We recently picked up KEF speakers to carry through our Bonney Lake home theater installation company. Speakers from Aperion and AV123 were the first two lines that we actively sold and installed. We at times ran into issues with folks not familiar with Internet home audio products and decided to jump into a more known by name speaker brands.

I have since been able to audition two sets from KEF, the IQ 7 floor standing tower and the IQ3 book shelf. Below are the specs for the IQ7.

Specifications:
iQ7

Power Handling: 15 - 150 Watts
 
Nominal Impedance: 8 Ohms
 
One KEF UNI-Q Array — 0.75″ Aluminum-Dome HF Driver At Acoustic Center Of 6.5″ Titanium-Coated, Mid-Range Cone
 
One 6.5″ Long Throw LF Bass Driver With Ultra-Low Distortion Motor System And Natural Fiber-Loaded Paper Cone
 
Crossover Frequency: 250Hz - 2.8kHz
 
Frequency Response: 40Hz - 40kHz
 
Thermally-Formed, High-Density MDF, Elliptical Enclosures With Massive Internal Bracing Minimize Distortion
 
Magnetic Shielding For Video Applications
 
Fully-Shrouded Terminals With Oxygen-Free Copper Wiring
 
Luxurious Wood-Veneer Finish
 
Sensitivity: 90 dB (2.83 Volts/1 Meter)
 
Maximum Output: 111 dB
 
Dimensions: 37″ H x 8.7″ W x 12.9″ D
 
Weight: 36.6 Pounds

 I am used to the AV123 rockets and reference series speakers. The AV123 products are built like tanks and weigh in as much. The equivalent Rocket speaker to the KEF IQ7 weighs twice as much, but does cost more. The IQ7 is also a very short standing speaker. Even with spikes inserted it doesn’t quite get the tweeter up to ear level from the seated position.

A far as sound quality goes, I was very happy with the sound of the KEFs. I thought that they might sound boomy or tiny but they didn’t. Even though they don’t have the heft to them that some speakers do, you don’t hear it when playing them. No cabinet resonance noise at all. 

One welcome feature that I readily took advantage of was the ability to plug the ports, and KEF supplies the port plugs. I have played around with sealing up other speakers before and have always liked the sound of sealed speakers to ported. The KEFs are not boomy by any means but it really helped to tighten things up. Quick and snappy were the base response. Though these would work well for home theater use they really excel when playing classical or jazz.

My only dislike of the KEFs were the Vinyl wrap around instead of a real wood veneer. But this is not a knock to the speaker beings you wont find real wood veneers in this price range anyway. The sound is what matters the most and I was was very pleased.

Check these pictures out.

 Related:

• Rocket RS 250 MKII and the Omni Mount WB 30
• ONIX REFERRENCE .5 BOOK SHELF SPEAKER
• RSC200 BIGFOOT WITH THE NEWLY DESIGNED CROSS OVER
• JUST GOT THE ROCKET 450S IN DA HOUSE!! THE RIGHT AND LEFT HAND OF BIGFOOT
• THE BIGGINS, UFW-12 POWER HOUSE SUBWOOFER
• USED AV123 ONIX REFERENCE 3 HOME THEATER SPEAKERS FOR SALE $2000

Tags: Speakers //