Measured Performance

The flatter a speaker's response, the more faithful its reproduction of the audio signal. KEF engineers believe in testing every aspect of a speakers performance. To do this properly requires the investment of millions of dollars in testing equipment and facilities. To the left you are seeing a small part of that commiment, an anechoic chamber. Within this chamber reflections are virtually eliminated. This allows for a more accurate picture of the speakers true performance.

Choosing Loudspeakers

Of all the elements in your audio system, changing your speakers can make the biggest difference in sound quality, as well as being the most visible. As a rule of thumb, in a basic 2-channel music system consisting of amplifier, CD player and loudspeakers, the speakers can often account for around a third of the the total system cost. Speaker quality has little to do with size, or the number of drive units; what matters is how well they reproduce your kind of music in your room at the volume you enjoy.

Materials and Construction

Cabinet design and construction directy affects sound quality, especially overall clarity. The materials determine how free the cabinet is from unwanted resonance. MDF (medium density fiber board) is preferred because of its high density, the thicker the better. This is particularly critical on the front baffle where the drive units are mounted. Internal bracing also plays a vital role in controlling resonance, smoothing out midrange response and reducing box coloration.

Uni-Q driver array technology

Uni-Q is acknowledged as one of the great breakthroughs of modern high end loudspeaker design. Using aerospace materials, KEF engineers developed a high performance high-frequency driver small enough to mount at the acoustic center of of the midrange cone, allowing both to act as a single point source, the ideal for any speaker. By precisely placing the tweeter at the acoustic center of the midrange driver where the acoustic centers coincide, sound arrives in phase and music is brought into focus.