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Who's heard the Kii Three speakers?

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

The issue with high low end distortion at medium and high listening levels can be seen in the review here.

You yourself posted a review here which referenced this and moreover said:

The trade-off for such a compact design is always going to be increased distortion / restricted SPL - the graphs in the review linked just above show that over about 90dBSPL things start to get hairy down low. Some people have flagged this as an absolute show-stopper, and they're right in as far as it's a potentially serious failing.

The reviewer was content to live with this limitation; many would not be. Claiming response down to 19Hz +/- 0.5dB at any decent listening level is just utter nonsense.
 
The conclusion from that review,
Quote,
The Three fulfills several long harboured wishes.The loudness reserve is more than ample, in spite of the compact design.The ability to adapt to the room’s acoustics and the enormous bass capability make many famous speakers including massive floorstanders look decidedly tired. Combine this abnormal transparency and effort- lessness and few eyes remain dry. The digitally produced bass cardiod and the DSP control aimed at maximum fidelity is nothing less than a stroke of genius. Why hasn’t anyone done this before?

I have quite a number of well respected loudspeaker designs here which anyone can compare directly with the Kiis.
I suppose it is difficult to accept the quoted specification until one hears it of course.

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.

We'll have them here at Strictly Stereo from the middle of December, if you would like to hear a pair. We're based in Haigh just outside Wigan. 10 minutes from M61 J6 or 15 minutes from M6 J26. If you are still in Cheshire though, I would be happy to bring them to you.
 
These speakers will never catch on imho.... For those of us audiophiles heavily invested in, emotionally attached to, and who 'enjoy' systems that produce not insignificant amounts of distortion!....The antithesis of a recording engineer who wants to hear his mixes, warts 'n' all.

I'd be interested to understand how the mid range driver is isolated from four bass drivers in such a small cabinet and at what point it all goes 'Pete Tong'? Probably way above sensible volume levels, but none the less. Is the mid range performance compromised by the proximity of the bass drivers any more than the average floor stander?
 
There is no compromise at all, we have the Kiis here alongside other very highly regarded loudspeakers, you just hear more through the Kiis, which is not to criticise the other traditional loudspeakers they just cannot do what the Kiis ( and Beolabs ) can.

Keith
 
I'd be interested to hear them sometime Keith and visit your pad. As before though hearing everything does not make a speaker musical - although of course we live in a hugely subjective world as hifi nerds.
 
Yes but there is no way to measure 'musical' , the whole ethos of the Kii is to play back exactly what is on the file, taking the worst excesses of your room out of the equation.
Place them anywhere and adjust , I can quite understand how the Kiis bass may seem 'odd' if you are not used to hearing music reproduced in a properly designed and treated studio.
Keith
 
Yes but there is no way to measure 'musical' , the whole ethos of the Kii is to play back exactly what is on the file, taking the worst excesses of your room out of the equation.
Place them anywhere and adjust , I can quite understand how the Kiis bass may seem 'odd' if you are not used to hearing music reproduced in a properly designed and treated studio.
Keith

If that's a dig at me Keith I can only point out that I have spent a lifetime listening to music being played in well designed concert halls, churches, basilica and opera houses.

Which "properly designed and treated studio" are you used to listening in? Surely not that room in your pictures with the huge glass bay window behind the speakers and the hard floor and the speakers sometimes almost touching the side walls?

Can we see some plots of the Kii Threes in that room .. love to see 19Hz - 20kHz +/- 0.5dB at 100dB.
 
Listening to music in a domestic environment is very different from a concert hall but I am sure you realise that.
The Kii THREEs are proving very popular with composers,recording and mastering engineers.
See Bob Macs wonderful review .
The strength of the Kiis design is that they can be placed anywhere, they are the future.
Keith
 
Listening to music in a domestic environment is very different from a concert hall but I am sure you realise that.
The Kii THREEs are proving very popular with composers,recording and mastering engineers.
See Bob Macs wonderful review .
The strength of the Kiis design is that they can be placed anywhere, they are the future.
Keith

Knowing what real instruments actually sound like is quite useful when judging certain kinds of fidelity in a hifi system, imho that is.

You say they can be placed anywhere. Ok, show us your measurements Keith. Show us your measurements of the Kiis in two different room positions - hard in a corner say, and well into the room - show us the response and distortion from the claimed 19Hz to 20kHz. Let's have the facts.

Which composers use the Kii Threes and which recordings have been mastered on them? Give us a list of studios using them. Let's have the facts.

Not everyone is prepared to listen as quietly as Bob Mac.

Last year the Grimms were the future weren't they?!
 

Seen it, linked to it above. The usual mixture of fanboys and sceptics. You can always cherrypick a good or a bad review from a forum.

I'm suggesting something potentially much more credible. That Keith publish his own measurements in his own room of these speakers so we can see whether they truly can be "put anywhere". How hard is that for someone who never ceases to lecture us about competence?
 
Seen it, linked to it above. The usual mixture of fanboys and sceptics. You can always cherrypick a good or a bad review from a forum.

I'm suggesting something potentially much more credible. That Keith publish his own measurements in his own room of these speakers so we can see whether they truly can be "put anywhere". How hard is that for someone who never ceases to lecture us about competence?
theres in the thread quite a few interesting impressions and comparison vs geithain rl901k, ect.


cardioid response is undoubtly much better for bass then ported or even sealed. its not debatable the advantage of cardioid response...im not sure why you need keith "proof"...
 
Seen it, linked to it above. The usual mixture of fanboys and sceptics. You can always cherrypick a good or a bad review from a forum.

I'm suggesting something potentially much more credible. That Keith publish his own measurements in his own room of these speakers so we can see whether they truly can be "put anywhere". How hard is that for someone who never ceases to lecture us about competence?

The Kiis have an almost infinitely adjustable output , so they can be placed tight into a corner against a wall or in free space.
Each speaker is individually adjustable so for example if your room open outs to the right, the right hand speakers output could be adjusted to create perfect symmetry.
The Kiis in room measurements are much better than any other speaker I have measured in this room, because of there off axis cancelling and cardioid response.
As you say reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt ,hearing loudspeakers in your own room is the real test.
Keith
 
Yes I could measure the ATCs say and the Kiis from the same position, pulling the ATCs into the room and adjusting the Kiis for free field.
The difference is obvious though without measurement , bass on the Kiis is incredibly taut.
Keith
 
Which composers use the Kii Threes and which recordings have been mastered on them? Give us a list of studios using them. Let's have the facts.

I don't see how something with latency could be used in a control room. Ok, 13ms is not a lot with all the digital stuff disabled (I assume it is far more if engaged), but it still means everything you track using them as the monitor is 13ms out of time with what you are trying to play along with, and by the time you've laid a few things down (e.g. record a bass line over the drums, then a guitar line, then a guitar overdub etc etc) it would likely start to sound pretty sloppy as you'd be playing against stuff you'd recorded with a delay and the effect would be cumulative.
 
Latency: normal mode = approx. 90ms / low latency mode = 1030us (1,03ms)
Low Latency Mode only disables the phase correction of the whole spectrum to minimum phase.
Keith
 


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