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Kef E series just arrived, beautifully made, gorgeous finish, sound great!
This new series replaces the super successful KHT 2005/3005 speaker packages which have dominated sales tables in packages up to £ 1000 for the past 10 years. The newly developed drive units take details from new thinking in the Blade series and lift performance in this price range to new heights. Chart topping sales are sure to follow, especially as these are aggressively priced at just £ 899 for the full package including the new subwoofer. This cool new sub is tiny, easy to hide, yet packs a whopping 250W amplifier, wow!
The satellite speakers not only go louder than before, and are more dynamic, they also feature a much wider dispersion for room-filling sound. Resolution of fine details also gets better, as the new materials used are more responsive. All round this diminutive package is set to be a leader for years to come.
Kef are really on a roll just now. Over the past 2 years they have launched the flagship Blade, then a new Q series of conventional speakers (£380-1200) and a new T series of high performance super slim surround speakers ( £1200-1700). After those launches they rose to number One in the UK sales league of speaker manufacturers. Not resting for a second they followed this with R series, the successful mid -price range with stereo speaker pairs from £ 599 to £ 2750. As if that's not enough then next up was LS50 to win the coveted What Hifi Loudspeaker of the Year and an amazing sales story not just in the UK but worldwide. Even though the USA is thought to be 'big speaker land' the LS50s are also selling in big numbers there, a true world loudspeaker at only 12" tall
E ser ies are certain to be the next success, and look out for upcoming headphones and also another interesting speaker model to come in a new market segment in a few months time. Watch this space!
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Went to sunny Sussex to meet a few old friends, retailers from all across Britain, listen to a presentation about the new Linn Akubarik speakers and then some demos of the speakers themselves. Here are the tech details, apologies if it is too much detail!
Akubarik uses a 5 way system with on-board Chakra amplification, aktiv filter s, dynamik power supplies, and a down-firing Isobarik twin bass speaker system. The amplifier module is mounted on the rear, and has the aktiv filtering and the chakra power amps all in one board. This is powered by the latest Linn Dynamik power supplies. The 'chimney' construction means that no fans are needed for silent operation. The 3k array for mid/treble has been seen before in both Akurate and Klimax speakers. The new addition is the 6.5" low mid unit which then crosses over to 2 of 8" bass units in the Isobarik configuration firing down inside the cabinet. This omni-directional layout makes placement easier, and helps bass output. The bass can also be controlled by amplifier settings to optomise for any room. The cabinet is curved, and beautiful. The stainless 4 pillar system at the base give space for the bass unit porting and also make the cabinets look smaller than the 242s, which they aren't. They are the same size. Connections can be balanced or unbalanced by either phono or XLR.
And what about the sound? We started with aktiv akurate 242s and played a few tracks with both 16 bit and 24 bit sources. The comparison when changing to the Bariks was striking. The new mid unit added more presence to vocals and more openness. Bass was definitely improved in both depth and control. These Akubariks will do really well, a welcome addition to the range and a bridge between majik isobarik/akurate 242 and klimax, which are a huge jump up in performance and price. Passive Akubariks will follow later in the year, price not yet set. This will open a new debate- passive with Klimax Twin vs aktiv built-in. Answers on a postcard please!
Note, months after this was written the Akubarik passive arrived at a lower than expected £ 8750
