New 2018 KEF R series...?

I just purchased the R11s.

For the past few years, my system was an Antipodes server into a PS audio PerfectWave dac into a Rogue ST100 amp to Vapor Audio Cirrus Black speakers using mostly Verastarr cables. I have been thinking about new speakers for about a year and listened to all the usual suspects, but not the Magico A3s yet. I was thinking that I would need to spend about $10K, or more for something closer to full range. My thought was to start with fairly neutral speakers and then start working back through the system…again.

Last week, I stopped by a Best Buy to buy an iPhone case and started to wander the store. I listened to the new Kef R11s and was impressed. This is a horrible environment to audition equipment, but they sounded nice. The sales guy said that he didn’t have any “new” R11s in inventory, but the demo pair was just put on the floor and he would sell them at a heavily discounted price. If I didn’t like them, I could return them in January for a full refund. I bought them. Driving home with two big boxes in the back, it dawned on me…I just purchased speakers from f&#$%@g Best Buy. I think this is one of the signs of the apocalypse.

I got them home and hooked everything up. To my surprise, I was not struck by lightning. The speakers look nice and are in pristine condition. Their dynamic capabilities far outpace the Vapors, but what really surprised me was the tweeter. The Kef tweeter does not have the delicacy or sweetness of the Raal amorphous core, but it’s close enough that I don’t miss the Raal. The Kefs also highlight an issue with the Vapors that I had never noticed before…the Raal and AudioTechnology mid-woofer have different personalities that don’t completely blend. Also, the AT driver is a little beamy. The Kefs are of one voice and very balanced. Another surprise was image depth. I have always thought Kef was good at image width and defining edges, but these are also credible with depth. My back wall does not melt away, but it is certainly pushed back.

These speakers are staying and Kef just saved me at least $5K for a couple of years. I am not insinuating these are giant killers. I just think they are very nice.

can you please comment on midrange transparency, say compared to a british monitor for example?   also, do you notice the metallic qualities in the treble that the prior r series had?  thanks.  

Avanti wejust put out the new KEF R line, and we have a lot of experience with KEF, and many other brands of loudspeakers we sell, Dali, Quad, Cabasse, Paradigm, Elac, ATC,  Legacy, Rethem and PSB to name most of our major loudspeakers.

The "British sound" you mentioned is not really as much of a thing today. 

Yes there are loudspeakers such as Harbeth and Falcon's versions of the LS 3/5A which tend to feature a prominent smooth midrange a polite treble and tight fast clean but not particularly low bass.

Most of today's higher performance British loudspeakers from B&W and Kef are very low distortion designs which tend to be more balanced then the previously mentioned loudspeakers.

If you like the older more colored Britsh sound of speakers like Harbeth or Proac, you may not like the  much less colored more articulate sound of today's best Britsh loudspeakers. 

Even ATC which we adore and it so typically Britsh sounds very clean with an accurate midrange and very low levels of coloration. 

The new R series is much more refined than the older R series it replaces, the older R series was a bit peaky but they created a very exciting sound, the new R series comes a lot closer to the Reference product in that it images more precisely, is faster with more articulate bass and the treble is detailed with more refinement.

We just did a shoot out of the R 11 vs the Elac Adante AF 61 vs the Quad Z4 and the client choose the Kef R 11 as his favorite.

Hope that helps

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

Regarding the British monitors, I don’t know how to answer that question.

Regarding Elac, I did hear the big version recently at a local demonstration by Andrew Jones. The system used JC-1 monoblock amps and an AR preamp. I would say the Kefs and Elacs both have good build quality. The Elacs look a little more imposing due to their extra width. Sonically, please take this with a large grain of salt, the Elacs sounded very impressive until I picked up on a hollow quality. Once I heard this, I could not un-hear it and now notice it in all the other Elacs designed by Jones. It might have been related to the demo being played painfully loud.  I would also say the Kefs go lower.

Briang, we have both pairs in the same room and can demo each of these loudspeakers.

The Elac's are big sounding with a deep punchy bass, the Kef's sound more refined with a tighter bass. 

The images on the KEF's also seem to be more precise. 

The new R series is a very impressive series of speakers, we will know more after we have had a greater time with them.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ