I have been trying to nail down what it is I do not like about the Kef Q100. I think I have figured it out.
They do poorly with heavy distortion metal( maybe even electronica ). Not all of it but some of it. It will show all format differences.
While i think some of it is just format. I have been testing and tinkering with them for awhile and I believe this to hold true. So ? You death metal heads… these might not be the best choice.
When purchased at 250 , these speakers hit above the belt. Caveat is that… it is not for all kinds of music from what I can tell.
I have pair of Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 coming to test against verses my full tower monsters.
Also depends what amp/recever but the world of hifi is personal choice. Iv never been a fan of KEF tbh a good all-round speaker which is my personal choice is Tannoy at every price point they always sound great but benefit from a lively amp
over the years i have gotten into building my own enclosures and whatnot… basically designing them from the ground up… they arent the prettiest but my ears truely do enjoy some of the pieces i claim as self named masterpiecies in my own eeyes as true ear candy…
i started when i was in my teens with low voltage and worked my way up to where i am now… parts express has a lot of components to build speakers… crossovers, speakers, ports, you name it over the last few years i have only purchased 1 new prefabbed set of speakers and they are pretty descent they are for our home entertainment system… they are a set of emotiva’s and do what i need to do in the home theater they sound dern good as well at least to me
I tested this idea out with other speakers … Polk Monitor 40 2 series which does not suffer from this issue but does suffer on every other front when compared the q 100. I bringing in the Elacs for another control test.
The receiver is nothing special. Harman Kardon. No eq. Just a straight basic 5.1 receiver.
So I have tested this against My new Elacs and my polks… Let me explain.
With heavy distortion use in some music the Kefs do strange things in reproduction.
Brings elements of the music to far forward and recesses other elements. While this does not happen with every song with heavy distortion, it is enough to ocd on when it happens.
I am keeping my Kefs and love them but here is the weakness.
I have been struggling a bit to quantify this issue but believe that my position on this can be reproduced and tested .
Excellent speaker… if you can grab them on sale and can even say that they are worth their normal market value. If you are into certain music types some caution is in order. For everything else… try a pair.
The Elac Debut 2.0 6.2’s do make an okay home theater.
Music wise… they are okay but there are much better speakers in the price range.
I base this off of the fact the I paid 250 for the my Kefs and 250 for the Elacs. It is always the use case. I would take the Kefs Q100’s over these any day for music but the Elacs do better in Home theater in my opinion.
