I'll chime in. I owned the blade 2 for a couple of years. I mostly paired them with a DCS Rossini directly to a pair of Theta Prometheus mono blocks. I was happy with them compared to some Revel Salon 2s I had and some Dynaudio C4s before that. Looking back I do still have a soft spot for the C4s. I happened to buy some Klipsch Forte III speakers for another system and for fun popped them into the system where the blades reside. This really through me for a loop. I went back and forth and could not believe that I was enjoying listening to music much more overall though the Forte III. Then I tried a Decware tube amp with the Forte III and I liked them even better. This sent me on a journey for a year I ended up with the Cornwall IV and an older pair of La Scalas. I went back and forth with all these speakers and I came to realize for me the Kef Blade 2 and Kef in general is a bland sound. It's what I'd call typical hifi spectacular and soulless. You don't have to agree and many take offense to me saying this about these speakers I'm sure. I would sum up the sound as soulless I'm also going to say they are a cheaply made product considering the price. Just look at the cheap plastic base and pick the speaker up, it's light and made of plastic. I don't see how they justify the price. I got them because I thought they would be a good sound and I do like the looks. I got swept into believing they were good because of good reviews and class A rating etc... It wasn't until I spent a good deal of time going back and forth with other speakers and amps that I realized it's a sound that puts me to sleep.
Haven't heard the new Blade Meta or Reference Meta models yet myself, but there have been a few early reviews which are uniformly positive. They comment that the changes go well beyond the Meta material and its impact, including many upgrades across other elements of the designs. They reported that the sonic improvements are revolutionary and much greater than they expected, making it hard to believe that are evolutions of the previous models with across the board improvements. |
@chungjh Is the Blade you are going to demo the META original? I plan on buying the META Blade without hearing it. |
yyzsantabarbara, I thought you decided your room was too small and you were leaning towards the ns5000? did I get you mixed up with another member?
I have me blades on usam, but I also have a pair of meridian dsp 8000se speakers with 2-3 years warranty left I'll also be putting up for sale. whichever sells first will decide what pair I keep. Next month i'll hear the meta's and will be able to compare them |
Here's the English version review on the Kef Reference 5 Meta https://www.lbtechreviews.com/test/speakers/kef-reference-5-meta |
