Hi everyone! I'm new around here.
I've been doing music production, running a project studio for 15 years and recently made plans to build a studio focused on mastering. It is for this purpose that I'm looking for some great hi-fi speakers as my main monitors along with my trusted pair of nearfields. For the start I don't want to break the bank, so my budget is $1500 for a used pair. I've read great things about older KEF speakers and I had a chance to listen to a pair of Reference Model Two (the guy is selling them for $650), powered by a top of the line Denon amp (I don't know the model). Of course, I'm searching for a speaker with a very natural, balanced and open sound.
While the KEFs really impressed me with their clear and defined low-end, quite stunning hi-mids and absolutely wonderful soundstage I was somewhat surprised (in a bad way) at their highs. I didn't expect them to be very airy, but to my ears they lack anything substantial above 10kHz. Since I love these speakers in all other regards I'm curious to hear from others who have experience with them about their hi frequencies. Is the midrange driver playing tricks on me, bringing mids so much forward that it overshadows the highs? I didn't find the highs harsh, although not the softest eaither, but many of the songs I've listened to through them seemed like they lack air. Only really bright and airy mixes sounded sufficiently bright through the KEFs.
Would powering them with a different amp change this? I've read that Denons are dark sounding amps.
I've also listened to Focal Aria 936, Jamo D570 and Neat Acoustics Momentum SX5i and while Neats definitely take the crown, they are over my budget now. It looks like I'm a fan of LF drivers that are not surface mounted or are at lest down-firing, like in Jamo D570, but the iso-baric design in Neats and the coupled cavity in Kefs are to my ears so much better than anything front mounted. It seems like the bass doesn't get in a way of other frequencies and the speaker breaths better.
So, any experiences and thoughts on the KEF reference model two, or the reference models in general?
Thank you very much!
Rok
Hi everyone! I'm new around here.
I've been doing music production, running a project studio for 15 years and recently made plans to build a studio focused on mastering. It is for this purpose that I'm looking for some great hi-fi speakers as my main monitors along with my trusted pair of nearfields. For the start I don't want to break the bank, so my budget is $1500 for a used pair. I've read great things about older KEF speakers and I had a chance to listen to a pair of Reference Model Two (the guy is selling them for $650), powered by a top of the line Denon amp (I don't know the model). Of course, I'm searching for a speaker with a very natural, balanced and open sound.
While the KEFs really impressed me with their clear and defined low-end, quite stunning hi-mids and absolutely wonderful soundstage I was somewhat surprised (in a bad way) at their highs. I didn't expect them to be very airy, but to my ears they lack anything substantial above 10kHz. Since I love these speakers in all other regards I'm curious to hear from others who have experience with them about their hi frequencies. Is the midrange driver playing tricks on me, bringing mids so much forward that it overshadows the highs? I didn't find the highs harsh, although not the softest eaither, but many of the songs I've listened to through them seemed like they lack air. Only really bright and airy mixes sounded sufficiently bright through the KEFs.
Would powering them with a different amp change this? I've read that Denons are dark sounding amps.
I've also listened to Focal Aria 936, Jamo D570 and Neat Acoustics Momentum SX5i and while Neats definitely take the crown, they are over my budget now. It looks like I'm a fan of LF drivers that are not surface mounted or are at lest down-firing, like in Jamo D570, but the iso-baric design in Neats and the coupled cavity in Kefs are to my ears so much better than anything front mounted. It seems like the bass doesn't get in a way of other frequencies and the speaker breaths better.
So, any experiences and thoughts on the KEF reference model two, or the reference models in general?
Thank you very much!
Rok