KEF Q500 loudspeakers

[Haselsh1]

Just upgraded…

Last weekend I bought a pair of KEF Q500 loudspeakers just for the hell of it to replace my Celestion F28’s. The KEF’s are just plain black finish with the addon little mini stands that house the floor spikes and very smart they are too. Why did I choose them…? Well I have a bit of a passion for the Uni-Q driver technology that a lot of KEF’s use and this loudspeaker is no exception.

The stereo image is simply stunning as is the midrange and vocal. On Lloyd Cole’s ‘Music in a Foreign Language’ the sound is exquisite with a fabulous stereo separation and a gorgeous level of detail but a light weight bass however the treble is very sharply etched and quite incisive.

Playing The Peaking Goddess Collective ‘Organika’ the lightness of bass is always at the front of the presentation when compared to the old Celestion’s which were always a bit too over enthusiastic. The KEF’s really do suit digital replay more than vinyl and excel on male and female vocals but will play a whole host of music really well. They sound a tad too tight and controlled at the moment but I am hoping they will loosen up as they run in and become more ‘used’. At the moment I am so pleased I bought them. A pair of floorstanders with a Uni-Q driver for seven hundred quid. Fantastic.

[jon1]

Another kef convert;)Glad you are enjoying them:) I bought the kef ls50's a few months ago




jon

[kenworthy100]

Another kef convert;)Glad you are enjoying them:) I bought the kef ls50's a few months ago




jon

I also bought LS50's in November, they are superb, Uni-Q in these designs is quite something, isn't it.:)

[synsei]

I kinda wish I had hung on to my venerable Q35's as I reckon they would have sounded quite exquisite hooked up the the Valhalla as I reckon valves would have brought the best out of them. I recognise the Q35's character from your description of the Q500's Shaun, imaging with them was point perfect although depth of field wasn't a strong point and neither was bass extension although what was there was well controlled :)

[jon1]

I also bought LS50's in November, they are superb, Uni-Q in these designs is quite something, isn't it.:)



Yes they are..spot on;)


jon

[Haselsh1]

I've been listening to some Acoustic Alchemy which is largely chillout jazz and the sound from these speakers is stunning. The imaging is quite simply amazing and it is quite easy to follow a steel strung guitar against a nylon strung guitar. So far so good even with just fifteen Watts per channel of EL84 power.

[Haselsh1]

I've been listening to some Acoustic Alchemy which is largely chillout jazz and the sound from these speakers is stunning. The imaging is quite simply amazing and it is quite easy to follow a steel strung guitar against a nylon strung guitar. So far so good even with just fifteen Watts per channel of EL84 power.

Just moved the room around to fire across rather than down and the bass is much more pronounced now and a lot fuller. The stereo imaging is still the killer it always was with these speakers and midrange is sublime but thanks I guess to my EL84's. Lovin these loudspeakers.

[Haselsh1]

One point of concern I have now is that my vinyl replay since buying these loudspeakers is so awful. The sound has little or no treble, is thick and congested and has no power at all. Could someone somewhere be trying to tell me something as CD replay sounds amazing. I had an Ezio session last night and listened to three of their albums right through, stunning, bloody stunning. I have no idea what the hell has happened to the vinyl but at the moment I have no money to throw at it.

[Firebottle]

Interesting thread. There's nowt wrong with 15 watts, I get by with about half that.
(What am I saying, get by?, it's stunning)

Anyhow is it the leap in speaker quality showing up your vinyl source deficiencies? That's a bit of tough luck :(

:cool: Alan

[Haselsh1]

Someone here made mention of the depth of imaging with the KEF's and I have to agree, I have heard loudspeakers with much more depth than these but once again, I am hoping they will all loosen up a bit as they become properly run in. So far the plus points are: the stereo effect which is quite staggering, the treble which is so finely etched with amazing clarity and the midband which really suits acoustic music more than any other. I haven't given them a thorough airing with female vocals yet but give me time as I definitely will however my favourite, The Raven by Rebecca Pigeon is on vinyl which is not fairing too well at the moment due to something I simply don't understand.

[Haselsh1]

Interesting thread. There's nowt wrong with 15 watts, I get by with about half that.
(What am I saying, get by?, it's stunning)

Anyhow is it the leap in speaker quality showing up your vinyl source deficiencies? That's a bit of tough luck :(

:cool: Alan

I think it is...!

[Haselsh1]

I just thought I'd be a bit self indulgent and post a pic of that glorious Uni-Q driver


http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab240/Haselsh1/KEFQ500_zps062bf873.jpg

[Audioman]

One point of concern I have now is that my vinyl replay since buying these loudspeakers is so awful. The sound has little or no treble, is thick and congested and has no power at all. Could someone somewhere be trying to tell me something as CD replay sounds amazing. I had an Ezio session last night and listened to three of their albums right through, stunning, bloody stunning. I have no idea what the hell has happened to the vinyl but at the moment I have no money to throw at it.

It's likely that the cartridge is wearing out (not necessarily the stylus) but also could be the VLPS phono stage is either not good enough or a poor match. I assume cartridge loading can't be adjusted? The RPM4 should be up to providing a decent sound in that system. You won't be able to judge soundstage depth until you get the vinyl replay sorted.

Interesting how positive people are about these KEFs that have actually heard them while the fashion is to bash everything KEF and B&W these days. Anyway they are relatively inexpensive for what you get in terms of size, when compared with product from the small specialist manufacturers.

[DSJR]

I've heard very good things said about the current budget priced Q series too and price apart, I don't think any/many dislike the Blade either...

I don't think I'm being contentious here, but in my experience, vinyl and CD can live quite happily together in a given system. I'm not saying they're always going to sound similar, but you should be able to have good sessions with both formats without one condemning the other...

[Haselsh1]

OK so the other half and I have just had a serious Saturday evening music session on both vinyl and CD with some interesting results. The vinyl system is fine but I changed from an Ortofon OM30 Super to an Ortofon 520. This made the system sound much better, definitely vinyl like with a lovely, soft, rounded sound with no hint of harshness or aggressive tendencies. At some point I shall possibly upgrade the stylus to a 540 which should improve things all round. I shall also upgrade the phono stage to a Graham Slee design at some point but I don't know when that will be just yet.

Having listened to CD replay through the Original 2008F CD player we then changed over to my old and very cheap Sony DVP-NS930V QS SACD/CD player and boy, what a change. The treble was now as clear as crystals with a truly gorgeous male vocal rendition. Listening to Ezio yet again brought forward a massive increase in the quality of the vocals and the acoustic guitars. We then tried Eleanor McEvoy 'Yola' and the sound increase was just as obvious with good quality female vocals. This is an SACD though so an increase in quality would be expected.

So, the vinyl replay system is absolutely fine as long as you don't expect it to sound the same as CD and with a newly aligned cartridge, it sounded excellent. The CD replay took on a totally new guise with an old cheap Sony SACD player when compared to my Chinese Original 2008F which now appears to have a very coarse, grainy treble and upper mid.

C Est La Vie I guess.

[Haselsh1]

I'd like to point out that I now have the speakers toed inwards towards the listening position and it has seriously focused up the stereo effect. Even better...!

[Macca]

I'm guessing here but looks like the richer sounding KEFs benefit from the more analytical Ortofon and Sony sources. This is what I was saying on the other thread about matching the CD player to the rest of the system, the actual cost of the CD player is not as relevant as some might think...

[Haselsh1]

I'm guessing here but looks like the richer sounding KEFs benefit from the more analytical Ortofon and Sony sources. This is what I was saying on the other thread about matching the CD player to the rest of the system, the actual cost of the CD player is not as relevant as some might think...

Martin, I know what you mean about the cost of CD players relative to the system as a whole. Of course the Sony also looks shit when compared to the Original as well but I'll get over it.

[Haselsh1]

Well, I decided to try a little experiment to clear up the confusion over my CD players and so switched back to the Original 2008F Chinese player this evening. The old, cheap Sony went out yet again and the Original replaced it for an evening of Flooting Grooves and Younger Brother.

The Original is far more powerful in its presentation with much more rhythmic drive and thwack but still with a slightly coarse, sandpapery upper mid and treble. The Sony is much more sharply etched but very granular and sugary in the upper mid and treble.

For the time being I shall use the Original 2008F as I invested quite a bit of money in that unit not only buying it and importing it but also having fitted a UK toroidal mains transformer. Ultimately it gives me a more satisfying sound as it suits my music more especially with most of my music being synthetic. I guess for a year or so in the future, once I have the vinyl sorted I may well invest in a separate DAC.

[Haselsh1]

I just thought I'd be a bit self indulgent and post a pic of that glorious Uni-Q driver


http://i867.photobucket.com/albums/ab240/Haselsh1/KEFQ500_zps062bf873.jpg

KEF call it a 'tangerine' wave guide. It looks more like a Star Anise to me.