KEF Blade -- how good are they?

I believe the reviews that claim the blades have a higher ceiling than other speakers in their price range. Kef has been improving on the uniq driver for something like 11 generations and the first one that was in the r105/3 was no slouch. I would think getting the electronics matched to the speakers for a rooms acoustics will make or break them, just like any other system. They're on my bucket list.

I listened to some raidho’s at axpona, the D1.1 and D5.1, I loved the 1.1 and couldn’t get out of the d5.1 room fast enough. I really believe speakers need to be the right size for the room to make a fair assessment. Wilson speakers generally sound great at shows because for 1 thing they show their speakers in appropriately sized rooms and actually know how to place them. 

The Blade is the best sounding speaker I’ve ever heard in a real world setting(my room, my gear) and there’s been some impressive contenders.

Yes, I agree. The po had them connected to tubes and the balance was warmer tho’ the hegel is a pretty good partner and with carpeted floors, acoustic tiles over Sheetrock and plenty of distance from the sidewalls these do well however there are some recordings that I would consider your description of the upper midrange spot on. 

yyzsantabarbara2,444 posts07-12-2021 10:21pm@steve59 Have you ever tried the Blades very close to the front wall? Like a few inches away. 
There's 2 rear facing ports and if you're asking me to try to help you determine if they'll work in your room I will, but doesn't overall room size also account for bass output? 


audition__audio898 posts07-13-2021 6:09amI heard them at Axpona and was not impressed. But this is really not fair as I think they deserved better electronics and were played far too loud. I expected the KEF guy to start passing the bong at any time. I like the Hegel stuff, but I dont think it was a good match for the KEFs. I think Pass might even be a worse match. My guess is some of the bigger buck Euro S.S. would be your best bet.

I would suggest the hegel int connection was more to show the Blades could perform with 'sane' amounts of power. They're being drivin' in my 17x27x7' listening room by a h360 and are capable of full range high spl output, something some of the other speakers fell short of with the h360.

I found adjusting toe in affects the tone of the lower mids, but that would also be dependent on how far apart the speakers are and the listening position.