Amplifier ideas with KEF Reference 1

@keoliphant I have also invested a little bit of money into my office system. I originally had LS50’s powered by PeachTree Nova 150 integrated. I moved that system to the bedroom and now have the Audience 1+1 V2+ speakers driven by a single Benchmark AHB2 amp in the office. The Audience 1+1 speaker has a clearer sound than the LS50, though I love both speakers equally. The LS50 has a little more heft to it.

You may want to do a little bit of research on the Audience 1+1. I was going to get the KEF Ref 1 for the office but decided against it because I would eventually end up with 3 KEF based systems. I wanted a little more speaker diversity and I am so glad I got the Audience 1+1. It is a different sounding speaker from the small KEFs.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/audience-clairaudient-11-v2-loudspeaker/

I heard the KEF Ref 1 with the latest Wired4Sound monoblocks and it was fabulous. I ended up staying and listening to that system longer than I planned. Seriously good sound and not too expensive.

https://wyred4sound.com/products/power-amps/mono/sx-1000r

The Benchmark AHB2 would also be a great amp to pair with the KEF Ref 1’s though I am not sure if it would meet your needs for a warm sound. This amp has no sound to it and maybe the quietest amp available at ANY price.. I would recommend 2 of these amps in monoblock for the Ref 1 ($6k total new). Maybe a little over the top in power but the amp is so cheap for the performance. It also has a shocking small form factor which you will appreciate for an office. Your PS Audio DAC will work well with it. I use the new Benchmark DAC3L

https://www.dagogo.com/benchmark-audio-dac3-dx-ahb2-amplifiers-review/

My final audio purchase will be KEF Blades for the living room. I am thinking about some different ideas to drive them or getting a second Benchmark AHB2 and running them in monoblock form with the Blades. There are some A’Gon users successfully using the AHB2 amps in this setup. If I get a second AHB2 and use them in the living room I am thinking of splurging for the Luxman 509x for the office. BTW - I have a budget of 30K for the living room amps so I have many choices.

I also use Audience cables and speaker wires. I will get the top of the line Audience wires for my living room system,

I have heard the Hegel 360 with the KEF Blades and that integrated would also work great with the Ref 1’s. You would not need the Hegel 590. The Hegel really makes sense from a practicality perspective and also sound wise. However, I do feel the AHB2 sounds better than the Hegel (for me). I was lucky to have an almost private 2 hour audition with the Blades and H30 | 360 | Roost amps from Hegel. The H30 and 360 sounded very good with the Blades but something tells me the AHB2 in mono maybe better.

The PeachTree Nova 300 also would work with the Ref 1’s. Maybe not as great as some of the others I have listed but you are supposed to be working in your office (correct)? This integrated should work well enough and I may also get this if I don’t do something crazy and buy the Luxman 509x for the office.

I have actually heard the Kef Ref 1 with a few more amplifiers that escape me now. I do not think this speaker is too difficult to drive but I would try to use more than 100 wattts.

I think there are a lot of really good amplification choices these days without having to break the bank. The 10K mark for office amplification is a little tough to justify but it is just money. The stuff I have listed all run cool and some are very small in form factor.

@keoliphant Based on your responses I would think the Luxman 509x will be what you end up with. I never gave too much consideration on looks for audio gear but that Luxman has super model looks to it. The loudness button on the Luxman 509x would also be very useful to my office setup when I am working late at night.

I should also mention that I did hear the KEF Ref 1 sound awful once at a dealer. That was when it was played in a room about the same size as yours. The speakers were facing a wall full of glass. It was unbearably bad and I was shocked the dealer simply did not flip the room configuration around. My take away from that was that there is a lot of bass coming from the Ref 1.

I also wanted to mention that the Magico A3 speaker maybe an interesting choice for your office.

I found that when I work my long hours in my office I do not want too much bass hitting my ears. The LS50 and the Audience 1+1 are great at this for a small to medium size rooms.

@georgehifi The Benchmark AHB2 is not an integrated. It is an amp only.  I use it in my office.

@audiotroy Is the 14 x 10 room adequate for the KEF Ref 1? The room seems a little small to me.

Congrats, how are the KEF Reference 1 in your space (specifically the bass). Is the room acoustically treated?

Did you demo the Hegel or buy without a dem? It is hard to find it to demo in my area.

That is great to hear that it is working out well for you. I know how much of a pain it is to setup a small room and the additional complexity of a desk. How about a photo, your room sounds very interesting.

My room is 12 x 11 x 9 and when I put in $700 of GIK acoustic treatments(9 panels) in my office the room was transformed. I have a photo on the virtual systems.

@keoliphant My current setup is rather simple, KEF LS50 + PeachTree Nova 150. Prior to the treatments the sound stage was not good, the imaging was not focused and I would get ear fatigue when I listened to certain albums, such as the Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream.

I was not able to listen too loud because it was just louder bad sound. After I added the treatments everything improved. It was just amazing how good the LS50 + Peachtree NOVA 150 now sounded. I am now excited to upgrade this system soon because the acoustics are rather good in this room. I am likely going to get a Paradigm Persona 3F + Anthem STR preamp with ARC3 DSP + Anthem STR amp or something else.

After the room treatments I find that I can play music much loader though most of the time it is at a moderate to low levels. My prior bad sounding recording, Siamese Dream, sounds so good now. This is one disc that I want to crank up. I also keep my room door open which helps add volume to the room.

I was recently listening to Damien and Stephan Marley albums and prior to the treatments they were almost impossible to listen to due to the heavy reggae bass, however, after the treatments they are easily listenable.

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/7605

When I get the floor stander I will also get a audio rack and move that to the side and put only the amp between the speakers.

I was seriously considering the Hegel H590 in the past but I decided that I wanted DSP in my peamp because of the room limitations I would face with a floor stander. I also could not find a place to demo the Hegel even though I contacted Hegel a few times.

https://darko.audio/2019/10/a-short-film-about-the-hegel-h390-kef-reference-1/

I just saw the post by the Audio Doctor, I was thinking the same thing on the USB from the MAC directly to the Hegel. I know Hegel has done some things to make that type of connection sound better than average. If I were to use USB I would go either the way Audio Doctor suggested or my preferred way (since I like my computer(s) in my office), a Sonore xxxxRendu.

@keoliphant  Thanks for the update on the 590. Today, I was in contact with KEF regarding speaker choice (for my downstairs) and I was thinking the 590 would be perfect if the speakers were to fit. Especially for other members of the family to use with it's ease of use. I am happy to hear that is also sounds great. 

BTW - for you Ethernet streaming folks on this thread. Have you guys heard about the EtherREGEN,  https://uptoneaudio.com/products/etherregen

It would be an interesting and cheap way to cleanup Ethernet noise. I don't think the Hegel 590 or 390 is ROON READY yet, but when they are, Ethernet streaming seems like something to try.

@keoliphant  I imagine you have a docking station or a network switch that can send packets to your logged on laptop. If you have a Network switch then the Sonore microRendu is a digital-2-digital converter. In this case converting the Ethernet-2-USB. This is the older technology from Sonore but likely perfect for you and what I use in my office, until I upgrade to something more complicated.

This will be miles ahead of your direct USB connection. I know because I had the same years ago before I went to the Rendu. A huge improvement in sound quality. I imagine that Sonore will have some Black Friday sales on the Rendu's.

https://www.sonore.us/index.html

Let me take a look at my setup (localhost web site on the Rendu) to see how you can do this. I need to take my kid to school first.

BTW - If you use ROON then the Rendu is ROON READY.

I logged into my Rendu and could not see a user name and pwd settings anywhere. So I imagine the Rendu expects to be found on the network.

I would contact either of the 2 listed below (both companies work together) and describe your setup and ask if a Rendu can work in your situation?

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/
or
https://www.sonore.us/index.html (also contains FIND MY UNIT)

If you click on the second link you will see a menu option called FIND MY UNIT. When I click that link, the web site located my Rendu on my private network. The Rendu guys wrote the SonicOrbitor operating system that runs on the Rendu’s so they have hooks into everything, including possibly passing a file with user name and pwd that can be read from some software hook on the SonicOrbitor operating system. This software is amazingly reliable and robust. I just love this companies products, especially for my office environment.

You could also pose a question on the Sonore sponsored Computer Audiophile forum,

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/forum/24-sonore-sponsored/