KEF owners thread

[Mystic]

Congratulations, Leray1! I was just as stunned when I finished my 104/2. Crazy good sound.

I probably should get 'round to the ferro replenishment, but my original (untouched) 104/2s still sound fine to me. The doughnuts I can see & feel are in excellent condition.
Back to the ferro: if I replenish will I detect (re: hearing/sound) an improvement? I doubt it; @ ~25% hearing loss (near 45% @ right ear) AND vicious tinnitus, I doubt it. Think I'll leave 'em be.

 

[absolve2525]

I thought mine were fine too, until I compared one 104/2 with the new ferrofluid to one with old. Much clearer. It's preventative maintenence also, since the fluid dries up and causes tweeters to blow. It literally was sticky gunk in the gap that I had to scrape out with plastic shims and alcohol. If there was thin, flowing ferrofluid liquid in them, they may have been okay. Yours may be fine, but mine definitely weren't.

 

[canuckaudiog]

I probably should get 'round to the ferro replenishment, but my original (untouched) 104/2s still sound fine to me. The doughnuts I can see & feel are in excellent condition.
Back to the ferro: if I replenish will I detect (re: hearing/sound) an improvement? I doubt it; @ ~25% hearing loss (near 45% @ right ear) AND vicious tinnitus, I doubt it. Think I'll leave 'em be.

No matter how poor your hearing is, you should hear a difference either way. Even if you were hearing -7dB down at say, 14kHz, the ferro fluid would increase the SPL at this frequency and instead of hearing it down at, -10dB, it would go up to -8dB for example. The balance of the speaker will change and you will hear a difference. I hope that makes sense. Also, as absolve2525 said, it is a preventative measure to ensure your tweeters do not lock up and the coil gets ruined from fluid that has dried up and become thick.

 

[steve59]

I have a pair of 105/3's with kube and later a pair of 107/2's with the kube. My basement seems to put the deep bass everywhere but the listening chair so I thought the dual 10" in the 107/2 would fix things... Then my Krell kav 300 il amp section failed for the fourth time so I replaced it with an Anthem 225 I. So now the 105/3's sound really exciting using the Anthem on top and a B&K 4420 for the bass but the 107/2 that I thought were the more forgiving of the two sound less musical, go figure!
I decide to sell the 107/2's because, 1 with the new gear the 105/3 sounds better, 2 they're in like new condition ( as much as any 20+ year old boxes can be) and are worth more money. So I hook them up this weekend using my Krell as a pre and let the 4420 drive them full range, big mistake now I don't think i'll be able to sell them.

 

[Nutsfortubes]

My new 102/2 just got them from another AKr. Listening to kind of blue right now, driven by ST70 sweetness.
BTW anyone know the original retail price on these?

 

[arts]

Any opinions re differences between Reference 3.2 vs 104.2? There's a pair of Ref 3's up for sale locally,and I'm kind of curious.

 

[Nutsfortubes]

Is there any body out there

 

[ranf1970]

I have a pair of KEF C55s. I enjoy their sound very much.

 

[montrecott]

There are some great speakers in this thread... KEF 103.2 owner here. Currently using a Sony STR-6800SD with them, and it's a great combination. I've also had good luck with a Yamaha CA-1010 and Nakamichi TA 2A. They need power to sound their best.

 

[MER71]

I just bought my first Kef's 2 weeks ago. C45's. Now I picked up a set of Q1's. Awesome speakers!!

 

[Tedrick]

Been a KEF fan for 26 years. Bought my Reference 102's brand new in 1990, and they still see nearly daily use in my home office. I might replace them some day with some LS50's, but they're staying right where they are for the foreseeable future. Also lusted after Reference 105's and 107's for years now, but just haven't been lucky enough to find a pair locally. Maybe some day.

 

[mccarty350]

The more I listen I hate to say it but I like the sound of my 105/2's over my 107's. Am I a mad man? The 107's are capable of far more output but I like the tweeters and sound of the 105/2's for a smaller space (since they are less efficient) much more. Anyone else have this same opinion or is this just my ears?

 

[BHamm]

I've had my KEF R700 for 3 years and love them.

 

[vonclod]

I have a set of 103.3s, I was getting some buzzing from the tweets when turned up a bit. I stopped of course and put them away for now but I'm hoping it's just a matter of new ferrofluid..no cube either When I was running them with a 12 band eq they did sound pretty darn nice.

 

[Raynald]

Are you certain the buzzing came from the tweeters? The 103.3 I had produced a buzz which was caused by foam donuts on the woofers disintegrating and when they were turned upside down at some point some foam bits got into the VC. My local tech fixed the woofer and refoamed both.

If you have not checked recently it is worth having a look up the port on the bottom with a flashlight to see what shape the donuts are in. DO NOT turn the speakers upside down. By now if they have not been done they will almost certainly need doing, you will lose a lot of bass response if that seal is gone. Easy enough to do the woofer, a bit of a PITA to remove it.

 

[Raynald]

The more I listen I hate to say it but I like the sound of my 105/2's over my 107's. Am I a mad man? The 107's are capable of far more output but I like the tweeters and sound of the 105/2's for a smaller space (since they are less efficient) much more. Anyone else have this same opinion or is this just my ears?

Very interesting. The 105.2 are great speakers and not having a KUBE will make for a cleaner signal path. Since you ask I would say your opinion is valid, though I would not trade my 107 for my friend's 105.2.

 

[vonclod]

Are you certain the buzzing came from the tweeters? The 103.3 I had produced a buzz which was caused by foam donuts on the woofers disintegrating and when they were turned upside down at some point some foam bits got into the VC. My local tech fixed the woofer and refoamed both.

If you have not checked recently it is worth having a look up the port on the bottom with a flashlight to see what shape the donuts are in. DO NOT turn the speakers upside down. By now if they have not been done they will almost certainly need doing, you will lose a lot of bass response if that seal is gone. Easy enough to do the woofer, a bit of a PITA to remove it.

I'm positive it's from the tweets, and oh boy yes a pain to get the inside driver out, ..bass was really good on these so still solid I think.
Thanks

 

[Raynald]

I imagine it could be the dreaded dried up ferro fluid. Well the good news is the tweeters are easier to redo than the woofers!

 

[mccarty350]

Very interesting. The 105.2 are great speakers and not having a KUBE will make for a cleaner signal path. Since you ask I would say your opinion is valid, though I would not trade my 107 for my friend's 105.2.

I feel that the difference is the tweeters. I think the T33's are much less delicate. I do love the bass of the 107's but for some reason the overall sound of the 105/2's is more to my pleasing. I recapped both, the ferrofluid is topped off on the T33's in the 107's as well. For some reason in a smaller room the 105/2's seem more capable of detail.

 

[Raynald]

Do you have the KUBE with the 107? You need it for them to sound right, without it they do not have the frequency response the designers intended, but it may well remove the last bit of detail from the highs. The plastic cased cheap op-amp based 102 and 103.3 KUBEs were much worse offenders but just having the extra connections with the better 107 KUBE has some cost.

My workaround for serious listening was to remove the metal grilles that covered the tweeters and mids. Our Kef rep discouraged it saying they were tuned with the in place but I found it substantially improved detail without making them appreciably brighter. The same trick works on the 105.2, as I showed my friend, but as you say they may not need it as much. I use mine for background and they get used as cat trees so I leave the screens in place now.