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Kef 104/2 Reference in the house!

canuckaudiog

canuckaudiog

On a quest for high fidelity
If you've been following my thread over in D&S, you might know that I just recently picked up a pair of Kef 104/2 Reference speakers.

I grabbed these for my wife actually, because on New Years eve we were listening to music for a good hour and she enjoyed it, and said she wanted to listen to music more. Her current set-up I've employed for her has a pair of Realistic Optimus T-120's, a Sansui 881, a Sony PS1 CD player and PS3 for sources. I figured, if she wants to listen to music properly, she should get herself a serious system. I think the 881 + the 104/2's will be fantastic - I'm listening to it now and I am really enjoying it! I think she'll be very pleased.

Anyway, of course what is a thread like this without pictures. I know how you guys are. :D I just applied some Restor-a-Finish so they do look a little "wet", and will tone down a bit as the Restor-a-Finish dries but you can see the overall condition - they look excellent.

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As far as listening impressions go, they are very nice speakers. Clear, dynamic, rich, classy, delicate and they have a relaxing pace to them that makes music just absolutely enjoyable. It's a great way to present music, there is nothing wrong with these at all that I can find so far. Midrange is nice and smooth, vocals come through sweet and clear, highs I find are nice and detailed with lots of air, and the bass is not boomy at all and sounds great. They don't have deep bass, but I think when I get the Kube for them that will be resolved.

On that note, I am also planning on getting a Kube for them. I found one locally and am just in the midst of working out a deal with it.

On another note, I will also be restoring these as much as possible, depending on what they need. I know the little donuts on the drivers inside the cabinets need to be replaced, but as far as the crossover goes I am not so sure about that. I do know the ferro-fluid in the tweeters should be resolved as well, I am going to look into that too.

Of course, if anyone here has any thoughts suggestions or ideas to add, feel free. I'm gonna be enjoying these for a while. :music:
 
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Very nice!

Now for a real test - assuming the woofer surrounds and donuts are in decent condition - how do they sound, at the same spl level, compared to the IMF's?

You may have to make some allowances for the relative heights of the speakers as that will change the imaging.

I think you might be surprised how well the KEF's sound in such a smaller cabinet.
 
mech986 said:
Very nice!

Now for a real test - assuming the woofer surrounds and donuts are in decent condition - how do they sound, at the same spl level, compared to the IMF's?

You may have to make some allowances for the relative heights of the speakers as that will change the imaging.

I think you might be surprised how well the KEF's sound in such a smaller cabinet.
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I haven't done a lot of comparing, but based on my first impressions and extensive listening of the IMF's so far the Kef's come pretty close. I agree with you that I am a bit surprised at just how detailed and lucid the Kef's sound in their much smaller cabinets. I think one thing that helps a great deal is the extended front baffle - it cleans up the midrange a lot. When I get home tonight I am going to put the Kef's in place of the IMF's, tilt them up slightly and give them a real work out. I will post some more impressions after I've done so.
 
Congratulations on the purchase of your KEFs. I purchased a pair of the 104/2 about a year ago. One of the favorite speakers I own. When I purchased my pair - I purchased without the Kube. Based on what I had read regarding the impact of Kube on the bass performance of these speakers - I went looking for one. For various reasons - I ended up with 2 Kubes!! For me and my setup - I run my KEFs with the Kube at all times. I'll be interested in your findings once you have the Kube to listen to the speakers with and without it.
 
Congrats! :thmbsp: I've always loved that particular model of KEF's. One day I hope to have a set to put in rotation.
 
cjmustang69 said:
Congratulations on the purchase of your KEFs. I purchased a pair of the 104/2 about a year ago. One of the favorite speakers I own. When I purchased my pair - I purchased without the Kube. Based on what I had read regarding the impact of Kube on the bass performance of these speakers - I went looking for one. For various reasons - I ended up with 2 Kubes!! For me and my setup - I run my KEFs with the Kube at all times. I'll be interested in your findings once you have the Kube to listen to the speakers with and without it.
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Well good news my friend, I struck a sweet deal with the guy locally. I now just have to arrange to pick it up.

More to come! This speaker deal is getting pretty exciting, I gotta say. :)
 
Excellent. I'm anxious to read your thoughts of the Kube after you have listened to your 104/2s with it in place.
 
cjmustang69 said:
Excellent. I'm anxious to read your thoughts of the Kube after you have listened to your 104/2s with it in place.
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I plan to give it at least an hour without the Kube, and then I am going to play the same songs with to give myself a good idea. I think I'll see if I can get the wife to listen as well, she has great ears (better than mine!).

I'll keep you posted for sure.
 
canuckaudiog said:
...
As far as listening impressions go, they are very nice speakers. Clear, dynamic, rich, classy, delicate and they have a relaxing pace to them that makes music just absolutely enjoyable.
Click to expand...

WOW! Those IMF's dwarf the 104's??? THAT is impressive! Never knew the RSPM's were that large!

Nice scroe Canuker... interesting to hear your take on them so far and look forward to a comparison to the IMF's! :thmbsp:
 
SimplySound said:
WOW! Those IMF's dwarf the 104's??? THAT is impressive! Never knew the RSPM's were that large!

Nice scroe Canuker... interesting to hear your take on them so far and look forward to a comparison to the IMF's! :thmbsp:
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Oh yeah, the IMF's are absolute monsters. 42" tall, 20" wide, 19" deep, they ain't shy that's for sure. The Kef's look 'cute' next to them :D

I just got the speakers tilted back slightly and I switched to using the spikes, it made an improvement for sure. A bit cleaner sounding. I'm going to give them a good listening session tonight, but I am already gathering a good idea of the differences between the two.
 
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These days I'm giving my KEF 104/2 speakers the edge in preference over my IMF TLS80. Can't put my finger on it..... just ....something.... I like better with the KEFs. (Even though they won't dig down as low as the IMFs)

I'll be curious to hear what you say about the Kube as from what I read it's not a universally loved device. The usual complaint is that it does enhance the bass, but at the expense of overall clarity. Some say the addition of a subwoofer is a better way to go.
 
Ohighway said:
These days I'm giving my KEF 104/2 speakers the edge in preference over my IMF TLS80. Can't put my finger on it..... just ....something.... I like better with the KEFs. (Even though they won't dig down as low as the IMFs)

I'll be curious to hear what you say about the Kube as from what I read it's not a universally loved device. The usual complaint is that it does enhance the bass, but at the expense of overall clarity. Some say the addition of a subwoofer is a better way to go.
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I'm honestly not too surprised. If I had my IMF 80's in here, I'd take these Kef's over the IMF's. The 80's just don't have the same emotional drive these Kef's do - they pull you into the music better. Clarity, depth and imaging is similar between the two except of course for the bass reproduction. It depends on what you listen to as well, although many types of music benefit from having flat response past 55hz.

Astonishing how similar the IMF's and the Kef are for sonic character though, huh?

Now between the RSPM and the 104/2.. well.. that's a different story.. :) I think I am going to wait for the Kube and restore these beauties before I completely make up my mind, but so far, the RSPM's are taking the lead by a decent amount.
 
Congratulations on some of the prettiest speakers ever. The IMFs have some Kef drivers, no? In brief exposures to both I preferred the IMFs but I thought both were excellent speakers, and I think the Kefs are just all class.
 
JohnVF said:
Congratulations on some of the prettiest speakers ever. The IMFs have some Kef drivers, no? In brief exposures to both I preferred the IMFs but I thought both were excellent speakers, and I think the Kefs are just all class.
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Do you recall which IMF's you listened to?

IMF does indeed use Kef drivers in their higher end models - the Kef B139 SP1044 bass woofer and Kef B110 SP1003 midrange woofer. They use Celestion drivers for the tweeters.

The 104/2 uses an updated pair of Kef B200's, as well as an updated pair of Kef B110's and a T33 tweeter. So they are fairly similar - apparently the B200 and B110 are improvements over the originals. They certainly have similar characteristics, that's for sure. They are actually more similar than I thought - you would almost think one was a Kef speaker, or the other was an IMF.
 
Nice you have two speakers on my short list in the same room. I bet either of them sound fantastic. If i end up finding either pair locally i will be buying them to try out.

Also what do you think of the imf super compact speakers? I have been thinking about trying those out as well as they are more shipable.
 
nissan guy said:
Nice you have two speakers on my short list in the same room. I bet either of them sound fantastic. If i end up finding either pair locally i will be buying them to try out.

Also what do you think of the imf super compact speakers? I have been thinking about trying those out as well as they are more shipable.
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If you lived close I'd say come over for a listen :)

I definitely understand why they're on your short list though. They're both very good speakers. They both do slightly different things but overall have a high class sound.

As for the super compacts, I actually haven't listened to the compact models from IMF. I might be getting a set soon, but it will be a while before I can truly listen to it (caps, and I believe the set needs a new tweeter). However they are said to be fantastic. They use the same drivers as the IMF TLS 50 II, but in a much smaller compact cabinet and are 3 way instead of 4 way. I imagine they would be great monitors - they'd have all the great qualities IMF are known for, but without the transmission line bass. Hook up a sub and have at it I say :thmbsp:
 
RSPM mkIV's are great speakers. they are SPL-limited due to the fragile super-tweeter and limited excursion on the bass driver, but within their capabilities, they do a lot of things right. new caps make a big difference but it's a difficult job, and they do sound pretty nice stock.
 
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