KEF 105/3 user wants to upgrade. Help!!!!

[Paul Clarke]

Help!! Oldie back in the game!

Hello. I've just registered and this is my first post.

I haven't significantly upgraded my system for many years now.

A house move and a change of room (and dare I say it decor!) require me to think again about my speakers.

To give you an idea, my system is as follows

Linn LP12/Lingo

Linn ITTOCK LV ii arm

Lyra Argo i cartridge (my latest purchase around a year ago)

Audio Research SP9 Pre amp

Musical Fidelity P270 Power amp

(Both of the above are very good friends and I would be loathed to see them go, plus I just can't afford to upgrade)

Van den hull MC Cs 122 speaker cable

And finally,

A pair of KEF 1053 reference series speakers.

I want another pair of florstanders, but I need something much smaller but with a similar performance. The finish is now important too, with an oak look preferred.

These were quite pricey back in the day, so I'm hopeful speaker performance has come on a bit over the last 10 years or so and I can get just as good a performance but at a lower price.

I'm looking at around £2000 (inc cable if poss).

I'm happy to go secondhand too, as I figure that anyone selling very good speakers would have looked after them.

The cable run is going to be around 7 meters per speaker. A long run I know, but that is how my room is laid out.

I can't think of anymore info that you might need, but if there is, just post the question.

I'll try to pop back regulary to see if any of you have any suggestions.

Thanks in advance and I hope you can make a returning audiophile very happy!!

Paul Clarke

PS. I live near Cambridge, so am prepared to travel to East Anglia, Midlands and London if necessary

[Paul Clarke]

Not sure if this is against the forum rules, but I'm just bumping this as I had not had any replies.
Any advice or ideas that anyone can come up with will be greatfully received!!

Thanks.

Paul.

[Brett]

It's a DIY forum, so there may be better places to ask for suggestions for retail speakers.

[Phil50]

Hi Paul

I also have a pair of these beauties with the KUBE 200 and frankly there is no better speaker even today. I did hear the smaller version called the 103/4 which had my KUBE200 installed to test and they sound identical except lower volume output in DB. The entire reference range of that time including the 104/3 were exceptional.

I spoke to a source at KEF last year who admitted that now I have the newer MK 2 Uni-Q tweeter fitted on my 105/3's they will sound better than the latest KEF reference speakers. that pleased me!

The point being that many modern speakers from most manufacturers simply lack the lower end frequency response needed for vinyl recordings to perform to full levels. they sound reasonable if you own a CD player and are happy with sampled music. I am not.

The older reference speakers come up on ebay from time to time very cheaply, as many are rushing around spending £1000000's on the "latest" and expensive , er "high end" equipment.
good luck