KEF Blade 2

A dealer DM’ed me about 2 weeks ago and told me that the KEF Reference line and the Blades are getting the META treatment and an announcement is imminent. The Ref line goes up by $1000 and I believe the speaker stands for the Reference 1 decrease by $1000.

The Blades are my favorite of ALL speakers, and I have heard a lot of top end speakers.

I should add that another KEF dealer told me that he had not heard anything about the META announcement.

What is the META treatment?

Last year the LS50's were upgraded with a new driver tech called META. This tech was going to be moved UP the lineup to the Reference and Blades. The only question is when this will happen since KEF announced they plan to upgrade.

One thing about the Blades is that the soundstage they put out seems to be very large and precise.

My post from earlier was correct.

KEF Reveals Latest ‘Blade’ Flagship Floorstanding Speakers and Pioneering ‘The Reference’ Models - The Absolute Sound

Coupling MAT to the Tweeter Dome

Of equal importance to the application of MAT is how the back wave is shepherded into the disc. This requires a complete redesign of the area behind the tweeter to form a waveguide with particular characteristics. Essentially, the acoustic impedance of the waveguide must match that of the opening of the MAT disc to avoid a reflection of the wave within the waveguide back intothe tweeter dome. This led KEF to designing a tapered duct, which reduces in diameter towards the disc opening with a conical profile. This inverted conical horn eliminates said reflections, but also fulfils the design requirements of allowing for easier accommodation of the absorber into the driver package and reducing the size of the MAT disc itself.

In addition, the sheer increase of acoustic volume behind the tweeter increases the venting and reduces non-linear distortion related to the spring effect of compressing this rear acoustic volume. KEF has done detailed mathematics behind MAT and the tweeter coupling technique.

The metamaterial application to the Reference and Blade series is an example in miniature of the extensive theoretical, computer simulation, design, manufacturing and testing efforts that KEF has made on many performance variables of the new Blade and Reference speakers.

I wonder how the Meta tech on the Blade 2 affect front wall placement.  Can the speaker be placed closer to the front wall?

How does dispersion translate into what you hear or how you position the speaker?

@steve59 

Best was Luxman M900’s with 509 being a close second. It seems like the Blade2’s are a better match with slightly sweeter amplification 

If you are looking for slightly sweet amps for the Blades then take a look at this one.

Krell Duo 300 XD Stereo Amplifier Dealer Ad - US Audio Mart

I will use the KRELL 175XD, the CODA #16 (plan to upgrade from the #8), or the Benchmark AHB2 monos when I get one of the new KEF Metas (hopefully Blade 2). Sonically I think the Luxman m900u and the KRELL are very similar.

The CODA is not as sweet.

Congrats you just bought one of the very best. What gear are you going to use on the Blade2?

Nice setup. Have you tried your amps in stereo mode with each amp driving a speaker instead of mono?

I just rearranged my gear to see if I can get a Blade 2 into my space in the Livingroom. It seems I can. Now need to decide on which one, Blade2 or Blade2 META?

CODA #8 amp (#16 in the future) | Benchmark LA4 preamp | Benchmark DAC3B (maybe Mustec 005 DAC)

@arvincastro Thanks for the additional info. After reading about the changes to the Blade I am led to believe that the Blade had the most work done with regards to the upgrades. The crossover, the new uni-q driver, and the META.

The Blade v1 you have is a no brainer to get. If I were to buy today, I may also go that route. Lucky for me ,the IRS and CA Franchise Tax Board have my Blade 1 payment on it's way to them this week. Which means the Blade 2 v2 is in my sights near the end of 2022.

Vivid and Yamaha also have backwave cancellation. Now KEF also has it with the META. I do not think KEF had it in the past, prior to the Meta, with Blades or any other models. With the Vivid speakers, this backwave cancellation allowed them to be placed close to the front wall. Vivid told me that. Other speakers may also have something similar, but I am not aware of them.

There are differences between the drivers used in the Blade, Reference, and LS50. There are some dealer posts on A'gon that get into those details.

A lot of what you just posted contradicts posts by a well-known KEF dealer who posts here. Unfortunately, the A'gon thought police tend to delete those threads and I am not interested in searching.

The drivers in the pre-Meta LS50, Blade, and REF were posted as not being the same. The differences were also mentioned. SEARCH to find that info or contact KEF who should be willing to give that info.

Again, what dealers say....is not worthy of repeating.

Actually, feel the opposite when I compare most uninformed posts on here and what I pick up from dealers and vendors. I stop and read the posts by the dealers.

@chungjh Is the Blade you are going to demo the META original? I plan on buying the META Blade without hearing it.