I just wanted to provide a quick update to my demo of the KEF Blade Two.
I have heard the speakers and also read Atkinson's review in the current edition of Stereophile. I found his review very confused and contradictory.
I agree with him about the excellent sound stage and imaging as well as the extremely clear mids and highs. But sometimes he found the bass to be a bit too much and other times it was tuneful and accurate. Which is it, John?? When I heard the speakers there was some mid/upper bass bloom but this aspect of the sound has been dealt with by the dealer with a bit of "tuning". The lower end he sometimes complained about I found very appealing. These speakers are very sensitive to set up and upstream components. Atkinson did mention different results when he changed amps. Get the set up right and they are magic! Get it wrong and you get results like Atkinson got and others have reported after hearing Blades and Blade Two's at some shows.
I say this because the Blade Two's I heard had been carefully set up by Theatermax and tweaked by KEF. I am quite sure after reading what Atkinson did to set up his speakers that he failed to take the steps taken by my dealer, because the results didn't match up with what my ears heard.
What I heard, and will confirm with another demo session, was outstanding imaging and soundstage.Only when the speakers were really cranked did the highs start to get a bit harsher than I would like. I attribute that to the speakers having only 100 hours on them. I am told by the dealer that when the same music I heard is played through the speakers now the volume needs to be cranked up way higher before any harshness is heard. I hope that change continues as the speakers break in more and Theatermax learns more about how to tweak the system to obtain even better results. KEF has engineered the aluminum tweeters to avoid audible distortion up to about 40khz, several times as high as I can hear!
I have been at this hobby way too long to be swayed by a reviewer after I have heard the product for myself. I trust my ears.
The other speakers I am considering are the Magico S3 and S5. The S3 is sweet but has no real low end; the S5 does! Both speakers companies are engineering driven and I like the idea that the Blades are a result of a no holds barred $1,000,000 investment over 5 years by youthful engineers. Magic has some fine engineering as well but every speaker has some compromises.
Reviews are not always reliable. For example, the highly regarded Magico Q7 was one of the the most awesome speakers around but when the Q7MkII came out we all discovered that the new speakers solved problems with the originals such as ringing in that beryllium tweeter. They never said that when just the original Q7 was reviewed but the same ringing had to be there!!!
The moral of the story is that you need to listen for yourself, with your own ears and not trust some reviewer writing for a publication that survives on advertising.
Atkinson criticized the speaker for overdoing bass in a few instances. One aspect I was surprised at with the Blade Two was the solidity of the bass on some very low notes from a couple cuts such as Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" and Pete Belasco's "Deeper" was so deep and defined, shaking and vibrating things in the demo room while the Blade Two itself remained totally vibration free. When you combine that with a fluid and smooth mid range and high end enveloped in a broad and deep soundstage, these speakers sound like a bargain when measured against some of the more expensive competition. Like other great speakers, with the right recording, (some provided by KEF were capable of transporting you to a different place) the vocals and instruments can seem to just be suspended in mid air totally detached from the speaker itself.
Just for the record, other speakers I demoed included the Revel Salon Utra II, B&W 802D, Dynaudio C2, Rockport Atria, Raidho S3 and s speaker made by a German company named Kaiser (these were simply awesome but the pair I wanted would cost $60k).
If you happen to live anywhere near central NJ, it seems this is where the 1st demo pair of Blade Two's are available for a serious demo session. Take advantage and at least give a listen; you might be as surprised as I was.
I am going to demo both the Magico and KEF one more time. I don't think I can lose with either choice. There is a obviously a $7,000 list price difference between the Blade Two and S5 but I am first choosing the speaker I like best, then seeking the best deal on the speaker I prefer.
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