KEF iQ Series 5.1 Speaker System Review

[admin]

Can speakers that look great sound great? Over the years, the majority of speakers that I have heard that really sounded great all look pretty much the same. While finishes and grills can make one speaker look better than another, they are mostly all pretty boxy. I'm reminded of a great line from the old movie "Crazy People," where an ad executive ends up in a mental institution and begins to enlist the patients to come up with ad campaigns. My favorite was one they came up with for Volvo, and it went something like this: "Volvo. They're Boxy, But They're Good." KEF's iQ line of speakers certainly can't be considered boxy, but trust me, they're good.


Discuss "KEF iQ Series 5.1 Speaker System Review" here. Read the article.

[westcott]

Co-incident Drivers
"It naturally follows that, to minimise the time difference between sounds arriving from both units, the tweeter should be located inside the lf unit's voice coil. The drivers would then be said to be not just "co-axial", but "co-incident". The practical constraints of the tweeter magnet made this very difficult. If the magnet size of the hf unit could be reduced, then a truly co-incident driver could be realised." quote from KEF Website.

The primary design philosophy is to create a singe point source for the majority of the frequency range to avoid phase and time alignment issues found in standard direct radiating speaker designs with multiple drivers.

Just thought I would clarify. Nice article on a very good sounding speaker system. Definately a speaker system that should be auditioned if you are in the market. This is one of their more affordable systems.

[angstadt530]

I think my distaste for walnut goes back to my youth when the local Radio Shack was the only place I could get to via bicycle where I could peruse gear. I am still haunted by images of Realistic speakers surrounding me in that cheap walnut vinyl veneer...

Haha, I know exactly what you mean: my first pair of speakers were those exact ones! They were originally my mother's, but she never used them anymore so she let me hook them up to my very first stereo system. ...I still use them occasionally as a sort of "zone 2."

[no. 5]

Yeaaa! Audioholics reviewed the iQ’s!

Nice review, and my experience with the iQ1’s has been similar; good recordings sound really good, and bad ones sound it.

[birdonthebeach]

Haha, I know exactly what you mean: my first pair of speakers were those exact ones! They were originally my mother's, but she never used them anymore so she let me hook them up to my very first stereo system. ...I still use them occasionally as a sort of "zone 2."

Ha! Glad you got that!!! lol.

KEF was so upset that I did not like the walnut - they offered to send me a set in a different finish, but I explained it was just a personal taste issue. The walnut is not horrible - I guess it grew on me a bit, but it's just not thing.

[badahab]

I like the walnut color. I think its a nice break from the usual blacks, blond, and cherry. I even tried to match it when staining my flexi-rack. The apple looks nice too.

I have the iq7's for the fronts and iq3's for the surrounds. I have nothing but kind words for them. I have the old q9c and it dosent quite match up the the new iq series. Its good to hear that the iq6c sounds so good. I might have to bite the bullet and pick it up.

-Sean

[birdonthebeach]

I think you will like the iQ6c. It is pretty compact, but really packs a punch.

[EJD]

Good to see a bit more positive press for these.

I actually snagged a set of Apple finish iQ9s off Audiogon this weekend for the 2 channel system in my office. I broke probably the cardinal rule of speaker buying by not hearing them first, but I loved my old Kef Q30's and the price was too good on these to pass up. I've got my fingers crossed that they will sound every bit as good they look.

[dem beats]

Before I got my energy RC set up I was looking at these but no one close had the big towers for me to audition.

[billy p]

Before I got my energy RC set up I was looking at these but no one close had the big towers for me to audition.

Damn, you sound like an Energy fan boy!! LOL

Even with the KEF's or Energy some speakers are hard to audition because the lack of dealers. So, the majority don't know what they are missing.