KEF Reference 3

[Matthew]

After much looking and listening I've settled on the KEF Reference 3 as an upgrade from my Totem Fire bookshelf (which were just great).  My list of local options that I was interested in - in my price range was the following:

1) Revel Studio 2
2) B&W 802 D2
3) Magico S1
4) Focal Sopra No2
5) SF Olympica 2

I was never able to demo the B&W's with the Devialet before they local dealer ran out of stock with the D3 version.  All the others I was able to demo with D400 either in home or at the dealer.

The KEf's were a late comer to the party as one of the local dealers brought them in to demo as KEF was looking to him to pick up the line in his showroom.  Anyway the first time I listened i was pretty impressed with some decent NAIM gear but in a pretty crappy listening room (good by some standards by poor by most).  But I was impressed enough to bring in my D400 a few days later. Much scouring on the web brought forth very little information compared to many other models and brands. To complicate matters these were mfg. demo going for a very good price and the dealer wouldn't let me take them home.  I took the chance and bought them anyway.  Was worried about bottom end but no issue whatsoever.

The risk paid off.  I'm very happy and a great price to boot.  Glass of wine and some tunes on the new gear! Ahhh.

So as a side note my very brief opinions on the others are (of course these are my humble opinions):

1) Revels - great, loved them but they didn't jump out as being as good as the reviews. I may have needed a bigger room.  Would like to listen to the Salon2 sometime but that's a whole lot more moola as well!!
2) B&W - can't really comment as I heard them on some Mcintosh amps in an overly damped room.  I know loads of people swear by these.
3) Magico S1 - The S3's, now there's a speaker.  If I have the $....  the S1's are good but a far, far less impressive speaker than the S3's
4) Focals - Impressive off the get go but found myself somewhat fatigued at then end of the listening session.  A bit over the top if you will.
5) SF - Very smooth and silky but not very exciting.
6) KEF - though not perfect by any means a very good balance.

I doubt I could have gone wrong with any of those speakers but as everyones tastes vary it's the subtitles that sing the vote.

Thanks for reading, I was excited to tell the world! 

[Womaz]

Great post Matthew. I have the Olympica 2 on home demo at present, and smooth and silky are two good words to describe them. Sweet is another one. I have them for a few days

[wikeeboy]

They don't exist unless you show us pictures

[samurai7595]

5) SF - Very smooth and silky but not very exciting.

I came to the same conclusion when I had auditioned the SF Olympica II.

[Matthew]

Great post Matthew. I have the Olympica 2 on home demo at present, and smooth and silky are two good words to describe them. Sweet is another one. I have them for a few days

They don't exist unless you show us pictures

They do exist!!

[Confused]

I was lucky enough to hear the KEF Reference 3 at a cable comparison event at Oxford Audio last year. They were being powered by a Devialet 800 with an Aurender streamer. I guess for me this is a bit of a backwards step, being used to D800 powered KEF Blades at home. But having said that, it was not that much of a step back, I think if I was blindfolded and told that I was listening to the Ref 5's then I would almost certainly have believed it, they sounded big. I have to say I was very impressed and I could have happily sat listening to that system for hours. There also seamed to be an argument that the Ref 3 is a bit of a sweet spot in the range, gaining that essential last octave over the Ref 1, but loosing out very little to the Ref 5, which is apparently very large and more difficult with placement etc. The bottom line for me was the Ref 3 Devialet combination was quite simply a very good listen, most enjoyable. I'm sure you will have much fun with your new system Mathew!

[wikeeboy]

Nice!

[Matthew]

Confused:

That's high praise to have a close comparison to the Blades! I've not had the opportunity to listen to any other KEF but it would be a treat to hear them. It is interesting after a couple of nights of listening that I know I could not go any bigger (physically), the amount of "air" they move pressurizes the room to it's limits.

Been listening to some older pop and rock and they KEF's handle the genres very well.

Hope everyone is having a great day/night.