Small size but beautiful open and detailed sound.

No real deeeeep bass, but that is why the invented subwoofers! But don't be afraid of it, the bass is really nice!

It was a very big adventure buying this piece of equipment but I won't bother you with the details. Let's just say it was a very chaotic and fast evening but the results were a nice set of very well build and explicit sounding speakers!

Nice clear open sound with a good round bass. Very detailed and wide open soundfield. Especially vocals sound very clean and crisp while not getting harsh sounding. I still can't believe how they get such sound from these 'small' speakers...

Speakers were placed on Acatama sandfilled speakerstands and uni-wired connectec with Vocal Powercord to a Rotel RA935BX amplifier linked to pre-out of the Denon AVR1801 DTS receive. Finnaly a coaxial digital audio input from a Rotel RCD955AX CD player.

Similar Products Used:

Magnat Vector 4

Small size but beautiful open and detailed sound.

No real deeeeep bass, but that is why the invented subwoofers! But don't be afraid of it, the bass is really nice!

It was a very big adventure buying this piece of equipment but I won't bother you with the details. Let's just say it was a very chaotic and fast evening but the results were a nice set of very well build and explicit sounding speakers!

Nice clear open sound with a good round bass. Very detailed and wide open soundfield. Especially vocals sound very clean and crisp while not getting harsh sounding. I still can't believe how they get such sound from these 'small' speakers...

Speakers were placed on Acatama sandfilled speakerstands and uni-wired connectec with Vocal Powercord to a Rotel RA935BX amplifier linked to pre-out of the Denon AVR1801 DTS receive. Finnaly a coaxial digital audio input from a Rotel RCD955AX CD player.

Similar Products Used:

Magnat Vector 4

Bass

Had owned this speakers for 18 months, it's a good value for
minimum space/tight budget.

After a extended period of listening, felt that the bass is real lacking even combined w/subwoofer, I'm mostly listening to jazz & occasionally some pop/rock, these speakers are ok for jazz but not very capable for pop/rock due to it's limited frequecy range, the low frequency seems to be pretty hollow.

The strongest point of KEF Q15 is the soft & natural midrange that beats most speakers with similiar size.
However when I had a chance to compare Q15 with B&W 602 side by side at home, B&W 602 immediately got my attention by producing much tighter bass & clear crisp high range, but Q15 still champions in listening to jazz vocal which does not require too much bass or high pitch.

I've then traded my Q15 for a pair of B&W 602 since. I still think that Q15 presents a very good value, but it's best used as surround sound speakers instead of main speakers.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Boston Accoutics

Perfect college-dorm or nearfield speaker, with mid-treble coherence, midrange clarity, treble dispersion, decent midbass when ports stuffed, good-looking baffles.

*Requires* a subwoofer, midbass dynamic compression, finding a place to store the dumb grilles.

I originally bought my Q15's in March, 1997, my senior year of high school, to go with my new computer, comparing them over the course of a month with the also quite good NHT SuperOne. As nearfield monitors, the Q15's excel. Simply put, they're the best nearfield package I've ever heard, INCLUDING the outstanding Eminent Tech LFT-11: the ET's beat the Q15s in midrange liquidity, but in top-to-bottom coherence, there's absolutely no contest, with the Q15 convincingly trumping the LFT-11. As long as the monitor's not in the way, they throw a satisfying image, with the drumbeats from the IASCA car stereo test disc appearing evenly spaced across the area between them. They do not image significantly outside the outer boundaries of the speakers, but really, what spectrally-accurate box speakers do? And as long as they're not pointing directly at you, the Q15s present a very even spectral picture, with no frequency range obviously sticking out. The "bass" extends down to the tuning frequency of 50Hz, but I've found that stuffing the ports with black socks signficantly enhances midrange resolution, something especially noticeable on discs such as Bela Fleck and the Flecktones' "Live Art". (I suppose you could use other color socks too, but why draw attention away from those beautiful Uni-Q drive units?) In the nearfield, by themselves they can play the gamut from Shostakovich to Coltrane to Dave Matthews to Sublime.

When I moved to college, they became my main speakers, replacing a set of Mirage M590i bipoles. At that distance, I found that they needed a sub, just as any 6.5" 2-way would. However, the other qualities found in the nearfield substantially remain. The overall balance became a bit thinner, perhaps a bit nasal on some recordings, but these are $300 speakers! A significant upgrade would be quite expensive, with little significant improvement, in my opinion, below the Avalon Avatar.

Bottom line: In my new house, I played the "What a Good Boy" from "Rock Spectacle" by BNL. My housemate complemented me on my deep, strong, powerful singing voice. I wasn't singing. The KEF's were.

-jbh

Similar Products Used:

NHT SuperOne, B&W DM601, KEF Q10, Monitor Audio MA300, Eminent Technology LFT-11

Had owned KEF-Q15s for 2 years, they're pretty good for jazz music(femal vocal) or home theather set up, but when it comes to classical or pop/rock area, they're real dissapointment(both with or without subwoofer). KEF probably designed it's Q series with Home theater application in mind, not recommened for music listening.

I just bought these speakers as rears in my Dolby Digital. The spaciousness of these speakers is amazing, along with my DSP-A1, the sound is amazing. The soundfield back there is incredable for direct firing speakers, and the midrange and high-end is smooth and defined. I got a bargain of a lifetime with these.

Price, Unreal Proformance for Price

Are you kidding!

I usually woundn't submitt a review on such and inexpensive speaker, but after listening to the little wonders,I coundn't resist. I bought these for my second system and I'm glad I did. When they first arrived I placed them in my main system for break-in (I removed my B&W Naut. 805's)and started to listen after a few days, I have to say that the sound that they produced blew me away. I had to check my receipt, Speakers priced this low should not sound so good!!! I could go on and on, but do your self a favor, buy them!! they blow-away everything that the mass market super stores sell (Bose, JBL, Infinity, Polk).

10 stars for value.

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AE, B&W, Mission, PSB (all small bookshelfs)

Sound, size, price.

None to date.

These are the newer Q15.2 not Q15 speakers. I did a little research on internet (here and elsewhere) and in magazines before going out to do some comparison listening. I thought the KEF's sounded the best in the store, but it got better. When I got home and hooked these up to my new receiver I was blown away. I could not believe how great they sounded.

I have read reviews about their lack of bass, but I have to disagree. For a bookshelf this size, the bass is exceptional. No, they're not going to replace a separate sub, but they're bookshelfs for goodness sakes! Put them on decent pair of stands, get a good powered sub, and enjoy. These absolutely blow away the better mass-market bookshelf (Polks) at half the price and half as many 6-1/2's. The new B&W were also easy competition for the KEF's.

I have been building my HT system slowly piece by piece. I have researched and evaluated every single piece of equipment before purchasing. I feel like I'm reaping the rewards for my efforts. So far, the performance I have gotten far exceeds my expectations for what I have spent.

Similar Products Used:

B&W DM-303, Polk RT-55i

Good build quality. Very good midrange and treble.

Nothing really.

I have the updated Q15.2's. I have nothing but praise for this speaker. The coaxial design is not just a gimmick. The blending of the mid/bass and treble is very good. I regularly use the legendary Rogers LS3/5A's for monitoring purposes in a broadcast environment and the Kef Q15.2's come very close in terms of sound style and merit. Only the Kefs's have better bass and dynamics. (Ironically the Rogers have Kef drivers in them.) I auditioned several other speakers before choosing the Q15.2's. And I found the others to have softer treble and poorer coherence in the midrange. In others words, they lacked realism.
I have no regrets in buying this speaker!!!

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JPW ML510

Superb, exceptional, fantastic overall sound, very clear high and excellent mids, accurate and focused bass, very neutral, realistic, a best buy at all!

none, truly!!!

Before I bought this incredible pair of speakers, I've auditioned, in stores or at home of some of my friends, many product, from a large variety of brands. It's been very difficoult to make a choice among those all. But, for what I've been searching (a bookshelf not too expensive but capable of a very realistic and pure musical reproduction for my bedroom), the KEFs were unbelievable, terrific, superb!!! THey are small, but not so small sounding... The dinamics are perfect, the voices as in life, the highs the best I've auditioned from a speaker of this cost, but the sound they produce easily outperform speakers that cost twice as much! They are perfect in all kinds of music, with pop and rock they excell, but with classic music they can produce the most pure and accurate sound possible!
THey are also elegant and well made (from the silver-polypropil mid-woofer cone, a material invented by NASA), to the soft dome tweeter! And they are capable of giving an incredible, outstanding power, that will full any room.
This is a best buy, and I'm continuing blowed awey from this product. WELL DONE KEF!!!

System used:
NAD C350 amplfier
NAD C541 CD player
Van den Hul cables (in bi-wiring)

P.S. Remember that in bi-wiring there is a dynamic and a reproduction even better, very better! And use always high quality cables (my van den hul are very good!)

Similar Products Used:

Acoustic Research,Monitor Audio (bronze and silver line),Tannoy,Bose,Acoustic Energy AE100i,JBL,Jamo speakers