speaker upgrade fever


I'm considering a speaker upgrade to compliment my Aesthetix Mimas integrated. Currently, I've got KEF Ref 1 monitors paired with (2) REL S/3 subs. Must stay away from bright, analytical and clinical presentation. Room size 12'x19'. Music is jazz, acoustic Americana, Chamber, symphonic etc. 

Looking at the ProAc K1, Triangle Duetto and the DeVore o/baby. Also, a huge departure, Vandersteen Treo CT, floor standers. I understand Vandersteen pairs well with the Mimas.

Always open to suggestions, happy to buy quality used and demo.

Budget, ~$8-$11K

larseand

Showing 3 responses by richardbrand

@grislybutter 

I almost accidentally bought a pair of KEF Reference 1 speakers to tide me over while repairing my Quad 2905 electrostatics, which are widely recognised as very accurate speakers.  In many respects I prefer the Reference 1 - it plays a lot louder while keeping the imaging and accuracy I am used to.  I mainly play classical music and go to a lot of live concerts.  Should possibly mention that my amplifier is a Krell KSA80 class A which has huge current reserves.

Your speaker choices listing has the Reference 3 immediately under the Reference 1.  They are identical speakers except the 3 has a duplicate bass driver in a d'Appolito arrangement. The Reference 5, not in the listing, has four of the same bass drivers,

Yet speaker choices describes the Reference 1 as 3/bass+concentric and the Reference 3 as 4/bass+midwtweet+bass.

To really understand why the KEF is outstanding, have a look at the KEF White Paper REF-White-Paper-201219-LR.pdf

These aren't beercans, neither are they bookshelf speakers. I prefer them to every other speaker I have heard iincluding Sonus Faber, B&W and behemoths costing 20 times as much.

@grislybutter 

Oh, I had not realised it was your compilation! I assumed it was from a technical publication.

You are not the one who called them beercans, neither did you call them bookshelf speakers.  I have difficulty linking to responses to posters, especially mid-stream ...and I tend to read all posts, no matter who they might be addressed to.

I will admit that, as an electrostatic enthusiast, the Reference 1 design goes against many of my prior conceptions.  I thought boxes with parallel faces promoted standing waves.  I thought the volume under a stand-mount could be better used as cabinet volume.  I thought diffraction from cabinet edges was always a problem.  I thought you needed big drivers to move lots of air.  Most of all, I hated non-coincident drivers because of the cancellation effects off-axis.

The KEF white paper addresses these issues in ways I still find fascinating. For example, any cutout in the baffle can act as a diffraction point, so KEF designd the bass drivers to be as physically flat as possible in the plane of the baffle, to minimise diffraction of the coincident tweeter / midrange.  Who would have thought ...

I have a private email asking

Where did you send your 2905. I have 3 of 4 crackling ? mylar repair?? I live in MInnesota.

I cannot reply to private emails on Audiogon, so my answer must be public.

I pull the panels out myself, which requires some mechanical and soldering skills.  I then send them to John Hall who lives near Melbourne Australia.  He gives a five year warranty on panel repairs and charges about A$300 per panel.

I used to try to identify which panel had become faulty, and get them fixed one at a time.  I think I can pull a 2905 apart in my sleep.  The reality is the glue used was defective and all panels fail at about the same time after 10 years.  John reckons you might as well repair all the panels at the same time and I now agree with him.  The last 3 of my 12 panels are currently being repaired.

I did try to repair panels myself, but could not find a way to coat the mylar with the required slightly conductive film.

Obviously the panels are much lighter than the entire speaker so it may be viable to send them to the antipodes for repair.  Not sure if John wants extra work though ...