KEF R7 Speaker Review: Best Kept Secret in Home Theater?

Full review of the KEF R7 speakers. This video answers what the KEF R7 speakers sound like, to whom they should appeal to, are they audiophile worthy and are they worth the price?

[@dan-qe1tb]

The newer Meta was already out at the time. Guttenberg had done a review on it a year ago.

[@jameschrisdavis]

great review, worth going for the meta version or picking these up since they are marked down so much?

[@jamiejohnson5507]

Those ones at Best Buy that were marked down $1,300 each is no doubt the better way to go. If the Meta's are better is subjective. But $2,600 in savings is hard to beat.

[@jameschrisdavis]

@@jamiejohnson5507 Thanks for the reply!

[@alanprice9938]

I really like what I’m hearing about these speakers and want to upgrade on my focal 906 speakers as they’re too bright. Currently running them from a Denon AVC X3700H. They’re crisp, and have enough power to fill my 30ft wide and 17ft deep room, but in spite of the large furniture, the walls, floor and ceiling are flat solid tile and concrete, so the brightness is quite tiring, and the focals miss some of the mid richness, like on the soaring high bass notes at the end of Thunderclap Newmans “something in the air”, and they fully miss some of the lowest bass notes at the beginning of Pink Floyd’s Echoes, which even some of my cheaper earlier speakers seemed to portray much better. I wonder if switching for the KEF r7 meta will fill the gaps.

[@jamiejohnson5507]

That is a pretty big space you have. I think for what you describe, the r7 could work nicely. I’ve only briefly demoed them, but the r11s might be a little better for your needs because of the size of the room. Neither of those speakers have subwoofer type bass, so don’t expect that from them. I’m wondering however if your room isn’t the biggest problem because of the size and materials of the room. Even an amazing speaker won’t sound great in a bad room. Hard to say if your room has a lot of challenges until you hear it.

[@alanprice9938]

@@jamiejohnson5507 many thanks for your response. I’m sure you are right about the room, my previous listening room had textured ceilings and supple wooden floors, so the comparisons might not be fair.

[@user-bq8rq8cv4g]

​@jamiejohnson5507 - In your opinion, would a Naim Supernait 3 integrated amplifier pair well with Kef Reference 3 Floor Standing speakers?

[@mullinsjd1975]

I have a 16x22x10 with open floor plan kitchen off to the side which is about the same size. Would they be able to play at reference level. I am about 14/13 feet away listening position.

[@jamiejohnson5507]

Every room has its nuisances when it comes to sound. Flooring materials, items in the rooms, items on the walls, etc. would all come into play to affect the listening position. Do you have room correction capabilities? If so, it can go a long way to help fix a lot of audio problems.

[@mullinsjd1975]

@@jamiejohnson5507 I have room Dirac. My question is can get 85 db with peaks up to 95 safely (with damaging those speakers) from 14 feet away in a room my size.

[@douglasgaither1346]

Nice Review. These are certainly gorgeous speakers.

[@douglasgaither1346]

The narration was kind of overshadowed by the background music. Perhaps EQ'ing the narration to make it a bit more crisp would help. I enjoyed the review.

[@redkh2017]

I think that soundstage is influenced a lot more from their positioning and the room in which they are positioned than the speaker themselves. I have an atmos 5.1.4 system and when listetning to only 2 speakers my sound comes from behind the speakers when listening to jazz, classic, or rock music no matter what speakers I have tries in the room (when positioned correctly). Listening to pop music, sounds come from the entire room as if I have an infinitive number of speakers. My recent experience was with klipsch rp 6000f speakers and the experience was so immursive. Even using my 2 desktop speakers which are pretty cheap, the soundstage is deep and layered it all depends on their position on my desk. I think that the main difference between speakers is their tonality and even that can be conpensated by using a dsp with eoom correction

[@jamiejohnson5507]

I would agree with you that the room and the speaker placement can make all the difference. $10,000 speakers in a bad room with bad placement will never have sound great. But proper placement in a good room with sound treatment, along with some high quality speakers and then doing A/B testing with some cheap , "inferior" speakers will give you a very different listening experience as well. Sometimes a big difference. Not that great speakers cost more. There are some great speakers that are inexpensive. But often you get what you pay for. So like you said, the room and placement is probably 60% of the sounds quality and the remaining part are the speakers themselves.

[@redkh2017]

@@jamiejohnson5507 I would say that with dsp and eq which is used by a lot of audiophiles today, the speakers's infkuence is even less than 40%

[@jamiejohnson5507]

@@redkh2017 you may be right. When you bring eq in it adds another variable. Really depends on the room and the speakers on how much.

[@vaksilvaksil9939]

Very nice review, how are they preform in low level listening volume like 60 db. Do you think the naim supernait 3 can drive them properly.

[@jamiejohnson5507]

Thanks. They do better than most at lower volumes. In particular if you use a pretty good amp with them.

[@tantran2711]

How is r7 vs r700? Do I need an expensive receiver to run these?

[@jamiejohnson5507]

I have not reviewed the Polk r700 yet, but I’ve heard great things about them. The R7s like some power to get everything out of them. For two channel running 105watts per channel it was enough, but when playing Dolby Atmos music through through the same 7.2.4 AVR the speakers where struggling some at higher volumes. Adding a 180watt power amp that is all channels driven and the speakers where happy again playing Atmos music.

[@tantran2711]

@@jamiejohnson5507 I was referring to Kef R700. I found a local deal for $1000 for the pair vs. $2000 if I order R7 from Kef itself. Too bad I miss the deal on the R3 because R3 meta release because I live in an apartment. Do you have experience with either?

[@TomCreasy]

@@jamiejohnson5507I think he was referring to the previous model to these, the Kef R700’s

[@davidelmquist8670]

Muddy speaker sound and backgroundmusic too high.

[@zookinthe6ix461]

How do the r 700 compare to say the q950 or klipschs rf 8000 line ?

[@jamiejohnson5507]

I haven’t heard either of those speakers, but have heard good things about the q950. I’m told the sound profile is a bit different, with the R7s being a bit more refined with a bit more detail.