Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Sidebar 1: System

Front-end equipment used in this review included a Lexicon CP-3 Plus surround processor, EAD DSP-7000 D/A processor, Sony CDP-X779ES CD player, Sony DTC-2000ES DAT recorder, SOTA Cosmos turntable with vacuum hold-down, The Well Tempered Arm, and the Ortofon MC-3000 cartridge and its mating step-up transformer. Video equipment consisted of a Pioneer CLD-97 laserdisc player, Ampro 2000 video projector with the Dwin LD-2 line doubler, and a Stewart 6'-diagonal projection screen. Audio interconnects were Monster M-1000s, and the front loudspeaker cables were AudioQuest Emeralds.

My initial listening to the KEFs was done with a Boulder 500AE stereo power amplifier feeding the front channels and a Boulder 250AE feeding the surrounds. I then listened for some weeks to a six-channel Parasound HCA-1206 THX power amplifier. (The amps were similar but not identical. The Parasound was a shade laid-back in comparison with the 500s and a little drier at the high end. Since neither was feeding bass, I was unable to compare them there.)

Software consisted of two DAT compilations I had digitally copied from recent laserdiscs and CDs, several Classic Records RCA Living Stereo LP re-releases, a variety of old, older, and oldest LPs, and some live-performance DAT recordings (symphonic and chamber works) made locally by Steven Stone and myself.—J. Gordon Holt