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Who's heard the Kii Three speakers?

B

Bluedroog

pfm Member
Their approach is pretty different, they look very advanced and although expensive a lot of speaker for the money given the components used. Out of my price range at the moment otherwise I'd be all over these. Getting great reception in pro audio circles too.

So who has heard them? Would love to hear your thoughts.
 
I spent an hour or so listening to them at a show. I thought they were pretty bad. Weird bass - kind of out of phase but not quite - unpleasant treble. And the bass is limited at higher listening levels. The hype is absurd. Not sure about their reception in pro audio circles - which studios do you know of use them?
 
Bluedroog said:
Their approach is pretty different, they look very advanced and although expensive a lot of speaker for the money given the components used. Out of my price range at the moment otherwise I'd be all over these. Getting great reception in pro audio circles too.

So who has heard them? Would love to hear your thoughts.
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Are you anywhere near London, we have the Kiis here, you can compare them directly to ATC, Grimm, Manger,PSI and some large horns.
Keith
 
im quite interested to hear them, if for no other reason than to see (hear) if all the Keith hype has a shred of truth to it.
Plus Keith is good company in person. His internet persona is quite different!
 
AndyU said:
I spent an hour or so listening to them at a show. I thought they were pretty bad. Weird bass - kind of out of phase but not quite - unpleasant treble. And the bass is limited at higher listening levels. The hype is absurd. Not sure about their reception in pro audio circles - which studios do you know of use them?
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I wonder if that was an issue with the way they were set-up, they seem to have quite a complex configuration.

I was reading a thread on the Gearslutz pro audio forum where they are getting a lot of praise.
 
Bluedroog said:
I wonder if that was an issue with the way they were set-up, they seem to have quite a complex configuration.

I was reading a thread on the Gearslutz pro audio forum where they are getting a lot of praise.
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Well.. here is a long thread on Gearslutz where much of the hype is debunked, and the usual spread of fanboys and sceptics. The high latency makes them unsuitable for much professional work, the low listening levels and bass limiting make them unsuitable for some of the rest, but I'm sure they have their place. It wouldn't be for listening to classical music though.
 
They have 'normal' and 'low ' latency options, we have sold them to composers who work with TV/film. I am not sure where the low listening levels come from because we have also sold them to recording and mastering studios.
The proof is in the listening of course , five minutes is all it takes .
Keith
 
I asked Tom at Kii the effect of selecting low latency rather than 'normal'.
Quote,
Hey Keith,

Has the customer heard the difference himself already? It is really not that obvious.

Low Latency Mode only disables the phase correction of the whole spectrum to minimum phase.

Everything else what´s so special about the Kii Three stays completely intact.
The whole cardioid dispersion pattern remains untouched, the frequency response and time alignement remains perfectly corrected etc etc.

Basically no analog studio monitor on the market (PMC, ATC, Geithain, you name it...) has their phase response corrected at all!
Meaning that the phase coherence of the normal mode on the Kii is something that was simply not available before in this application anywhere else.

Because of the wavelengths involved, especially if we talk 20Hz to 20kHz, a phase correction is
a) only achievable by clever DSP programming and
b) never without latency


So to recap: the Kii Three offers a preciseness in "normal mode", that is not available from any of the current studio monitors.
The transient detail and very clear depth of field at all volumes is achieved by having a completely even frequency response, perfectly time aligned drivers and perfect phase coherence.

The phase response in "low latency mode" is comparable to any other monitor this size or bigger with analog crossovers,
yet the frequency response, step response and controlled radiation pattern are still vastly superior.'

Keith
 
I'll be interested in your findings Mr blue, as the Opals despite some obvious limitations with dynamics and missing the last octave, with a sympathetic front end can be really very entertaining, so the Kii compared will be interesting.
 
As much as I have come to take much of what Purite's proprietor says with a massive, Eyris-sized chunk of salt, I have a hard time imagining that the Kii 3's aren't "up to the hype", they most likely are.

Fremer is highly skeptical of DSP-based, mini-monitor-turned-full-range, active systems and he was pretty wow'd by them, without mincing words. Bruno Putzeys is one of modern-day hi-fi's real gems and geniuses, and there are too many other positive reviews out there to be ignored. They also represent very fair value given what's inside them there boxes. I could care less if they're being used in recording studios, although I supposed it has merit in terms of the "style" of output they might have.

There are many, many pathways to great sound. Where I strongly differ from Keith is that I would venture the effect and performace of, say, a valve/horn system can have equally great merit and presentation and muscicality and just be very different to Kii 3's, as opposed to simply saying that "This is new and accurate and correct and that older gear is just plain wrong".

I'd like to hear these Kii 3's and as well the new Beloab 90's which I'm also quite confident have serious capability and performance.
 
Space is the Place said:
I'll be interested in your findings Mr blue, as the Opals despite some obvious limitations with dynamics and missing the last octave, with a sympathetic front end can be really very entertaining, so the Kii compared will be interesting.
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The killer point is are they enjoyable to listen to? I'm currently finding my ES14's more musical than my Opals. I've heard many systems over the years that impress and maybe technically superior but do little to stir the soul.
 
My main criteria for a speaker these days is for it to sound as natural as it can be without its own self noise, be fairly free from dynamic compression and be fairly full range with it.

The Horns Keith runs must be pretty damn good with the TAD drivers and all, the most convincing speakers i've heard are horns and the MBL's two completely different approaches, the question is does a small speaker like the Kii with normal dynamic drivers come close to the qualities of much more expensive exotica?

Its seems Bruno has the Giya speakers too looking at his home, and the Giyas seem to be a well regarded speaker, made with some excellent engineering, but by all accounts he prefers the Kiis compared to them.
 
JezmondTutu said:
The killer point is are they enjoyable to listen to? I'm currently finding my ES14's more musical than my Opals. I've heard many systems over the years that impress and maybe technically superior but do little to stir the soul.
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When i had mine they sounded best on the end of a tube preamp, with the dac strait in i wasn't keen at all, with the preamp and em' warmed up they were great for the money, not as tonally rich or a colourful as the JBLs or as dynamic as the NHTs but still enjoyable.
 
Space is the Place said:
When i had mine they sounded best on the end of a tube preamp, with the dac strait in i wasn't keen at all, with the preamp and em' warmed up they were great for the money, not as tonally rich or a colourful as the JBLs or as dynamic as the NHTs but still enjoyable.
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Yes have heard that before but I have two sources that seem to work beautifully without the need for a preamp, both are really special in my opinion. What dac were you using?
 
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