Kef Uni-Q De-bonding Issues

[canelli]

It's been a little over 3 months since I received the Kef R300s. Overall I have been very happy until the outer rings around the Uni-Q drivers started to decouple from the rest of the speaker. This is happening to the pair of speakers. Every day I watch to see how far the ring has dropped and slid down/out.

I have the option to get replacements or start speaker shopping again. Kef has been great to work with but I am concerned with their quality control. Has anyone else had this problem?

If I start the process of shopping for speakers all over, I want something that will be easier to mount to the wall. Salk has offered to build a custom set, but I would have to purchase without an audition.

I have considered the 6332s because they have a hard mount location built into the speaker. They would be in another price range than the R300s. Any other great speakers that are easy to mount?

 

[macddmac]

If you're happy with them, get them fixed, if not take this oppurtunity to look for something else. There is nothing on google ( even buried ) to suggest that this is an issue with the R series, or any of the uni Q's for that matter.
My 2 cents.
Cheers, Mac

 

[cpp]

Kef has great customer service , have Kef replace them

 

[Matt34]

Aren't the drivers bolted to the cabinet underneath the cover ring, I can't imagine they are only held on by some adhesive?

 

[canelli]

Matt34,

I agree it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to bond the ring to the speaker. The bottom of the outer rings (both speaker) are loose where you can press and they move back and forth. The top of the rings have no play what so ever.

At first I tried to just gently press the bottom of the rings back thinking they would most likely snap back into place. That didn't occur. It felt more like a cantilevered beam. I didn't force the issue and contacted the dealer. I didn't want to cause the entire ring to become dislodged by applying too much force.

The dealer said Kef thought these speaker had to be dropped or abused in shipping. The box didn't show too many signs of abuse.

I agree that Kef has had great customer support.

 

[Soccerkid830]

I don't have the R series, but I do have the Q series with Uni-Q drivers.


I haven't noticed anything like this on mine, but those rings are only there to cover the mounting screws. When I had to replace one of the Uni-Q's, I had to take one of those out, it seems like you should be able to just push it right back down into place. Maybe something managed to find its way behind the ring and is obstructing it somehow..? It shouldn't be hard to pull it off and just check it out anyway. Or let KEF deal with it like other guys mentioned, they were very helpful when I contacted them to get a new driver. Didn't even want the old one shipped back for testing or whatnot.

 

[DS-21]

Aren't the drivers bolted to the cabinet underneath the cover ring, I can't imagine they are only held on by some adhesive?

FWIW, I called KEF several months ago to ask how to remove the ring on the Q100. They first wanted to make sure it was a Q, because they said trying to remove the rings on the R often causes the rings to be bent. I asked if they were held in the same way and they said yes.

The rings are simply press-fitted into rubber grommets. Just push 'em back in.

 

[canelli]

DS-21,

Thanks for the feedback.

I can press the rings into the speaker until they clearly bottom out, but they just spring back and act as if there is no retention mechanism. This occurs on both rings around the bottom 1/4 to 1/2 circle.

I just assumed that they were somewhat bounded since neither ring attempted to stay in place after being forced back.

At this point, I have two thoughts:

1) Hopefully it's a fluke issue where the tolerance stack ups didn't work out. Manufacturing issues can happen at anytime. (Happening to both speakers doesn't bode well, but things happen)

2) If Kef believed the ring could simply be pressed back into place, they didn't even ask me to mess with the speaker. Their attitude from the start was to replace them without question. So far, their customer service has been really good.

 

[DS-21]

There is no retention mechanism as such.

That said, I'm inclined to think your issue is one of two:

1) The ring's mounting posts were somehow bent, or made out of spec. In that case, replacing the ring will fix things.

2) The cabinet wasn't drilled properly to fit the ring's mounting posts. Replacing the cabinet is the only option there.

Hopefully the fact that KEF just wants to replace the rings is a sign of a known QC error in their production. But if the new ones don't stay in, you might have to insist on replacement speakers.

 

[canelli]

Kef has offered to send replacement speakers before I return the current pair.

I don't want to make false statements about why they are providing great customer support, but it is part of the reason I asked the question about looking at a different brand of speaker.