, not that good looking grilles, nothing on the sound department !

Similar Products Used:
Kef Calinda

Price Paid:  $2000.00 from Frank Harvey Hi-Fi,

Summary:
See my brief review under Definitive Technology BP 1X Speakers. Price paid was in pounds sterling.

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from online from Connetic

Summary:
I've had these speakers over 2 years now, and because I've moved into a smaller house, I need to get rid of them(sigh). They were used primarily in a home theatre setting and they responded very well, so well in that I didn't need a sub. I did have them running through a Kube 200-something I recommend to anyone who can find one. The bass extension can be floor shaking, if called upon. However, it can reveal very subtle low frequencies too. This is a test of a great speaker-to not only knock you over with powerful peaks on demand, but to hear that rolling thunder or cello note that hangs forever, is something to behold. That's why you buy speakers like these. Imaging, neutrality, power, effiency and on and on. I compared these to the Linn 5140 and found that the Kef's imaged better and gave a significantly lower extension. Don't get me wrong, the Linn's were awesome, but the Kef's were awesome,awesome. Like everyone else has written, the better the gear, the better the performance. This is true will all ultra hi-end stuff. It's not a deterent. I switched to XLO cables and it was like adding a new component. They tend to do well with mid-hi fi gear. I had a B&K pre/power combo. Although, the British made electronics do bring out the best-I just can't afford any. If you want to do better, be ready to spend more than $10,000 to justify a worthy improvement. Sadly, I know that I'll never own a better pair for the rest of my life, unless I find a great paying job. I remember reading a review in Audio magazine(way back when these were released) where the editor (Julian Hirsh)raved about these. He also said that he chose to own a pair of these speakers over any other. So I figured, if they're good enough for him, they're good enough for me.

Strengths:
Imaging... Bass Extension(with Kube 200)... Neutrality.

Weaknesses:
Looks-one of the ugliest with the grills on. Performance-NONE.

Similar Products Used:
lINN 5140(floorstanders) Kef 103/4

Price Paid:  $4500.00 from commercial electroni

Summary:
The Kef 105.3 speakers are wonderful for a non-electrostatic style speaker. They do sound beautiful with a large power amp. With a lot of solid state equipt. these can sound downright anorexic. They really need to be controlled by power to get the best sound. They really like tube preamps and tube dac combinations. p/s these speakers really show you what you don''t have for a system. They do send you on an audioquest.

Strengths:
Good build quality. I have the ones that are brazilian rosewood custom ordered and the wife of course forgets how big they are because of the look.

Weaknesses:
They show every little weakness in hardware and software.Bought all yammamura cables power,speaker,interconnect just to please them.They were harder on me than my wife.

Similar Products Used:
apogee homebuilt concrete/vifa/focal speakers martin logan

Summary:
I purchased my 105/3's in 1991 in England and shipped them to Toronto and I've never been disappointed with them. The only thing that's kept me from moving up to something physically larger (I have ML Quests in my office and I love 'em, and I'd like to go ML at home) is ... yes, Domestic Approval Factor.

Initially, I powered the 105/3's with two Museatex MTR-101 monoblocks, but the addition of a second pair really made the speakers come alive. Since then, I've moved through other amps to my current Krell FPB250's and they make very happy sounds indeed. When in multi-amp mode, I used a variety of cables, but Krell recommends the Goertz ribbon cables and they are indeed a good match with the binding posts bridged.

I appreciate high-end products that work, and work reliably for many years. Although every other item in my system has changed repeatedly, I've never felt the urge to change my speakers, although if I wanted to spend a LOT more money I'm reasonably certain (hello, Wilson?) I could do better. The 105/3's still bring out the best in what I can throw their way. Of course, if my wife relented ...

Strengths:
Neutrality, build quality

Weaknesses:
Limited Bass