KEF Q11 vs. R11

R11 Meta are absolutely worth the price difference.  It’s diminishing returns of course.

The Q11 Meta are absolutely unreal on their own, especially for the money.  They are "darker" sounding than the R11 Meta’s, but the R11’s aren’t bright at all.  They just sound more inert and have a bit more treble energy.  Find a dealer that will let you take both home, or buy the Q11 Meta and upgrade to thee R11 within a few years with full value back on the Q11 purchase.  That is something we always offer and encourage, and I’m sure other dealers will too.   It’s like a cheat code for spacing out the cost over a year or so.

The R11 Meta are dramatically higher build quality, and will probably stay new looking much MUCH longer.  

Please note none of this applies to the R11 and Q950, as the new Meta models (especially Q series) are an absolute quantum leap over the old generations.

If you want to stay around Q11 price range, the Dali Opticon 6 mkII are also ridiculously good and the best selling speaker we have in our store by far.  Dali has nothing in the R11 Meta price range, and it’s hard to argue the value of it.  

One thing to consider is the delta product that is the R7 Meta.  It will sound almost identical to the R11 Meta but with a little less bass extension, and a bit less sensitivity.  Neither will probably bother you much.

Hope that helps!

While loudspeaker manufacturers drivers often look alike the different lines do often use different uni-q looks the same, but are built to a lower price as are the cabinets. I had a pair of q5’s a while back and they sounded better than the line above, xq I think…I was using a low power avr and the q’s just sounded good better. The thing I’ve noticed about speaker lines is the more expensive they are the more demanding of source they also are. 
 

Yes!