KEF Q150 for $300 - Kefdirect.com, Amazon.com and Crutchfield.com

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maty



maty



maty

Finally, frequency measurements.

Just got the KEF Q150. I'm impressed! by Laurent231Qc Oct 5

https://imgur.com/gallery/dFWImnF

[ Sound:

First, I must say that I'm very impressed by these speakers. The bass they produce is unexpected for their size. It is deep and very present, but it is not the punchiest  bass I've heard. Even if they produce a good amount of bass for a 5 1/4 '', it is very precise. Sometimes it sounds boomy, but it really depends on the song. They have a very very good midrange. Vocals are sound rich and full. It is their strong point. I don't have much to say on the midrange honestly, it just sound good. The highs extend very well and are well balance. It doesn't sound harsh at all. They sound relaxed if I can put it that way.

Soundstage:

They produce a phenomenal soundstage and imaging. It's by far the best I've heard. They do need to be placed correctly though.

Build/finish:

They seem well built. At this price it's obviously a vinyl finish, but it looks very good and well made.

Overall, I'm very happy with my new purchase. They sound way better than my last speakers. I got the at a discount (398$ CAD) and at that price it is worth it. I tried other speakers at that price point and the KEF Q150 simply sounded better than the others.



Here is the frequency response of the my KEF Q150 in my room. They have a small foam that I can put in the back port to change their bass response. In purple, there is no foam. In red their is half of the foam. In green there is all the foam.




Here is the frequency response separated. In purple, there is no foam. In red their is half of the foam. In green there is all the foam. ]

poseidonsvoice

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Maty,

In the graphs you posted, the 320dB vertical range makes the curves look purposefully and artificially flat. Great for marketing, but poor for engineering and seeing the truth. Tell the OP on Imgur to set it to a 50dB scale and try again. 1/12th or 1/6th octave smoothing for the horizontal range should give us a decent idea of the FR in a room which is the best you can do. Or tell the OP to take it back to KEF’s anechoic chamber to get it properly measured!

Best,
Anand.

maty

I know it is artificially flat smoothed out, like many others graphs. The major difference with KEF Q100 is they have "V" response, easily modified with a new crossover taking advantage of the original components to spend money (Zvu) or with minimum-phase PEQ.

* https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/minimum-phase-vs-linear-phase.8762/page-7#post-225351

* https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/minimum-phase-vs-linear-phase.8762/post-253826

Let us see if someone is encouraged and makes complete measurements, without smoothed out the frequency response like Zvu or Danny Richie.

But for now...
« Last Edit: 11 Nov 2019, 07:13 am by maty »

maty

Just now I have created a new account in Reddit and I have send a message to Laurent231Qc. Imgur is too much nosey (asks tfn number).

Until tomorrow I can not post in the last KEF Q150 thread where he wrote:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BudgetAudiophile/comments/dtkjmg/kef_q150_or_fluance_ai60_why/

-> private message to: https://www.reddit.com/user/Laurent231Qc/

BigLaure

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Hey guys,
This is a response to the feedback I had on the measurements I made. I see now that they can be very misleading if you do not pay attention to the scale. So here are the new measurements (that I just made) of my KEF Q150. I used a 50 dB scale and a 1/12th octave horizontal smoothing.
The measurements were made with a MiniDSP Umik-1 (with the calibration file) at 75 dB (pink noise).

Now I must say that it's a lot messier than the previous. The y-axis scale changes a lot the look of the curve. I'll be more careful in the feature and thanks for pointing out to me that I made a mistake!
That said, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still very impressed and happy with them.  :D

*It's my first post on AudioCircle, so if something is not right tell me and I'll change it.




timind

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Hey guys,
This is a response to the feedback I had on the measurements I made. I see now that they can be very misleading if you do not pay attention to the scale. So here are the new measurements (that I just made) of my KEF Q150. I used a 50 dB scale and a 1/12th octave horizontal smoothing.
The measurements were made with a MiniDSP Umik-1 (with the calibration file) at 75 dB (pink noise).

Now I must say that it's a lot messier than the previous. The y-axis scale changes a lot the look of the curve. I'll be more careful in the feature and thanks for pointing out to me that I made a mistake!
That said, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still very impressed and happy with them.  :D

*It's my first post on AudioCircle, so if something is not right tell me and I'll change it.




Thanks for the effort, and welcome to AudioCircle.

I've heard the Q150 and was pretty amazed at what they do for the price. Right now though, I'm listening to the R3s, a lot more money, but wow, they sound good.

maty

Resized and optimized



And thank you very much!

maty

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-5Ue8EiLH1xs/p_991Q150B/KEF-Q150-Black.html

Quote
Crutchfield customer from Cambridge, MA on 10/1/2019

Love these. Mainly classical listener. Lovely, lively balance throughout the range. Warm, with clear high end. Piano music, for example, beautifully rendered. Port plugs with center punched out helped, as recommended by KEF and various reviewers.


maty

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/RAIJ8ECI9GM5B/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B071P6KQZX

Quote
The best speaker that $300 could buy you
November 20, 2019

...But KEF Q150s were way over my budget at the time so I ended up with ELACs for front L/R and ELAC Debut 2.0 C5.2 for center, with Fluance AVBP2 bipole speakers rounding up my set-up as side surrounds...

Quote
I was amazed with the result. My whole system was instantly transformed. Now I am a believer in using direct speakers for surrounds, although partly it may be the Uni-Q design of KEF Q150, and other direct speakers may or may not be as good for this purpose. But KEFs worked amazingly well. They opened ELACs up, too, so I was very pleased. And they looked so sleek, too! I decided to take a further leap and replace my ELAC L/C/R with KEF Q150s. Let me tell you that results were spectacular. YPAO nailed it right away and for the first time I did not have to change anything except setting speakers to small with the crossover at 80 Hz to redirect bass to the subwoofer.

The sound was so good that I could not stop watching Dolby Atmos and DTS:X trailers on youtube. This is an amazing little speaker! Way more detailed than ELAC, well balanced and clean, whether played at high volume or low. At the original price what I did would not have been a viable project for me but with the current discount I got a sound system that I could only dream about before. KEF Q150 at $300 vs ELAC Debut 2.0 at $300? There is no contest! You owe it to yourself to get KEFs. They are in a different class than ELAC. Highly recommended.

maty

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1RK7NA6RE9DVT/ref=cm_cr_othr_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B071P6KQZX

Quote
Amazing bookshelf speakers for the price - stop looking and buy these
December 13, 2019

If you’re in the market for some bookshelf speakers at a reasonable you should stop looking and buy these. Right out of the box they need to break in so you won’t really get the full glory for about 10-15 hours. But once they are broken in they’re incredible.

I did a fair amount of research and listened to a lot of bookshelf speakers proved from $500-1200 a pair and the money these sounded as good as any pair I heard that was over $1000.

I have them in a room that is about 13’ x 9’ and they fill room with sound. Bass is punchy considering the size of the driver and the highs are clear as a bell. I’m not sure they would hold up as well in a large room but for the a small setup they’re absolutely killer...

maty

Pictures from: YouTube Kef q150 look inside and free air








Two first order as KEF Q100 but cheaper coil now and higher value: 0.8 mH.

Q100 has a 0.68 mH air coil:


maty

by Pallas

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/multi-way/320822-kef-q150-parameters-post6059109.html

Quote
Lotsa cost cutting there. The Q150 driver has a stamped sheet metal frame. The Q100 driver had a nice cast alloy frame.


KEF Q100 5.25" coaxial driver




KEF Q150 5.25" coaxial driver


maty



maty

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kef-q100-speaker-review.11987/post-352839

[ I actually experimented with the Q150 awhile back and measured Open ports, partial sealed and sealed parts and got this.



You're giving up a lot of output where it matters by sealing the speakers in my opinion. I personally prefer running the Q150 and LS50 with the ports open and 4th order slopes to blend to a sub, they sound much better not trying to reproduce deep bass and it takes care of any port resonance also. ]