KEF Concept Blade

[infinia]

FYI
Hmm new concept speaker "blade" by KEF with 3 yrs R&D and nothing to sell yet... Interesting ideas but nothing totally new except some new inhouse drivers. Still debugging it seems.

http://www2.kef.com/us/conceptblade


Let's get out our DIY pencils...

Use a 2 way with a 3" fullrange with a slight horn mounting and 4 8" woofers cross bolted in the same sort of configuration.

[PeteMcK]

hmm... back to back bass drivers + fullrange, looks like what Planet10 has been advocating all along...

[planet10]

Originally posted by PeteMcK
hmm... back to back bass drivers + fullrange, looks like what Planet10 has been advocating all along...

Nothing really new for KEF either (except maybe the swoopy cabinet)... 10th generation KEF coax mid-tweeter, and the push-push woofers go back to one of the 104 refs (althou they have now taken then out of a phasey delay bandpass box.

dave

[vuki]

It's coaxial not fullrange.

[planet10]

Originally posted by vuki
It's coaxial not fullrange.

As i mentioned... for the diyer, the available FRs for midtweeter use are better then any of the coaxes. A good possiblity some of those better the unobtainium 10th gen KEF.

dave

[Salas]

The execution is advanced. Else, KEF has shown the principles before.
This one is a 21st century speaker indeed. Not for sale. Prestige element. They have been briefed their own Nautilus it seems.
Nice to see KEF claiming their innovation heritage and tech lead along with showing Muon. Never too late after they had been ripped off in the 70s-80s.

[vuki]

Originally posted by planet10


As i mentioned... for the diyer, the available FRs for midtweeter use are better then any of the coaxes. A good possiblity some of those better the unobtainium 10th gen KEF.

dave

Having some listening expirience with various fullrange drivers and being able to listen to KEF Blade, I think there is no fullrange driver able to match Blade's resolution at high SPL levels (and maybe not even at low SPLs).

[infinia]

Originally posted by vuki


Having some listening expirience with various fullrange drivers and being able to listen to KEF Blade, I think there is no fullrange driver able to match Blade's resolution at high SPL levels (and maybe not even at low SPLs).

Lucky... you actually were able to listen to a KEF blade. Must be a story there.

"as any designer will confirm, “what looks right,usually is.”
watch the video in the KEF link above ...the new "uniQ" coax driver with 3" VC looks pretty impressive indeed. Certainly high SPL is assured with that thing.

[infinia]

Originally posted by Salas
The execution is advanced. Else, KEF has shown the principles before.
This one is a 21st century speaker indeed. Not for sale. Prestige element. They have been briefed their own Nautilus it seems.
Nice to see KEF claiming their innovation heritage and tech lead along with showing Muon. Never too late after they had been ripped off in the 70s-80s.

Do you think this will be the new "flagship" for KEF? superceeding Muon and in the range sights of the B&W Nautilus?

What was ripped of from KEF?... they have had some high profile brand name designers come and go, both bringing ideas as well as taking maybe.

[Pallas]

Originally posted by planet10


As i mentioned... for the diyer, the available FRs for midtweeter use are better then any of the coaxes. A good possiblity some of those better the unobtainium 10th gen KEF.

dave

I'm not sure that's true. The B&C 8CX, for instance, is a really nice driver. Pricey, admittedly.

And for smaller drivers, the 3" Uni-Q in the cheap KEF eggs is really very impressive. Measures smoothly, well-ventilated basket makes it look like a scale-model TC Sounds TC2000, and often available cheaply.

And there are always Tannoy Dual Concentrics to be liberated from their nearfield monitor/midfield monitor/stage monitor cabinets...

That 3" vc Uni-Q on the Blade looks really cool. The extra vc diameter lets KEF develop a bigger "mouth" for the tweeter waveguide. I bet that's going to be in their next-generation of top-tier speakers. The rest of the speaker isn't that impressive. Don't much care for carbon fiber, and unless the woofers go up really high it seems that they'd be better served closer to the floor.