KEF Uni-Q's

PioneerGuy75

Certified Lurker
I have a pair of these (Q50 towers), and I think they sound pretty good. From what I have been reading lately, these are more of a hot mess than a success.

Why?

Like I say they do sound pretty good to me.

:scratch2::smoke:
 
I owned the q55's briefly and that taught me to stay away from the uni-q line. Pretty disappointing sounding speakers coming from a well respected name I thought.
 
I have the Q35 that i bought new but in a short time went back to my mission 770mk 2 as to me they sound much better than the uniQ. The Q35 are still in storege.
 
The general consensus is that most early UniQ models had some serious flaws. Raymond Cooke passed away and the company changed hands, putting Kef in a different direction. It's taken quite a few years, but Kef finally has a hold on their UniQ technology and has been producing very good speakers for the past few years. Their newest swath of UniQ product is exceptionally good - most notably the Blade and the LS50, but I would not hunt for the early UniQ designs - I find their best gear is the most recent, and the gear from the inception of the company up until about 1990, the last being, in my opinion, the 107/2.
 
I have the C55's with Uni-Q. And find them rather bland and boxy sounding. Would be cool to here some of those models you guys are talking about.
 
So what is horrible about these...Bad drivers, cabinet design or materials etc?

Can they be improved? :scratch2:
 
If they sound good to you that's all that really matters. I'm sure they could be made to sound better but is it really worth the effort if you're dissatisfied? In my case I found the best way to make them sound better was to move on to something else.
 
Some people like Pepsi, some people like Coke. I've got a pair of KEF Reference 1's built in 1991. Superb speakers. If you like them, don't bother what anyone says. I also have a pair of Bose 901's and quite like them also.
 
Just picked up some kef q3 speakers and they sound pretty good - they have a excellent soundstage
 
I've had Q65's for a number of years. Yes, they are indeed laid back and not a good speaker for partys.
 
Some people like Pepsi, some people like Coke. I've got a pair of KEF Reference 1's built in 1991. Superb speakers. If you like them, don't bother what anyone says. I also have a pair of Bose 901's and quite like them also.


I have some Reference 3 and they are excellent.
 
I had a pair of q5 i think, there was a 6" uniq and a 6" woofer and found they stacked up against the competitors at that price. I will say they sounded better connected to my main system than my $400. jvc surround receiver. I thought the 3/4" tweeter blended well.
 
I had a pair of Q55's. I thought they did about 70% very well. Rolled off at the top and didn't go super deep. The in between was very nice sounding and they did disappear.

Tweeters are vary frail and like to fry their VC's.
 
I have a pair of iQ70's for my bedroom setup. They sound pretty darn good driven by a pair of MC30s. Nice soundstage & imaging and not the least bit harsh. Are they the best? Nope. Are they nice? Yup.
 
I have a pair of KEF Reference Ones that are using the UniQ mid and tweeter from a Q10 and I think they sound superb. They are very well balanced, not boxy, with the familial KEF midrange presence and a rolled off high end. Blind test against my 104/2 without the KUBE and anyone would be hard pressed to hear a difference. To my ears, it's the perfect sound.
 
I had a pair of Q55's. I thought they did about 70% very well. Rolled off at the top and didn't go super deep. The in between was very nice sounding and they did disappear.

Tweeters are vary frail and like to fry their VC's.

so true, i own some q50 uni-q... both tweeters are blown, I got them free with a amp and the previous owner said he has already replaced them once
 
Kef uniq speakers require system matching like all speakers but I find the ceiling of kef's to be higher that other brands at the same price point if everything else in the chain is singing. about blown tweeters, I find too little power blows them before too much. a 100 wpc AVR will smoke tweeters before a 200wpc seperate amp will.
 
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