Based on reviews I read here on audioreview.com, I went ahead purchased a pair of Q15. After a month of listening to the KEF Q15, I can say these reviews were right on the mark. Excellent imaging and midrange. Female vocals and acoustic music sound particularly great. Q15's also works well as main left and right of a home theater system. Q15's will obviously need to be used in conjuction with a sub for really deep bass but that's about it for negatives. At $250-$300 a pair, you can't go wrong with these.

Neutrality, Efficiency

None

I thought bass extension might be an issue, but not so with my Monster M1.2 Biwire Cable. Best I have heard in this price range. However, they do require a lot of time to break-in. Very smooth sound, but not overly so.

I have owned these speakers for about a year and a half, and have never had a complaint. They seem particularly strong on female voices. Three of my favorites, Leontyne Price, Marilyn Horne, and Carol Vaness (all of whom I've heard live and unamplified)seem to be reproduced far more accurately than with many far more expensive speakers. I also enjoy the fact that the little Q15's can handle high volume without being perturbed. A great opera singer is capable of extremely high amplitude in a concert hall, and I like to get as close to that volume as possible in my home as well. Shortcomings? Of course, as they are small speakers. Some listeners may feel the need for a subwoofer, especially if they enjoy loud organ music or anything that calls for chest-thumping bass. I use the speakers with an NAD 5000 cd player used as a transport, with D/A conversion performed by a Denon AVR-1700, NAD 2400THX amplifier (100wpc/8 ohms, 440wpc peak), MIT MusicLink interconnects, and MIT MusicHose biwire speaker cables. The Denon was added to the system a few months ago, the rest of the system was originally used with a pair of Vandersteen 2Ci's I couldn't afford to ship when I moved from Michigan. Originally, the Kef Q15's were planned as a temporary stand-in until I could afford something better/more expensive. However, I have enjoyed my music through them so much, I haven't had the time to really shop! Maybe down the road, but I'm not worried about it.For value, I rate these as 5 stars. Otherwise, I suppose 4 is about right.

I picked up a pair about a week ago. I auditioned these speakers largely based on the reviews from this site. I have to say the reviews are dead on.
These speakers have an amazingly wide and deep soundstage. The smooth, warm midrange mates nicely with my reciever (Yamaha 995) which is a bit forward. Female vocals (e.g., Holly Cole and Diana Krall) have never sounded better.

The bass, while not deep, is extremely tight and well controlled for a speaker this size.

I also auditioned the new B&W 602S2's ($650 list) and much preferred the sound of the Q15's. I found the midrange in the KEF's to be substantially better (IMHO), and the soundstage was much bigger. I also listened to the Def Tech Pro Cinema 100 (also $350 list, the same as the KEF's). The Def Tech's are also highly rated, but the sound from them was just not as engaging as the KEF's.

These are great little speakers. I do not think that these are some of the best speakers for the price.

Great midrange and excellent sound-field

Bass Lacking

I bought my Q15s about nine months ago with the intention of using them as fronts until I could find some larger fronts and then transfer them to the rear as satellites. I was, however, so impressed with the sound of these little speakers that I decided to keep them as fronts and buy a set of KEF 65S as rears (great rears). The Q15s have an incredible ability to reproduce natural, pure sound. The midrange is flawless and the highs are defined and precise without being too harsh or intense. The very effecive Uni-Q design allows for an extremely homogenous sound range which allows the "sweet-spot" to be extended to a wide area throughout the room. The bass reproduction is somewhat weak, but complemented with a suitable subwoofer (recommend the KEF 30B or 35B) the sound is unlimited and performs as well or better than many larger and considerably more expensive systems. I am running my system off a Mitsubishi M-VR900 receiver and I could not be more pleased with the performance. The system is also extremely well complimented with the Q95C center channel, which boasts the same Uni-Q design as all the Q-series. In conclusion, these speakers are, in my opinion, by far the best speakers in their price-range. They perform very well as front channels in a smaller room and are extremely well complimented with the rest of the Q-series for music as well as home-theater. A very sound investment!

Very natural and smooth high frequencies, don't proudce fatigue.

Poor bass

My system:

NAD 340, integrated amplifier
NAD 512, CD player
Boston PV600, subwoofer
Bi-wiring with Phoenix Gold 0.3 M
KEF Q15, speakers


Very natural and smooth high frequencies, the sound of the cymbals in jazz (Paul Motian, Elvin Jones, Jack Dejohnette) are very realistic.

The mid range are very good performed, so are very natural. Of course, I always use my NAD amplifier in tone defeat (disconnecting the bass and treble adjusts), so this helps the middle frequencies to keep in front and working in equilibrium with the UNI-Q tweeter.
The bass frequencies are poor, (50 Hz), however the quality of this range of sound is enhanced when you use bi-wiring. But don’t care about this, take into account that the speaker is very little, only two ways, obviously Kef never sought to get deep bass with model, and ¡Good has created the Subwoofers!.

A special mention to my Boston PV600, for just $450, you can have a great (I mean GREAT) precise and natural bass. All of the lack of bass from the kef is performed by the sub, with its 120RMS amp, both Boston and Kef work together very good.

The Boston (as most subs) have manual control for the crossover frequencies, so it is very ease to avoid the duplicity of bass reproduction, so you can manipulate the relative volume. I think that this is a advantage of having a subwoofer instead of having large loudspeakers.
This combination of speakers has a value of $800, I don’t think that you could find this quality of sound for such a price.

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Mission

Large soundstage

Some uneven & bright treble No bass

This is the newer Q15.2 model. I never got the sense of soundstage realism that I expected after so much praise of the uni-q design. Yes this is a good sounding speaker but far from a great one even at this price point. First off, a sub is mandatory or the speakers sounds progressively more bass shy and tonally unbalanced the louder you play. Add a somewhat edgy treble and it can get somewhat unpleasant very quickly. A good speaker on softer types of music where bass is of less importance. Finished distant 3rd behind the tannoys and JPW's.

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Tannoy MX2 JPW ML510i Polk rt35i Paradigm M3

Liquid midrange, detailed, very good off axis

No low bass output

I'm, back in school, and I decided to sell off my big HK series 50's. I had experiance with these from 2 dealers I've worked for, and I had always like their sound so I bought a pair of the new 15.2's. Definately cleaner then the predecessor the Q15's. Very little low bass output but hey, KEF never claimed they had much to begni with. These aren't very touchy to placement, but can be tweaked like any other speaker to improve imaging. IMO, a sub is absolutely necessary except in a bedroom/dorm room.

My musical tastes are very very broad, including Megadeth, Mozart, Holly Cole, Pink Floyd, Bonnie Rait.. etc etc etc.

My system is as follows.

Sony DVPS7700 (transport)
Parasound DAC1000 D/A
Harman Kardon AVR20
Kimber Hero Interconnects
Kimber Monocle XL speaker cable
Kimber AGDL digital Cable
Adcom Line conditioner
Atlantic Technology 350PBM THX

Anyway, not the best choice for getting heavy distortion while listening to Slayer or other loud music (get a pair of rack system speakers from a garage sale for this), but I like em'.

As far as value, a great choice for those with the time to put a good system together. Not a good choice for someone spending 299.00 on an inexpensive amp.

As far as the home theater aspect, I've heard these (the Q series) in a 5 piece configuration, and I honestly have never heard anything for effective at the price point. The fact that they are so good off axis tends to help with most peoples' inability to arrange a room perfectly for a theater imaging. In other words.. you won't have to put your guests in the sweet spot for them to really enjoy a system with these speakers.

4 stars only becuase as with all things, there are better products out there for those with large budgets.

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Sold equipment for 6 years for 3 different stores.. so
darned near every higher profile product I've aditioned at
one point or another.

crisp clean sound,very tight,very good looking speaker,with or without grill

bass

I just bought these speakers a weekago.The Q'15 are a very good sounding speaker,although i haven't had a chance to listen to a variety of music yet they tend to sound a little tiny.The sale person at the store said it would take a little time to break the speakers in. although they sound clean,they lack in bass . I have to confess i don't know a lot about home stereo equipment,and don't pretend too.The only home stereo that i've ever owned was a yamaha receiver and two speakers,and that was back in 1983,guess who has it now? Yep you guessed right the ex wife "sucker".So I'll give the speaker a chance,and from what i've read in all the reviews i'm sure i went with the right choice.


My System consist of.

Marantz SR-7000 Reciever
Q15's fronts and rears
Q95 c center channal
Paradigm PS-1000 sub

Clean, clear mids & highs. Good off axis sound

Anything below about 70 hz is weak, a sub with system a must

Amazing little speaker for the price. Is for the person who wants clear mids and highs. The off axis response is also very good especially for the person who does not have the perfect listening room (like most of us regular folk). The lower end needs support of a good clean sub but such is expected with such a compact speaker.