KEF Q500 faults

[Haselsh1]

OK, so for around six months I have lived with a pair of KEF Q500's and they have had a fault were one of the speakers would buzz and rattle loudly on very low frequency material. This was especially obvious on the heartbeat at the beginning of Pink Floyd's DSOTM. I contacted the local dealer where I bought the speakers from and was told to return them and that they would investigate. On Monday of this week I took the offending speaker back and left it with them. Today (Thursday) I was told that the speaker was ready for collection so I arranged a lift and collected the speaker. I was told on collection that there was in fact absolutely nothing wrong with the speaker and that they had thoroughly tested it. I took it home very bemused and connected it up. BINGO...!!! The speaker was damn near perfect and sounded infinitely better than it had before I had it 'repaired'. Now I don't know about you but I trust my hearing especially after being involved with hi-fi for around thirty years. I don't quite know what to make of this...???

[synsei]

Perhaps it was down to an internal wire which wasn't routed properly and was resting against the cabinet somewhere within the enclosure. Removing and replacing the driver will have cured this :)

[Haselsh1]

Yes Dave, that is the only thing I can think of. Well either that or something more sinister.

:mental:

[Audio Al]

Maybe they keep quiet about faults

Sort it out and return ?

[Haselsh1]

Maybe they keep quiet about faults

Sort it out and return ?

Audio Al, that is exactly what I was thinking. Kind of like a fairly exclusive car maker who does exactly the same. The only issue is that it made me appear to be an out and out liar when I knew damn well what I had heard from those speakers as had my partner Sue. It has, in all honesty, put me off KEF speakers which to be fair, I was a bit dubious about as they are now constructed in China.

The fact that they were sorted out in just three days is a redeeming feature.

[RMutt]

Hello Shaun. Looking at your preferred choice of music, and if you haven't heard him already, I'm sure you have, but I think you should check out Matthew Halsall. Andy.

[Haselsh1]

Hello Shaun. Looking at your preferred choice of music, and if you haven't heard him already, I'm sure you have, but I think you should check out Matthew Halsall. Andy.

Andy, never heard of him but I shall check him out as soon as it is payday ;)

[pjdowns]

I had a similar experience with my CDI a couple of years back. It had a rattle whilst playing at lower levels. I sent it to Naim and they came back saying they couldn't find a fault. On its return the CD player was working fine and has done ever since with Naim only giving it a clean.

My suspicion was that the mechanism or laser or something else was dirty and by cleaning it resolved whatever the issue was.

Maybe (Like I think Dave said) it was a lose cable in the speaker and by moving them it returned.

Paul.

[Haselsh1]

Well, I've now had the returned KEF Q500 up and running for around the past 48 hours on and off and they sound like a different pair of speakers. The sound is now very tight and together with a much better bass performance. In fact they sound so different that I have now returned to my Van Den Hul interconnects as they have a much more propulsive bass performance over the Atlas ones. Happy joy...!

[DSJR]

After forty years or so of this hobby and life-obsession, I NEVER trust my ears with anything :lol:

I have to say though that many mechanical HiFi items - turntable systems, headphones and speakers, can loosen off after the first few hours of use and the sonics can go 'off.' Checking and re-tightening everything will restore the product to optimum.

Loudspeaker main drive units usually 'form' their suspensions very quickly unless they're a tweaky w@nky product (KEF are NOT one of these as they design properly by and large) and it's only some tweeters that will take longer, as do headphone elements - around 48 hours for some headphone suspensions.

Glad you've got 'em going well now :)

[Haselsh1]

After forty years or so of this hobby and life-obsession, I NEVER trust my ears with anything :lol:

I have to say though that many mechanical HiFi items - turntable systems, headphones and speakers, can loosen off after the first few hours of use and the sonics can go 'off.' Checking and re-tightening everything will restore the product to optimum.

Loudspeaker main drive units usually 'form' their suspensions very quickly unless they're a tweaky w@nky product (KEF are NOT one of these as they design properly by and large) and it's only some tweeters that will take longer, as do headphone elements - around 48 hours for some headphone suspensions.

Glad you've got 'em going well now :)

Talking about tweaky products; dare I even mention Peter Belt and his products :doh: I already have, sorry...!

[Macca]

I wonder if the drivers had not just been lazily tightened in the factory. If so that would account for the rattle, and why it has now disappeared even though all that has been done is to remove the drivers and re-attach them. Chinese quality control to blame. Still their Achilles heel, I think.

[icehockeyboy]

Went and checked out Matthew Halsall straight away, that's the beauty Of Deezer!

Looks like I will be listening to MH quite a bit, thanks for the heads up!