New 2018 KEF R series...?

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

I’m the client that Dave mentioned above that preferred the Kef R11’s.

Over the last two months I think I’ve heard every speaker on the market in the $3k - $4k range. Paradigm Prestige, Quad Z4, Elac Adante, Focal Aria 936, GoldenEar Tritons, ProAc Response 2, Revel (not sure of the model), Tekton Electron (non SE), and I’ve owned the Vandersteen 1ci and own the 2ce Sig II’s.

For me, the Kef R11’s have everything I’m looking for-- plenty of detail in the top end without sounding too forward or etchy. Clarity in the mid-range, and a taut low end that doesn’t sound flabby or one-notey. They image exceptionally well and are just very exciting speakers to listen to.

I spent about 3 hours at Dave’s house last Friday and after a long conversation ended up purchasing the Kef R7. I mentioned my concerns to Dave about having a smaller room that tends to get overloaded with bass very easily. So he steered me toward the R7 over the R11.

I just hope that R7 has all of the magic that I heard in the R11! As a side note, had I not heard the R11’s, I think I could be pretty happy with the Elacs or Quad Z4 as well. The Elac is a formidably large and heavy speaker though. The Quads are stunning to look at. But the Kef’s in piano black, which I chose, are no slouch either!

Shout out to Dave who is always generous with his time. At his suggestion, I brought up my Belles Aria amp and he had a BlueSound Node 2, and a Mytek DAC, so it was an apples-to-apples comparison to what I use at home.

Can’t wait to get my new speaks in!

To the OP, I heard the R3 at a different dealer located near my house. Obviously, being a monitor they lacked bottom end, but imaged like crazy both width and particular depth. For me they would need a sub, but that could be a pretty magical pairing.

Cheers,

-Joe

@briang Congratulations on your R11 purchase. You did well my friend. Enjoy!!!