Very good for its price. Quite nice bass. Clear and open sound.

The sound is sometimes a little too open and hard.

These speakers are maybe the most priceworth speakers I've ever seen. They have a nice and clear sound, just a little bit too hard. The bass is taut and seems to go quite low (about 40 acording to my measurements) unfortunately (at least in my room) there is a peak in the frequency response @ about 63Hz. This can be corrected by sealing the bass ports.

If you want relatively cheap and very priceworth speakers, buy these ! ! !

Similar Products Used:

Celestion

Tannoy MX2 VS KEF Cresta2

I own both of these speakers. Note that this is a comparsion ONLY BETWEEN the MX2 and the Cresta2.

Both are good speakers in certain sense.

The MX2 has more solid bass; not only that the bass is smooth it is also well controlled.
It more suitable for pop and disco music. Because of it poor sensitivity stiff cone movement,
the volume control knob has to turn up higher to get the same loudness level as the Cresta2. The vocal
quality is good though not as transparent as the Creata2.

The Cresta2 has certain qualities that resembles high end speakers. The Cresta2's midrange is liquid
and transient passage decay smoothly. There is also a kind of holographic sensation on vocal materials. Tiny sound
in the recording is distinctly projected.

The Cresta2 is also very particular with the electronics used. When hooked up to an AV amp(Kenwood)
the sound delivered is just like any cheap Japanese speakers, however with amplifier like the Aragon and Krell
the Cresta2 really shines. However the woofer cries for help when fed with Disco music; it seem as though the cone
is going to pop out!

The Mx2 on the other hand is more tolerant towards poor quality electronics and recording as well. Though it
has good tonal quality, its high damping ratio can sometime makes music sound muddy and less involving.

In summary, as mentioned before both are good speakers and the liking depends on personal taste.
The Mx2 plays pop music with punchy clean bass whereas the Cresta2 shines on clasical and vocal music.

I also owned the Aegis-ONE and this will be the next comparison against the MX2 and Cresta2.

Wow! Sit these on Atacand stands and let them sing to you!! HAS to be heard to be believed. These are hard to beat in the next bracket up! Incredible! Fully bi-wirable too!The web site is wrong - check out www.KEF.com

Balanced sound, cost

Midrange clarity (nitpick)

These are great value for the $. They are really an excellent all around speaker. They have sufficient bass for rock, sufficient balance and neutrality for Jazz and classical, and sufficient dynamics to be lively. They are very well compromised. In comparision with:
B&W 302: (same cost) 302 are more coherent and neutral thru the midrange, so for voices they sound better as the drivers match well. But the 302s have not much bass, and they are not as dynamic. SO if you listen to songs (female singers, esp) buy the 302s. All else get the Cresta. They crestas aren’t bad, they just lose a bit of the see thru transparency that the 302s (and Tannoy R1) have
B&W 601S2 (more $). I actually prefer the Crestas. The 601S2 have a fabulous tweeter, but the kevlar woofer is slow and muddy in comparison, so the sound has seams thru the midrange. The 601S2 is a nice rock speaker, since it got great highs and a strong but slow bass. Kinda reminds me a little like the old advents in the extreme. For voices, the cresta is better.Dont get me wrong, the 601S2 is a wonderful speaker for the $, just that the drivers arent matched, and the lack of coherency bothers me.
JPW310: Liteweight speaker but well balanced. Coherent thru the limited range it has. Would do great with a subwoofer. In comparison, the 310 just doesnt have the bass of the crestas.
JPW510: More bass than the 510, but again the coherency is lost. The crestas have more bass than the 510 and is better balanced to boot.
Conclusion: Havent heard a better all around speaker near its price range.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 302, 601S2, JPW 310, JPW 510

Detail (!), soundstage, imaging, layering .. everything

This walls - Body seems to reverbarate under touch - at higher volumes ?

This speaker has an unbelieveable, at least for the price - detail, presence and musicality - straight out of the box ! It replaced - for a test - my trusted SF Concerto, in a Rotel 991 ixos Copland CT 401 ixos ML 27.5 setup, and WOW, what a detail, what a 3D soundstage ! Played for just a few days now, already scared to plug the Concertos back in .. The treeble is so sweet, the mids - carrying so much detail, the somewhat lack of a solid bass, is probably the only shortfall, but then, this doesn't bother me much at all . Tried out Coldplay, Radiohead (Amnesiak), Bob James (Drand Piano Canyon, try No 8!), Pat Metheny - all magnifficent - here and there feels like new details are surfacing .. Feels like an improvement over the Concertos, could it be due to the high sensitivity 90db) of the speakers ? These speakers sound 2 times the price and size !

Similar Products Used:

SF Concertino

Warm even response, dynamic, with good soundstage, great imaging! Very low coloration for cheap speakers! Quite good bass for the size, lacks low bass completely (obvious)

Some distortion around midband (could be amp) Woofer breakup on some Stanley Clarke Picillo bass. Long throw woofer midband seem to degrade quickly with high bass excurstions (could be not broken in yet!)

Well I looked at Hifi Choice and What Hifi. They hit the nail on the head by giving these youngsters a best buy rating. Well the model's young, but we all know that KEF helped make the infamous Rogers LS/3-5 Speakers that are still great if you can afford it!

I basically had tons of people in the store when I looked, so I just bought them. When I first hooked them up, I demo'd them at moderate volume for break in period. Whew, they put a smile on my face - clarity good flat sounding spectrally and punchy with my old Onkyo Amp. Bass was right nice even with a 8 m^2 living room. These speakers really do get out their own way playing most types of music without fatigue. The design is good quality for $280, nice cabinet, Large port in the middle back. So for backpressure wave you must place about 1 foot from wall, so you need stands. I am fairly pleased that they challenge my Helios at low power, but the Helios can take high current peaks much better. The woofer on the Helios looks beefier (VIFA perhaps).

If you like accurate uncoloured sound, and dont need deep bass, you should be happy for the money. Get a decent sub and lie that these are expensive speakers. Someone else in this section said the Aegis AE-1s are better, this is possible but I cannot imagine getting much better in a cabinet of this diminutive size!

KEF engineers - 6 stars!

Similar Products Used:

Heybrook Helios, demo'd Tannoy M2s

Very good bass and midrange for such small speakers. The treble is excellent. Especially good for vocal.

Bass may not be enough for rock and heavy beat.

I use Marantz CD-63, NAD 304 integrated amplifier, and NAD tuner 4020B, with this pair of speakers. Quite good, especially in taking consideration of the price and size of the speakers.

Very good bass and midrange but the treble is OUTSTANDING

Sometimes to many details by playback of Classical music.

Thank you KEF engineers for building such good speakers!!!




Greetings from Rutger Bentschap Knook!!!

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speakers from: tannoy, elac, infinity and dynaudio.

Great little speakers. Burning in so hopefully gonna get better. But they sound smooth and clear and tight out of the box. Work great with the center channel and my Adcom preamp/amp combo for digital surround. My room is too small for a sub at this time. Using Vampire silver speaker cables. This combo is a sweet sweet sound and the finish and look of the speakers is beautiful.

Similar Products Used:

Celestion, Infinity, Polk, JBL

For the price, it is an excellent speaker. Bi-wireable. Aesthetically pleasing (without the grille). All round ability.

At the price, not too much really. A little bright sometimes, but only a minor quibble.

At first i was dissapointed with the sound though i thought they were nice looking speakers. They look costlier than they really are. They sounded sweet enough, but the bass extension wasn't what i expected it to be, particularly since i listen to a lot of hip hop and r n b. However run them in a little, and once the 13.5 cm cone has loosened up the bass is brilliant for a speaker of this price- and this was before i bi-wired them and with poor speaker cable! The strength of these speakers is their all round ability; comfortable with all types of music, even if at times they can be a little over enthusiastic (though that maybe more to do with my amplifier). The treble is sweet sounding, mid range is good, and the bass is punchy and goes quite low for a bookshelf speaker. Honestly, i can't praise them enough. i was dubious at first, but they have done more than enough to win me over. Buy them now- but make sure you shop around since you can pick then up substantionally cheaper than their r.r.p. of £149.99, which is a steal anyway. Only serious rivals are the Tannoy mx2s.

Similar Products Used:

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