KEF IQ7 Floorstanding Speakers

KEF IQ7 Floorstanding Speakers 

DESCRIPTION

  • Design: Three-way bass reflex
  • Sensitivity: 90Db
  • Maximum Output: 111dB
  • Nominal Impendance: 8
  • Magnetic Shielding

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-8 of 8  
[Feb 06, 2023]
togolese273


Strength:

The bass is deep and powerful, but nowhere near as tight and evenly controlled as the bass response of the Rotel RB-1080 I intended to replace. Plus, it seems like the bass is kind of emphasized around the 100Hz mark, and the lower midrange @300-800Hz seems a little scooped, losing some of the grunt and body of electric guitars. Janesville On-Site Truck Repair

Weakness:

None . .

Purchased:
New  
OVERALL
RATING
5
[May 13, 2018]
szoze


Strength:

Nicely balanced sound and pinpoint imaging.

Weakness:

None at the price.

Price Paid:
$799
Purchased:
New  
Model Year:
2006
OVERALL
RATING
5
[Dec 13, 2014]
Jason ward
Casual Listener

I agree with the positive reviews here, and just want to add my experience for other relative noobs.

Using a Denon dm39dab, ie a half decent all-in-one system, I had been using an old set of trusted missions. I had checked my trusty 751i's against the competition in the shop when I bought the amp, and the salesman told me not to bother buying new speakers until I went well over my budget. My missions did a fair job with some top notch cambridge audio silver cable. But they never shone like the systems I really liked.

These KEFs, bought for £200, do however really shine, and show what my amp can do. When demoed with really high quality kit, they were exceedingly good, but even on my entry level denon amp, they are excellent.

There is tons of detail over all the spectrum, they produce good stereo over a wide area despite my set up, and they make listening a pleasure as all the sounds open up. Bass is tight and defined, mids are super clear, speech is pinpoint clear for tv, and the snares and hi hats really zing, perhaps on my set up just a smidge too much. Words like airy, natural and detailed are all appropriate.

The Denon, with only 35watts, drives them easily: I can't open the taps on the amp because it's already too loud at 1/5th total volume. I can't imagine why you'd want 150 watts on them, but Kef reckon you can.

High end sources would push them into revealing even more and better speaker placement I know helps. Even so, stuck in two corners only 5ft apart with an entry level amp, I am a very happy boy.

In short, those on a tight budget like mine, this works fine to produce reasonable audiophile contentment and looking neat and pretty while at it: Denon dm39, high end silver audio cable, second hand Kef iq7s.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 16, 2014]
Tony
Audio Enthusiast

Kef IQ7's wow.

I run these bad boys bi-amp'd from a 20 watt valve amp using THX speaker wire
and the sound right out of the box was awesome.
I ran them in on low volume with pink noise on a loop for 24 hours.

Now the sound is sooooo much better and crystal clear.
I warm the amp up for about 45 mins before unleashing the beast.
Imagine dragons "radioactive" & the heavies "how do you like me now," besides The Who's Quad album are mind blowing. Instruments are separated and rich with detail.
These speakers have so much stage presence and detail it is just f###ing amazing
From rock to pop even Old 80's sounds are good.

I even watch films from the computer via sound blaster audigy card and it's like
Actually being in the movie

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jan 28, 2013]
HifiGuyHi
AudioPhile

If you own KEF IQ7's please read. I wanted to clear up some comments in the order of "these speakers sound harsh" I believe a review is not helpful if you claim this without telling us the type of cables, amplifier, and wiring. User errors....not speakers fault. Ok now the speakers, I've had these for over 4 years and used many amps, cables and single/bi wire/ bi amp configs. Most people believe for a single wire config that the jumper wire should be of the same make. Failure. I think engineers at kef made these to match the speaker there connecting to or they wouldn't have gave it to you. I found after using smaller wire, any other wire besides the factory jumper was harsh also. In fact I don't want to bi amp it because of this, unless active. So don't let your noob show and tell us more about your harsh sources and how you ran them. I bet someone here can help you correct your mistake. These are very flat and smooth top end, I use them with grills. I find the tweeter to be one of nicest tweeters for anything plus some in the price range.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 02, 2009]
Karamel
Audio Enthusiast

IQ7 are very neutral sounding speakers with clear midrange and airy treble. They really grow with more expensive amps and sources. The strongest quality is imaging. These loudspeakers have ability to completely disappear in the soundstage making instrumens and voices to appear as they were there in front of you, very solid and lifelike. Simply great sounding speakers and a very safe bet.

Josephs review is a very solid marketing for Rega et. al.. Joseph doesn't even own these loudspeakers and has only heard them in a store. Please, someone should delete Joseph's review from this site.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Jun 22, 2007]
Joseph
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

These speakers will really go laud and dont blow very easily

Weakness:

Poor detail and very harsh

Price is in £

Demoed these speakers in a couple of hifi shops, they are heavily marketed and advertised in many of the current HiFi magazines.

The salesman told me they were really good speakers and everyone buys them, I wasn’t impressed. They were very harsh and didn’t reveal much at all. I struggled to listen to them for long and eventually had to tell him to turn them off. They were running on a NAD CD player and an harman kardon Amp.

If you think that a pair of these is good for the money I beg you to demo them against a pair of Regas or Quads at the same price.

Similar Products Used:

Rega R3 , Rega R5.
B&W, Quad and Dynaudio siminarly priced speakers from the current range

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
2
[Jun 15, 2006]
mbrowns
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Many strengths for the price point. Incredible imaging and vocal clarity and neutrality. Good separation of different instruments/voices.

Weakness:

The curved cabinet results in a speaker which is somewhat wobbly. I'm worried about a child knocking them over and damaging the speaker or the child.

These speakers are really outstanding for the money. KEF has made real improvements with the iQ series.

I previously owned some KEF speakers from the Q.2 series featuring the improved 4th generation Uni-Q driver. I thought they sounded really good -- and they do. See the reviews on this site for the Q15.2, Q35.2, Q65.2, etc.

The new iQ series features a 6th generation Uni-Q driver and the KEF website details the changes and extolls the virtues of them. You never know if those "improvements" result in sonic differences or if it's just a bunch of marketing bunk.

Well, I'm here to say the new iQ range definitely has sonic improvements. The iQ7's I have now are sonically superior in just about every way. The imaging, clarity, and range are truly beautiful. One word of warning: you better have some high quality recordings on hand to hear what these can really do!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-8 of 8  

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