Can my AMPs drive KEF 104.2 ?
- Thread starter ofery
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
schen
Member
Kef 104.2
One of my favorite speakers of all time! Congrats. That being said, I don't think you'll be very happy running them with a 25watt tube amp, even a Mac. I suspect, your other amp will drive them fine since I'm sure that although the numbers don't look big on paper, that it has plenty of overhead.
If I remember properly, those speakers did not have separate binding posts for the highs & lows, so using the tubes for the high end and solid state for the low wouldn't work for you. The last time I heard a pair, it was hooked to one of the bigger Rotel amps and seem to really respond to the power, so you might be able to start with the Mac and then progress to more power down the road.
One of my favorite speakers of all time! Congrats. That being said, I don't think you'll be very happy running them with a 25watt tube amp, even a Mac. I suspect, your other amp will drive them fine since I'm sure that although the numbers don't look big on paper, that it has plenty of overhead.
If I remember properly, those speakers did not have separate binding posts for the highs & lows, so using the tubes for the high end and solid state for the low wouldn't work for you. The last time I heard a pair, it was hooked to one of the bigger Rotel amps and seem to really respond to the power, so you might be able to start with the Mac and then progress to more power down the road.
ofery
Active Member
They have BI-WIRE at the back.
Is that means I can connect them to two AMPs in parallel ?
I thought that connecting two AMPs to one pair of speakers is a risk.
Regards /Ofer
FYI - there were 2 versions, mine don't have the separate binding posts.
Things to look for-
Make sure the tweeters work, these have a history of the ferrofluid hardening over time.
Take a flashlight and look inside the port at the center 'donuts' on the woofer. These are like the regular dustcaps except they have a hole with a metal rod going through them. If the 'donuts' are falling apart you'll need to replace them. People make this out to be a big deal but it really isn't.
If you want to try to biamp the speakers you'll need to remove 2 jumpers separating the upper frequency from the lower frequency drivers. You'll also need an active electronic crossover connected prior to the 2 amps to divide the signal.
Personally I'd live with them for a while before biamping them.
Things to look for-
Make sure the tweeters work, these have a history of the ferrofluid hardening over time.
Take a flashlight and look inside the port at the center 'donuts' on the woofer. These are like the regular dustcaps except they have a hole with a metal rod going through them. If the 'donuts' are falling apart you'll need to replace them. People make this out to be a big deal but it really isn't.
If you want to try to biamp the speakers you'll need to remove 2 jumpers separating the upper frequency from the lower frequency drivers. You'll also need an active electronic crossover connected prior to the 2 amps to divide the signal.
Personally I'd live with them for a while before biamping them.
You don't need an active crossover to do that. In fact, it's a waste of money and circuitry since you are still using the passive crossover in the speakers. You only need a way to match the effective gain of the two amps if it doesn't already match. You could use an active crossover for that, you could use input level adjustment on the amps if they have it (usually a pot labeled "gain", "input", "sensitivity", etc.), you could insert passive attenuator between the preamp and the louder amp, and so on.
schen
Member
That's awesome for you. I wasn't aware that there was a version with the separate binding posts!
As the others have discussed, that opens up the possibility of you using both of your amps and having them do what they each do best. Personally, I've always been a big fan of running either a small (fast) bookshelf speaker on tubes with the bottom end supplemented by something powered by a heavy duty solid state amp. One of the nicest sounding setups I've ever heard was a friend's system who had an ARC tube amp running his top-end Mag-Na-Pans with a Bedini amp running the bottom-end. It was all crossed over through an ARC active crossover, behind a PS-Audio Pre-Amp.
Bi-amp your KEFs
I have these 104.2s with the bi-amp terminals. I bought them used and the seller said they were the last version of the 104 series. They have a vinyl veneer instead of the original walnut but otherwise appear to use the same components. I have run them in many configurations but currently run them biamped with 4 90 watt channels from an Arcam 7 channel receiver. I was unimpressed by the sound with only 2 90watt channels in convetional mode but when biamped it sounded great. These are 4 ohm speakers and suck a lot of current so they need all you can give them. Beware of the shape of the woofer surrounds. I have noticed rot on one of the woofers and there are two that I can't even see. This looks like a royal pain to get these out and redo the foam surrounds but I guess I will be doing it soon. This is one speaker that is worth whatever it takes to keep it going.
I have these 104.2s with the bi-amp terminals. I bought them used and the seller said they were the last version of the 104 series. They have a vinyl veneer instead of the original walnut but otherwise appear to use the same components. I have run them in many configurations but currently run them biamped with 4 90 watt channels from an Arcam 7 channel receiver. I was unimpressed by the sound with only 2 90watt channels in convetional mode but when biamped it sounded great. These are 4 ohm speakers and suck a lot of current so they need all you can give them. Beware of the shape of the woofer surrounds. I have noticed rot on one of the woofers and there are two that I can't even see. This looks like a royal pain to get these out and redo the foam surrounds but I guess I will be doing it soon. This is one speaker that is worth whatever it takes to keep it going.
