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The Verdict
With a sweet balance on music
and potent, but not aggressive,
manner with movies, KEF’s R
Series system delivers outstand-
ing all-around performance.
strong on effects and delivered
natural-sounding dialogue
without any excessive sibilance.
The KEF system skillfully
handled action scenes on
the above movies and others
without sounding bright, griy,
or coarse. Were their dynamics
just a lile reserved compared
to the best speakers I’ve heard
in my room? Perhaps, but not
by much. KEF’s Uni-Q drivers
have typically rolled off the
treble gently and smoothly at
wide off-axis angles. With the
le and right speakers toed in
to face the main listening seat
this wasn’t an obvious concern.
But I did notice it when siing
far off to the side, so if you want
several dispersed listeners to
hear well-balanced treble, you
may need to slightly compro-
mise toe-in at the primary seat.
The pair of KEF Kube12bs
didn’t equal my Revel B15
subwoofer when it came to
output, extension, or clarity.
But none of that was surprising
given the size of my room
and the fact that a single B15
sold for $3,000 when it was
originally introduced. I did hear
occasional complaints from
the KEF subwoofer pair: they’d
sometimes drone along on a
sustained music note or sound
effect, prompting thoughts of
turning them down to sacrifice
higher output for beer control.
It also sometimes sounded
like their amps were limiting
output—and not particularly
gracefully —to avoid pushing
the drivers into harmful, excess
excursions. But for the most
part the pair of KEF Kube12bs
came closer to that B15 than
you might expect, and I was
only rarely conscious of any
shortcomings. (The B15 and
Kube12s were set up in different
room locations: the B15 where
it has been used for three-plus
years with its onboard, three-
band parametric EQ carefully
adjusted; the Kube12s where
I eventually determined they
worked best.)
Up to now my exposure
to Atmos has been limited to
manufacturer demos where
I’ve clearly preferred the result
offered by direct, in-ceiling
speakers over the reflective
variety. But an upward-firing,
ceiling-reflective Atmos setup is
likely the beer option for most.
For such a setup Dolby firmly
recommends a flat ceiling. But
my ceiling, while symmetrical
front to back, is definitely not
flat. Nevertheless, I did hear
sounds that appeared to come
from above. These could be
obvious, including several
dramatic PA announcements
such as “report to bale
stations” in Independence Day:
Resurgence, or helicopters
flying overhead during the final
concert in Sing. But most oen
such overhead sounds were
vague and hard to pinpoint.
That’s not a critique of the KEF
Atmos speakers. I suspect that
the result would be beer with
a flat ceiling—though beer yet
with in-ceiling Atmos speakers.
But what I did hear consistently
from the upward-firing KEFs
on Atmos-encoded material
was enhanced spaciousness
and ambience—a larger sonic
“bubble” all around me that my
everyday 5.1 setup can’t quite
duplicate. This significantly
enhanced the “you are there”
experience.
CONCLUSION
A good point of comparison
for this KEF R Series rig would
be the Paradigm Premier
system that I recently reviewed
(February/March and at
soundandvision.com). At just
under five grand, that system
was less expensive than the
KEFs and had a more overtly
detailed presentation: brighter,
even leaning toward aggres-
sion when appropriate to the
source and playback level. The
Paradigms also tilted more
toward my preference for wide
dispersion and an open, spar-
kling top end.
The sound with KEF’s
R5-based system is no less
detailed, but it offers high-
end performance in a more
controlled, polite way with
music and ample excitement
for both surround music and
movies. If it’s a lile pricier than
your budget allows, one hybrid
option would be to substitute
models from KEFs affordable
Q series for the surround and
Atmos speaker duties, which
would drop the total system
price dramatically. While I
wasn’t able to audition that
specific configuration, I imagine
that any reduction in perfor-
mance would be minimal. In any
case, a full system comprised
of KEF’s new R Series speakers
should delight anyone who
takes it home.
antfer
(Antfer)
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