KEF Concept Blade Floorstanding Speakers First Look

[admin]

The KEF Concept Blade floorstanding speakers sport four 9" side-firing bass drivers, the backs of each pair are bonded and bolted at the magnet. It has a fully pistonic KEF Uni-Q MF/HF array with an injection molded LCP cone with a 3" voice coil and an 1" titanium dome tweeter. The enclosure is constructed out of glass-reinforced composite material over a balsa wood core which has a parabolic curve to the walls to increase rigidity. There is an off-board crossover and rear facing port. All this is to provide a Single Apparent Source presentation making each of the drivers indistinguishable from each other. And the price for this price is not an issue speaker pair? Only $30k. And we do mean only.


Discuss "KEF Concept Blade Floorstanding Speakers First Look" here. Read the article.

[kevon27]

The question to ask is: If us non audiophile people got loads of money to do what every we like, will we still purchase these upper end audio gear or would be still be practical and shop wisely?

$325,000 Wilson Audio speakers or some Axiom speakers?

[westcott]

I am glad to see a review of KEF speakers. It may just open some peoples eyes to the theory behind speaker design and lead to more questions as to why a single point source speaker is such an admirable goal. I have listened to KEF speakers and I am a believer. Just wish I was filthy rich to enjoy them.

[scott911]

I woudn't be so sure they are making money on each pair.
Once you factor in research, it's more than likely a similiar case to a car brand making a super sports car. They sell that sport's car, sometimes at a loss, in order to inject some excitement into the regular four door commuter cars which are the real money makers.

As a real word example, the half million dollar Porsche CGT shocked the industry by supposedly actually making money. Most flagships don't - in nearly all industries.

But my real question is what's with the speaker feet? The diagram seems to show that they've incorporated something interesting/cool down there - levers? Is any additional information available?

Thanks for covering this guys. I'm a big, big fan of the coherent source concept (tweeter within the midrange) - that's my idea of chocolate baby!

[scott911]

Just wish I was filthy rich to enjoy them.

well, that's the benefit of trickle down technology!

I own both KEF and THIEL - both coherent-source type speakers.
And both at a tiny fraction of the cost of these reviewed speakers cost.

[ratso]

for a long time these were not for sale, "concept only". kind of surprising that they put these out for sale. will be interesting to read the first reviews.

[astarkman]

There are some first look articles I look at as an opportunity for fun. I go into them knowing I'm just going to slam the company for putting out such a ridiculous product at such a ridiculous price point.

In his first look at the Triton 2 speaker from Goldenear Technology Tom also discussed "esoteric audio companies". I assume that this preview does not fall into the category described above. It's posted on the company's website. Can we expect a full review of that speaker?

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The question to ask is: If us non audiophile people got loads of money to do what every we like, will we still purchase these upper end audio gear or would be still be practical and shop wisely?

$325,000 Wilson Audio speakers or some Axiom speakers?

I would buy some ultra-expensive speakers, but they would have to measure almost perfectly.

[GranteedEV]

I would buy some ultra-expensive speakers, but they would have to measure almost perfectly.

I would just Salk or Selah Audio or Funkywaves to build em

Custom PC based FIR crossover with 400db/octave slope and +/- 1db anechoic response equalization

The fronts woould be like.. a five way active omni with a

1/2" berylium super tweeter in a low diffraction location firing upwards
1" berylium tweeter in a low diffraction location
3" Accuton ceramic midrange in a low diffraction location
6.5" seas magnesium midwoofer
Acoustic Elegance 15" woofer sealed

and like... six 21" Maelstroms spaced throughout the room

And the room would be custom built too.

All that, and it would still be cheaper than a Wilson.

[zieglj01]

Put them in an aquarium museum, to play background music -