I have lived with the Kef Reference model 2'2 for about two years now. During that time I have been extremely impressed by the outstanding transparency of the midrange, and the imagery, which is both pinpoint in accuracy, and extends over a wide listening area. Importantly for me, the sound quality does not vary greatly with listening height either, and is extremely well integrated.The bass I have found to be very good, but has been recently greatly improved by careful attention to positioning. With a bit of room assistance the response goes down to the low 30Hz region in my medium sized room - I still plan to add a sub woofer one day, but thats because I am greedy for bass. What it lacks in ultimate extension it makes up for in control, and shere volume capability.
These speakers will play very loud indeed, and the level of bass output in the 40-60Hz region is quite extreme. The efficiency is 90db/watt, so with a 200 watt amp I am rarely able to extend the system, but I have yet to find a level which causes any distress (although I sometimes have to retreat a long way to be able to judge this!)
The UniQ driver is definitely an elegant solution to a number of phase and imagery problems, and in the reference series the closeness of the pair matching (+-0.5db) is,I believe, a major factor in the superior imaging performance. And lets not forget the tweeter, a high tech, ferrofluid cooled little unit which fits neatly in the centre of the midrange cone, very sweet sounding with a wicked power handling capability.
OK, so you get the idea, I like them very much. They also look very nice, which helped in the spousal diplomacy associated with suh large, expensive objects.

Ok, I have had these speakers for 2 months now. I got them as part of an insurance settlement and recived them un-auditioned. I have gone through 2 phases of evaluatiion:
PHASE I: I rearranged my apartment so that I could fully optimaize these speakers. I moved furniture, removed, rearranged wall hangings etc. I them procceed to go through vitually all of my 300+ CD's. My focus was simplely on what these speaker could do and not do, and how well it did or didn't do it. I found that they are very musical and not fatigueing at all. At times I had music going for 10-12 hours and not once did I feel they were wearing me down. The base it tight, deep and responsive. The mids are articulate and mallifuous. The highs (as with all KEF) are present and cannot be missed. I did find that these are not very forgiving speakers, they go as the recording goes. I also felt that for this "caliber" speaker they should have staged a bit better.

PHASE II: Move everything back and" listen" to them as I would normally. This is were I really began to appreciate them. As I went about daily life I found myself often turning up the music and and doing a lot of toe-tapping, and knee-slapping. I even solo'd a few air guitars. For my money this is the Phase that counts. I have owned many speaker over time and I have had some that, although were for all intents and purpose good speakers, I wanted to toss out the widow.

I would reccommed giving this speakers an audition. I actually don't know what they retail for but I have heard that you can get them on the net or mail order for about $1700.00. They are worh it.

If I could I would give them 4.5 points but will give them the benefit of the doubt and give 5

Equipment:
B&K Referance 10
B&K ST 1400 Sereis II
B&K ST 1430 Sereis II
Rega Planet
Pioneer DVD 414
KEF Ref 100 Center
Tera Labs Prism Connects
Tera Labs 2+2 Speaker wire (Bi-wired)

I was working at an audio store and got many, many chances to play and fiddle with these speakers. In our sound room, they were easily the most "musical", that is, they had the most natural tone reproduction I have ever heard. They still didn't seem to really "sing" sitting in our store though, so I had no choice but to take them home! I borrowed another Golden tube audio SE-40 (I already had one) and bi-amped the speakers. Audio Nirvana... My brother (who up until then thought I was insane for spending what I did..) and I stayed up until 3 in the morning going through cd after cd. To this day I still think of that set-up as being the most natural, effortless, least fatiguing system I have ever heard. There are speakers that are more "accurate" (Quad ESL-63), have more bass, or more detail, but none of them are as enjoyable in the long run as the KEFs...

Recently, I have been in search for a speaker set. I was trying to look for the best overall speaker for both music listening and home theater and at the best possible value. I have read many reviews about many different speakers here in audioreview.com. And now that I have finally purchased a new set of speakers, I feel that I must contribute something to audioreview.com. Please keep in mind that these are strictly my opinion. Please trust your ear (and watch your pocket) before you buy.
There are many speakers (perhaps too many speakers) out there and all of them seem to claim that theirs are the best. My old pair of speakers are American made (Infinity). So this time, I want something different. This time, I looked at European speakers, primarily British made. This is not to say that the American made is not good. But for the same given set of speakers, I can get better value for British speakers, at least in the country where I live.

In the last four or five months that I have been in search of a speaker set, I have auditioned different speakers at different price levels. This includes B&W CDM 7SE, Mission 753F, KEF Reference Model 2, NHT 2.5I, Boston Acoustics VR760, Dynaudio Audience 80, Dynaudio Contour 1.8MkII, Vienna Acoustics Mozart, Vienna Acoustics Haydn

KEF Reference Model 2 is second model from the bottom in its Reference Series. I must say that these speakers caught my eyes from the minute I saw it. Its strong and robust cabinet in beautiful rosewood finish is really attractive. I must say that these speakers have the best built quality (not the most beautiful though).

The midrange and the treble are detailed and vivid. The bass is also good. Soundstage and Image are also impressive. It seems to me that the louder you play with these speakers the better you get. When used with H/T setup, these speakers can play really loud.

The KEF is somewhat power hungry and you'll need a high wattage amp. Other than the high price tag, I think KEF Reference Model 2 is another fine speaker for both music and H/T. I'll give it a 4 overall as it is too expensive. But I know that you can bargain to about ? 1,300-1,400 rosewood)

I would like to comment more on the Billy the audiophilly's review than on these speakers. A while ago i auditioned these speakersat my home in my own conditions. Along with them i had B&W CDM7 SE, Kef Reference 1, and last but not least Diapason prelude II.To ref 2 i give four stars and the test winers in my humble opinion were definatly Kef ref 1 and Diapason Prelude II with the B&W left far behind !
You're prubably asking yourself how can i test one bookshelf with the floorstanders....well i can cause this perticular bookshelf (Diapason) wiped the floor with the big brothers. What can i say size after all doesn't matter only you'll have to forget the bass bellow the 50 Hz but that will give you an excuse to buy some fancy sub which is also a great box of fun.
As about the Billy the Audiophilly who must be workin' for B&W
KEF and B&W are truly not in competition - where KEF leads others follow as they would like to say and i must say it's almost true ...B&W is definatly few laps behind !

Fantastic accuracy and exceptional imaging

Bass doesn't match the beauty of the trebble - you'll want to add a sub-woofer

I bought my KEF Reference 2's at NetMarket for about $1,700 in Rosewood, after auditioning dozens of speakers in the same ~$2,000 price range. These magnificent speakers get better and better. The soundstage and imaging are incredibly lifelike, without the coloration that many speakers add to give a dazzling first impression but that later wears you out with extended listening. These are wonderful, musical speakers. If, like me, you listen to all kinds of music (from classical to metal, you'll be hard pressed to match the KEF R2's for versaltility and listenability.

Similar Products Used:

Thiell, Klipsh, Snell

Great soundstage, great imaging! What struck me most was that you can actually "see" each musician in space. Bass was better than what I was lead to believe. This speaker actually produces extended, quality bass. It will not shake your listening room, but.....! Build quality is exceptional - superbly engineered.

uuuuhhhh.....nothing I can actually put my finger on. I own the black ash veneer, which is slightly industrial looking - I'm sure the other exotic finishes are a little more exciting, but the cabinet work is still top notch! And, the better your electronics, the more revealing these speakers become. A great recording will bring you to tears and a bad recording will bring you to tears from the pain!

These speakers start at $2800.00 and I got mine for $1600.00
but I would have paid more for them. I have read the other reviews and most agree with my assessment and a few have some negative things to say. For those few, I would recommend looking at your source electronics, cabling, shell out some extra money for some decent recordings and don't blame the speakers.

Similar Products Used:

Soliliquy 5.3, Spendor FL6, Proac, B&W CDM7SE all very good speakers as well.

Unfortunately I was pretty naive customer with too much cash that was impatiently wanting to exchange iteself for an impressive looking speaker that packed a punch. Of course as an upgrade from £500 speakers that were lacking bass, the ref 2's were superficially impressive. But after living with them for about two years now, and having also had the opportunity to listen to heaps of other stuff, my advice would be this : the Ref 2's may well be the right speaker for you but please take your time and listen to lots of other speakers as well. In the UK Kef are a manufacturer that are very widely and aggressively distributed...consequently it may seem that by sheer ubiquitousness, the Kefs must be great...they are not. Take with a large pinch of salt the hyperbole you get from a mainstream salesman, the profit margins and dealer incentives to shift these things are huge.
Second point : Loudspeakers are pretty solid things that if looked after reasonably will last for years and years. In fact for a few months after purchase they will actually get better. The point is that for loudspeakers perhaps more than any other hifi component, you can save loads of money by buying second hand. The thrill of having to pristine cardboard boxes in your shed soon wears off I promise...and that is about the only difference in getting good second hand gear and new.

Apologies for the appalling spelling.

Oh yeah...haven't actually said what is wrong with the Ref 2's.....BORING,BORING,BORING. Safe, bland , wallowy bass, recessed treble.


3 Stars

Sound and build

None

A beautiful pair of speakers which I have had for over 3 years if I remember right. ANybody who complains about these merely doesn't have the equipment to drive them. Iuse Roksan amps and a Meridien CD player. The sound produced is detailed and well rounded. How you can complain about the lack of bass with 4 subwoofers tuned to perfection? Anything from the prodigy to Sibelius' Finlandia sounds fantastic. You do have to play them at a high volume to get the full sound reproduction you want however. I have not and will not regreat buying them.

Similar Products Used:

Various B&W models

bass definitely, details, overall impression

may be too boomy if the room small or wrong positioned

setup: accuphase e306
nad s500
aq python xlr
aq gibraltar

very fine speakers indeed . . if room's not too small and if speaker are positioned properly - they sing!
they also need lots of current / solid amp. accuphase was taken because it brings neutral sound (aq cables too) to nad-kef line.
if used with the wrong amp and cables they may sound very boomy and non defined. do not try to run 'em with a week or warm amp - otherwise there will be more reviews with one star. i tried with cambridge audio and went for accuphase next day.

anyway:
4 stars for value (rrp)
5 stars for this price (ex demo)
4 value overall

Similar Products Used:

many but none simmilar