KEF 107 without Kube


I'm about to buy a set of KEF 107s without the Kube. My understanding is the Kube basically bumps up the bass to make the speaker more flat and lacks bass/body/punch without it.  Then I also hear that the Kube negatively affects the mids/highs according to many owners.  Is fixing this as easy as just bumping up the bass knob or do I really need to employ my miniDSP that I don't want to put in the chain?  Actually, I'll be using my Mcintosh ma7900 integrated so I don't think I can put the miniDSP in the chain anyway.

Woofers have been refoamed and tweeters have new fluid.. Nothing else has been done as far as wiring and crossovers.  

Thoughts on these without the Kube?  Or any other good mods?


dtximages

Showing 2 responses by yakbob

I owned a restored pair of KEF 107s for a couple of years. You’re going to want the Kube. The set was designed as a system and people selling 107s without it use the excuse that they sound better without...they don’t. The Kube offers a lot of room tuning flexibility. Also, note the 107/2 Kube is different than the original 107 Kube. The non hardwired Kubes are more desirable since you can run the cables of your choice.

After purchase, I began hoarding 107 parts. Extra tweeters, B-110 mid drivers, and I owned 3 Kubes at one point. They can be hard to find, but do turn up on the auction site from time to time. The stock power (wall wart) is good to have too.

If you go through with the purchase, take $500 off any asking price so you can fund a Kube purchase. Sellers believe they can get full market value on an incomplete set. Don’t fall for it.


The Kube 107.2 is not the best option for a 1st gen 107 speaker. It may work, but the crossover is different.
However, the claims (I've read them too) that the Kube is serial matched for each pair of speakers is a bit of hogwash, I could not tell a difference in the 3 Kube's I ran with my 107s.
The 107 is still a fantastic speaker. I would have kept mine if I didn't need to fund another speaker purchase. Don't be put off by the extra piece of electronics to run them, many speakers are tied to extra bits as part of their design including the new $30k Jubilee. I wish I has the room and the funds for that one. :-)