muovimies
Super Member
Got a pair of these recently, or to be precise they are the Kef 104aB Kit -version, which was sold without cabinets, though these seem to be professionally built, so I'm guessing maybe it was common practice for the importer to get the 104aB Kit and then have cabinets built locally and sell them as complete speakers, to avoid the shipping costs of large and heavy cabinets.
They are very heavy speakers, the cabinets seem sturdy enough but are a bit ugly with their black "wood" vinyl covering, I'm planning on replacing that with a self-adhesive cork, which I thought would look cool and give a nice surface, or if that for some reason doesn't work out then just stick some nicer wood vinyl on them.
I don't and have not owned a lot of speakers, so my only notable points of reference at this time are Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 floor standers and Telefunken TLX 2/4 (from around the same time as the Kefs, but these are smallish monitor type speakers) - the latter I have in my bedroom system and have never listened to them in my main system.
Initial listening impressions on the Kefs - first the somewhat negative:
These are very unexciting speakers, maybe even boring, that is on a quick listen. They are very inefficient as well for such a large speakers, rated 12.5 watts for 96dB at 1 meter, if I converted right I think that makes it 85dB @ 1W. There is plenty of bass and they seem to go pretty deep, but upper bass can be woolly sounding which can make the lower midrange sound muffled as well, but that's somewhat source dependentant.
Then the positive ... these speakers can sound amazingy natural, reed instuments like saxophone sound really good, I play the sax so I know the tone very well and these speakers really nail the creamy, thick midrange and breathiness AND the treble bite. They image well and quite 3-dimensionally. They are also very revealing speakers, which was a surprise for me, I wasn't expecting that. So source really matters and things like recording quality come through more clearly than on my other speakers (Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 floorstanders). Example of this - until these Kefs I never really realized how woolly and bass humby the Acutex LPM 312 STR can sound - as opposed to the Ortofon VMS 30 which exhibits great control and refinement in the bass. With my Wharfedales it's just a matter of the Acutex sounding bass heavier and the Ortofon sounding a bit leaner and somewhat more precise, but the difference is quite subtle. The Kefs revealed so much more about both and how big the difference really is. I have to say the imaging on the Acutex is really quite something though, the soundstage is just so stable and precise with that cart.
As it is, I'm growing more and more impressed with the Kef 104aB with every listen at the moment, something about them just speaks of quality, there's a certain sense of refinement and sophistication, like they were designed not to impress but to play music and do it well although perhaps somewhat politely.
Worth noting is that as far as I'm aware these speakers are in their original condition, so the crossovers are over 30 years old - how much effect that might have in their sound I can't begin to guess, I don't have a capacitance meter handy so can't tell if the caps have drifted.
They are very heavy speakers, the cabinets seem sturdy enough but are a bit ugly with their black "wood" vinyl covering, I'm planning on replacing that with a self-adhesive cork, which I thought would look cool and give a nice surface, or if that for some reason doesn't work out then just stick some nicer wood vinyl on them.
I don't and have not owned a lot of speakers, so my only notable points of reference at this time are Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 floor standers and Telefunken TLX 2/4 (from around the same time as the Kefs, but these are smallish monitor type speakers) - the latter I have in my bedroom system and have never listened to them in my main system.
Initial listening impressions on the Kefs - first the somewhat negative:
These are very unexciting speakers, maybe even boring, that is on a quick listen. They are very inefficient as well for such a large speakers, rated 12.5 watts for 96dB at 1 meter, if I converted right I think that makes it 85dB @ 1W. There is plenty of bass and they seem to go pretty deep, but upper bass can be woolly sounding which can make the lower midrange sound muffled as well, but that's somewhat source dependentant.
Then the positive ... these speakers can sound amazingy natural, reed instuments like saxophone sound really good, I play the sax so I know the tone very well and these speakers really nail the creamy, thick midrange and breathiness AND the treble bite. They image well and quite 3-dimensionally. They are also very revealing speakers, which was a surprise for me, I wasn't expecting that. So source really matters and things like recording quality come through more clearly than on my other speakers (Wharfedale Diamond 8.3 floorstanders). Example of this - until these Kefs I never really realized how woolly and bass humby the Acutex LPM 312 STR can sound - as opposed to the Ortofon VMS 30 which exhibits great control and refinement in the bass. With my Wharfedales it's just a matter of the Acutex sounding bass heavier and the Ortofon sounding a bit leaner and somewhat more precise, but the difference is quite subtle. The Kefs revealed so much more about both and how big the difference really is. I have to say the imaging on the Acutex is really quite something though, the soundstage is just so stable and precise with that cart.
As it is, I'm growing more and more impressed with the Kef 104aB with every listen at the moment, something about them just speaks of quality, there's a certain sense of refinement and sophistication, like they were designed not to impress but to play music and do it well although perhaps somewhat politely.
Worth noting is that as far as I'm aware these speakers are in their original condition, so the crossovers are over 30 years old - how much effect that might have in their sound I can't begin to guess, I don't have a capacitance meter handy so can't tell if the caps have drifted.
It's one of those things where I've felt this "urge" to try out some Kefs for a long time, first I came upon another pair of Kef 104aB, but they had blown tweeters, then there was a very minty looking pair of Carlton III that I passed on for some bizarre reason, I think it was probably money 
Just leave the Wharfedales in the corners for background music, movies etc. and keep the Kefs on the spotlight for listening sessions. 
