Good all round speaker for it's price. Open sound with pretty good bass response for their size. Fatigue free listening.

Plastic grilles and back panel give impression of poor build quality.

The Coda 7's are stand or shelf mounting loudspeakers. When used on shelves, in a smaller room they exhibit a full bass response giving the impression of a much larger loudspeaker. On stands in a larger room the bass response falls away somewhat in level, though bass is still extended with string bass and kick drum sounds still there, but at a quieter level. Driving the speakers harder seems to compensate for this a little.

High and mid-range frequencies are re-produced well with little in the way of harshness, and an open quality being apparent. Sensitivity is high thus the Coda 7's are easily driven by most amplifiers. Mine are powered by a Quad 306 power amp, which delivers 70W per channel into a 4 ohm load.

I have not experienced any problems with the grilles rattling and would suggest that anyone who does simply removes them.

By comparison my JPW ML310i's seem constrained in the low frequency end and have a narrower listening angle for high frequenies. The bass on the JPW's seems pronounced around the 70-80Hz region whereas the Coda 7's are a little looser at these frequencies but extend lower. This is to be expected as the Coda 7's have 8.5 litre cabinets and 120mm bass drivers whereas the JPW's are 7 litres with 100mm drivers.

I would think these speakers would be appreciated by most people who have smaller to average rooms (very common in the UK) and who like mid-range intelligibility and the open sound the Kef Coda 7's can deliver. Careful experimentation with speaker placement and speaker stand preparation (spiking and sand/lead shot filling) will yield different results.

Similar Products Used:

JPW ML310i's, Keesonic Kubs

Bargain priced offering from a legendary company. I paid $49.00 each at ubid. Nice binding posts and a stylish design. Decent sound for the price.

I was looking for something to replace my homebrew huge dynaudio/diapolito (lovely sound) setup that my wife wants out of the LR. I need a good minimonitor and an HSU sub that I can hide. She wants the living room to look like a living room, not a listening room - go figure. I was shocked at how cheap and light the plastic cabinets were. I know they're trying to meet a certain price point, but KEF has a reputation to maintain. They sound OK on music with no vocals, but even my wife (no audiophile she) thinks they sound snarly and "speakery" on voices. Nice drivers (for the price) but they just went too cheap on the cabinet and crossover. They're one day old, and if I can't sell them on eBay for what I paid, I'll use them on my porch or in my downstairs bathroom. Bottom line: disapointed, even for $99.00 plus shipping.

Don't get me wrong, these speakers are better than 99% of the under $100/pair speakers out there. I'm comparing them to 100 pound, four feet tall speakers with tweeters that cost more than a pair of these speakers. I just think KEF shouldn't have made such a cheap, JBL voiced speaker. Consider a used pair of REAL speakers (these just don't seem like a real speaker to me.) Sorry KEF, I was one of your biggest fans.

Similar Products Used:

Rogers ls35a (the classic reference standard), IMF subcompacts (lovely), PSB Alpha mini's (much more natural)

I just bought a pair of these used for $100, and they are the smallest, yet best sounding speakers I've ever owned!! The balance, level of detail, and overall musicality are some of the best I've heard at any price, and miles above more expensive mass market crap like Bose, AR, Infinity, Cerwin-Vega, JBL, Polk and the like. My receiver and CD player have never sounded better. The speakers are really the most important component in your system. I find myself listening to the music now and not the speaker, singing along and tapping my foot and just enjoying the whole experience much, much more. Five stars for sound!!! and value!! An unbelievable buy at $250 for a pair brand new. Don't buy anything in this price range without listening to these first!

Just checked out the new Coda 70s (latest update of the Coda 7s) while shopping for speakers for a friend this weekend. We tested them with the new Arcam range and bought them without hesitation.

These speakers have it all: Clarity, detail, beautifully voiced midband and solid bass for a speaker of this size. The difference between these and the Mission M73s was like night and day. Don't buy without auditioning these beauties.

(Hint: the light Maple veneer looks better than the Black Ash)

Depth and sound stage, versatility.

Slight rattle at high levels.

I've had my Coda 7s for a few years now - they still sound excellent and work brilliantly with my Arcam Alpha 5.

One of them had to have a tweeter replaced in the first year, but ever since they have been reliably solid. With advancing age they have picked up a slight rattle at higher levels which I think is coming from the front facia. But they sound as fresh today as they did when first bought!

Similar Products Used:

KEF Q15.1

Clarity, Volume, Depth, Imaging, focus

low Frequency (come on, im scraping the barrel!!!)

Absolutely mind blowing speakers full stop!

I use mine in my home studio, instead of my control 1's
I have owned them from new, and bought them the day they came out. Quality is astonishing considering their low price. I used to work in a hi-fi shop, and they never ceased to amaze me on how they would blow away bigger, and more expensive speakers on sheer quality.
I've blown a driver once, but that was on a frequency sweep test with an over-rated amplifier.

get apair if u still can!

Similar Products Used:

Mission 25i

Hmm. On a slim budget are you? But you still want a pair of speakers that sounds accurate, and one that you can sit in front all day long without killing your ears, and still seem exciting enough? Try a pair of KEF Coda 7s. Phenomenal speakers for the money if you ask me - they cost but US$160 in Singapore.
Other pluses:

1. Incredibly easy to drive - 91db

2. Incredibly easy to position - the firing port is in front, so even if you are far away from walls, the bass still sounds extremely good.

The Coda 7s also come in the SE version (biwirable) which don't cost much more.

They sound great with almost anything, and for the shallow pocketed enthusiast who wants to have a new pair of speakers (used big speakers in good condition are actually a better idea IMO), the Coda 7 is quite unbeatable value. Good for all sorts of music.

Sure, a pair of Mordaunt Short MS10i might, on first impressions sound more exciting, but after a while, one gets bored with the colourisation and you might even find that irritating. The Coda 7s on the other hand are far more accurate, and yet, still exciting speakers.

The only minus is that soundstaging could be better. But heck, at that price and size, what more can one really ask for? ;-)

Kef Coda 7... First thing I noticed, was bass. Tiny speakers, but quite strong and "unforced" bass. After a while, little bit too rich for my taste. Nice pair of speakers , if you won´t listen acoustic music. There´s an area, that mini-Kef´s can´t handle. Music is coming from behind the curtain, and the details are hardly hearable. Other parts seems to be in balance, which is rare in this price range, I´ve noticed. Probably good speaker for beginner, eaasy to listen and fits almost all kinds of music. Compared to price, good choice I think. The pair I listened, belongs to my friend who´s been very satisfied whit them. Now he´s planning to get JMLab Profil 77, if somebody got any experiences about those, please mail me, and I deliver the knowledge. (kaseva@hotmail.com)

This is a bookshelf 2-way design which I think is one of the best buys. In Singapore, we can get it for USD100 at a place called HTS.
Firstly, the sonic characteristics. This speaker is more or less a compromise between the midrange happy Tannoys and the dynamic Mordaunt Shorts. It has seamless integration between bass and treble, good tonal accuracy as well. Nothing seems to be missing in between. It also rocks when it has to but mostly its presentation is more on the detailed and not so dynamic side. It has good bass for a speaker of this price too. Not overwhelming but good enough to rock when asked to.

Soundstaging is not very wide, extending to just outside of speaker placement area. And depth is rather shallow ( compared to Roger's LS3/5a !! ). To maximise its capabilities, heavy stands required. As well as good supporting components.

I'll give it a 5 star ( or rather 5 speaker ) rating.

I used the following components in my review :
CD-Player : Pioneer PD-S904 - Smooth sounding with natural highs and lows.
Turntable : Reworked and rewired ancient Pioneer one
Amp : Carver C-5 Preamp and TFM-15 Poweramp - good enough for me.
Stands : Target stands, not filled though.
Wires : Nordost Super Flatline ( spkr ), Kimber Kable Silver Streak ( CD to pre)
, Audioquest Quartz ( pre to power ).
Others : Used ferrite core to clamp power cords , better sound, try it out!

I love the codas. They have a tremendous atack, lots of bass (for the cabinet size) and for rock i can't think about a better relation quality-price. Very, very good, and a future proof buy if you think in av.