New 2018 KEF R series...?

Did a little research. Looks like they borrow the baffle used in the REFERNCE series. They claim it's better. Here are the listed specs of the R3:

Design Three-way bass reflex
Drive Units Uni-Q Driver Array:
HF: 25mm (1in.) vented aluminium dome
MF: 125mm (5in.) aluminium cone
Bass Driver:
LF: 165mm (6.5in.) hybrid aluminium
Crossover frequency 400Hz, 2.9kHz
Frequency range (-6dB)
Typical in-room bass response (-6dB) 38Hz - 50kHz
30Hz
Frequency response (±3dB) 52Hz - 28kHz
Harmonic distorition (90dB, 1m) <0.3% 130Hz - 20kHz
Maximum output 110dB
Amplifier power (recommended) 15 - 180W
Nominal Impedance 8Ω (min.3.2Ω)
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m) 87dB
Weight * 13.5 kg (29.8 lbs.)
Dimension (H x W x D)
with terminal * 422.2 x 199.6 x 335.5 mm
(16.6 x 7.9 x 13.2 in.)
Finishes Black Gloss / White Gloss / Walnut

Its definitely based on the Reference 1, but less robust cabinet and baffle, smaller overall cabinet, and drivers that are tapped instead of bolted through.

Stereoplay has tested the R7 and they indicate a step forward in the latest UniQ. Kef details a 12th generation of the driver that reduces the air gap between the tweeter and midrange. Seems the shadow flare also helps dispersion as that shows some improvement. For the asking price, its a competitive product and should be auditioned if one was in the market for something like this. You can also try the Elac Adante, which is rather similar in design. Sonus Faber Sonnetto II will have a distinctly different sound. This would in the least be a good starting point.

Read through the (very detailed) white paper on the new series. Of course a lot of ad-speak, but it seems a lot of facts and illustrations to back it up. I should get to hear the R3 this weekend.

[url]http://us.kef.com/media/doc/r2018_whitepaper_en.pdf[/url]

Any updates here? Curious about the new lineup, specifically the R3’s. It would be interesting to compare them to the R5’s as the bookshelves have a larger LF woofer (6.5" vs 5.25") albeit only one of them.

I see that some colors of the new R series are in stock at kefdirect. I’m really curious to see how good they sound.