Sound accuracy at all volume levels.

Bad recordings sound bad, but they deserve it anyway.

I purchased these speakers brand new about 15-20 years ago and everyday when I use them they still amaze me. I have them well matched with a McIntosh MA6100 integrated amplifier that is about 26 years old. I also use a Carver Sonic Holograph Generator that still delights me to this day. I have a one year old Marantz DVD player and the whole little system still blows away most of the new home theater equipment available today. I hope the KEK's last forever.

Outstanding midrange,great with vocals,protection circuirty

1)Heavy metal 2)Have to agree with Jeremy below - They are
no longer made

I came across these speakers quite by accident.After one
listen there was no turning back.They are everything & more,
as reviewed by the others.

If you notice most of the people who have bought them has
a tendency to stick by them.I have being able to contact a
few owners & guess what ? They still have them !! THIS
SHOULD SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE SPEAKERS !!!

I should say that the reviews here helped me a lot to make
up my mind to audition the speakers in the first place, so
without reiterating how good they are,i will instead try to
contribute by giving some technical info. ( sent to me by
the kind guys at KEF ) for those of you who might be
fortunate to come across them in future.

They were manufactured between 1980 - 1986 and employs a
protection circuirty called S-STOP ( Steady State and
Transient Overload Protection )- Yes !! the small red bulb
turns on & the sound is muted when the system is overloaded.
In my humble opinion this is something good to have on a
speaker 20 years old !

For the technically minded,

1) Sensitivity 86 db
2) Frequency range 60Hz - 20Khz +/- 2db
3) Rated at 30rms - 150rms at 8 ohms
Take care not to use it with an amp rated 250rms/
per channel or above,as this can damage the overload system.
4) The speaker cones are made out of Polypropelene

I like to say that i have never heard vocals the same way
before & the Bass is great for such a small speaker.Ofcourse
there are better sounding speakers but in my opinion
to match this sound quality you should be looking in the
$2000 to $4000 range.Anyway i will not be thinking of
upgrading them anytime soon.MAYBE I'LL END UP HAVING THEM
FOR ANOTHER 20 YEARS !!!!


Rest of my system consists of,

Linn Kolektor preamp
NAD THX218 poweramp (200rms/per channel at 8 ohms)
Onkyo Integra CD player (to be replaced)
Monster interconnects/AudioQuest type 4 speaker cables

Similar Products Used:

Linn Keilidh,Ninka,KEF,Klipsh

Outstanding midrange, no coloration, excellent imaging if placed correctly

power hungry, not very dynamic, very revealing of poor material

Sold these speakers for years when I ran a hi fi store. My hands down favorites regardless of price and the best possible choice if space/size is an issue. My pair is now 17 years old and I have no plans to replace them. When carefully placed (on stands at ear level, at least 3 feet from any wall) they can have terrific 3 dimensional imaging. Hard pressed to find a better speaker for strings or female vocals.

However, they are very unforgiving of mediocre recordings. I find that there is much of my music collection that cannot survive "serious listening" with these, they just reveal too many of the flaws. Also power hungry and need a subwoofer if used in a HT system.

By the way, the 101's are a great mini speaker if you can find them.

Similar Products Used:

KEF, Snell, B&W, Quad, Magnepan

I've had these speakers for about 10 years, so think I've got enough empirical data to publish an opinion on them.
I've got the speakers powered with a combination of Hafler 110 pre-amp and a Hafler DH-220 power amp. Both are respectible if unexciting components. The Hafler has plenty of power, which you need to push the Kef's, power-hungry, inefficient, Brit speakers in the classic tradition.

The speakers are top-notch construction -- furniture grade speakers that don't take up the entire room. A basic two-way design, they're un-ported and rely upon an 8" woofer to provide clean, natural bass.

The speakers are absolutely neutral. If you like that kind of speaker, then you'll like the Kef's. The are superb with acoustic music -- jazz or rock, chamber music, and modern jazz. They produce an immense sound stage, with very natural imaging. Instrumental overtones are produced very accurately. An acoustic guitar CD by Stephen King sounds amazing through the speakers ... you could swear he and his Taylor Guitar were right in the room with you!

Less impressive are hard rock albums and those pieces with less than stellar recording quality. Some of the worst stuff is Pearl Jam, STP, etc. If you listen to rock, you definitely want to stay away from these speakers.

I can't say they're the best speaker I've ever heard, but they're a great quality speaker that are one of the best in they're price range. If you can pick up a used pair of these, I'd highly recommend them.

Very accurate full range sound. Clean compact styling. Easy placement

Cannot play very very loud

I had owned these excellent speakers for 17 years. I bought them new in the early 1980's when they first came out...After all these years and all the countless latest and greatest new products, the Kef's never failed to sound accurate with a great sound stage.

When I bought them, I compared them to the CLASSIC 105.2 and the similarities of sound were astonishing. THe 103.2 does not go as deep in the bass , nor do they play as loud, but the differences are subtle.

The 103.2 was originally a monitor speaker and has the 8"bextrene woofer and 1" soft dome tweeter. I am sure that the crossover is of the highes quality.

The sound is very neutral and accurate , with great right to left balance and good imaging.

At the original retail of 900 per pair they were and still are a good value if you want clean accurate sound that is non fatiguing and highly detailed, without any harshness.


I used them for video as well as audio and they do not need a subwoofer unless you want to rattle the windows.

You obiously can only buy them used and would not dissapoint even though they are "old". I recomment placing them on stands that are about 1-2 feet high, and I also recommend placing them at least 1 foot away from the back wall and any side walls. They are not designed to utilize room reflections.

They are a bit power hungry so I would also recommend at least 100 clean watts per channe.

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Legacy Victoria

Smooth, flat response

Poor transient response

While I admit these speakers have extremely flat amplitude response which makes them easy to listen to, their phase response (the result of an outdated crossover design) is very non-linear. The end result is that they sound bland and fuzzy when compared with better time/phase correct designs such as the best Thiels, Vandersteens, Quads, Fuseliers, Martin Logans, etc. A brief A/B session in your own listening environment (never in a showroom) using a good amp (at least a PSE, Music Reference, Classe or McCormack; no Haflers) will show you what's missing with these speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Thiel, Vandersteen, Martin Logan

Great vocal clarity

Low Bass

I bought these speakers about 17 years ago. I went to the store with Allsion ones on my mind. About two hours of listening later, I bought the KEFs. No speaker works for all types of music, but if Jazz and vocals are what you you listen to, find a pair of these on E-bay and you will never need another speaker in your life.

mid-range

heavy-metal

Like the other reviewers below, purchased these new around 20 years ago, along with Threshold Amplifier and Luxman turntable. I used them until earlier this year without even thinking about upgrading - highest praise I can imagine. They are lovely with jazz and classical, very natural voice and woody, full strings. Don't even bother listening to heavy metal with them however. Bass is tight with a nice tone, but not outstanding.

I have recently replaced entire system to mega-buck recent equipment, comparison to which is not quite fair(Dynamics, pin-point imaging, etc), but i bet you would have had to have invested $900 in 1980 to have the money to buy a pair of speakers today as good as these babys.

Similar Products Used:

ProAc2.5