Lets fix the Kef Q100!

[@iskato914six]

would be cool to have New Record Day (and other reviewers) review every single refreshed speaker in a head to head comparison to get their feedback on these. very nicely done :)

[@crazymetallian]

the problem is that if you try to make every speaker linear and neutral, then every speaker will almost sound equal, expect for some construction, engineer properties such as centre immage and soundstage... i think this process is nice to convert a decent pair of speakers into studio monitors

[@NakeanWickliff]

@@crazymetallian nothing could be further from the truth! Easy way to test it! Take two speakers you have and run audio through mini dsp for perfect Harman room curve! I promise you the speakers will NOT sound the same.

[@mathyoooo2]

​@@crazymetallian you're completely ignoring the temporal aspect (transients, decay, ringing) of the sound and distortion as well. You can't really fix that with filters

[@crazymetallian]

" expect for some construction, engineer properties such as centre immage and soundstage" also almost all studio monitors are really mediocre, they do not need to be "high end" in price and characteristics to be studio monitors

[@haldous2]

I second a request to hear before and after sound on upgraded speakers. I've got some Q100's and would love to hear what they sound like after an upgrade. I think I've gotten used to the boominess of them, and really dig their sound.

[@revivehificanada]

I also dig the sound of the unmodified Q100. They don't sound very boomy to me. I own many many speakers and these kefs are fantastic for 12 inch tall speakers.

[@DrGIzmoBRad]

Another solid engineering upgrade for this KEF example. Danny's pragmatic measurement approach eliminates subjective opinion in what's going on with the speaker. What's unique is his insight in creating solutions via crossover design. I've a set of his original Paradox 1's with the series network upgrade, and his LGK 1.0 single driver speakers. Both superb examples of good drivers made excellent with properly designed x-over / contour networks. Danny also knows when a speaker is beyond upgrade potential, by suggesting more palatable options. You'll find this honesty nowhere else in the industry. He knows of what he speaks, so pull the trigger if an upgrade kit applies to you.

[@MichelLinschoten]

Hilarious, bying a kef then upgrade it to a better speaker. Just buy a full range speaker that suits your needs, you guys crack me up with that “deep insightful “ baloney. “Such a awesome speaker” two nanoseconds later “totally modding it” 😂

[@hoth2112]

Another great video on the books! I wish I knew even 1/2 of what you do, but hey that's why you're here! Keep making the awesome videos, Danny!

[@Newrecordday2013]

Good job amigo!

[@StewartMarkley]

Very good job on this video and the fixing.

[@KirkLazurus]

LOVE these videos.

[@dragosthule]

Keep up the great videos Danny! These upgrade videos are awesome. One thing I have learned is a little DIY in audio goes a LONG ways. I would never have thought to upgrade the speaker's i have, if not for your video's. I look forward to one day building one of your kits =)

[@tomkoetting5954]

I, too, would be interested in a Q300 mod

[@RodrigoKoser]

me too

[@jdiggadydog]

Wish you would have played a sound clip of the results. Very educational.

[@tutnallman]

How refreshingly clear is this review of the KEF.

[@fingersportler]

Hi, nice videos. I have got the Q700, Q600c and the Q800ds since they were new on the market. I was quiet happy with them. But after some years and getting more and more into the hifi world, I noticed more and more the issues of these speakers. Resonance of the cabinet or resolution loss because of the simple first order network. But still after more than 10 years these Uni-Q driver are a nice piece of engineering. Would be really nice to upgrade my old speakers to put them on the level they should play. Best Regards from Germany

[@kartickgrover]

Thanks for such great videos!!

[@KarelSmout]

I highly respect the job! Someone at Kef apparently had the same results, because the newer Q150 got rid of this port-setup, and of the bi-wiring posts as well. But I wonder if the Q100 are worth the hassle and the money. $275 is serious money to throw on speakers that were under $500 a pair in the first place.

[@freakybeats2]

Karel Smouter Agreed. These mods look good but I just purchased a pair of these for 200 AUD and a further 400 AUD for upgrade is money better spent on new speakers or an amp maybe? I'm curious what the upgraded ones sound like though!

[@pedrofmc0000]

The KEF Q 300 has the same port forward... and of the bi-wiring posts as well too.

[@gamecockspalmetto]

I threw $800 in crossovers in a $1700 pair of Polk Rti-A9s. Took them to an entire different level. Those same speakers are now $899 I believe. Had to sell them as I took on a new wife and life. Now I’m back to a hobby I love and I’m building Danny’s X-Statiks.

[@adamlee007]

Lov my q100s. Still learning audio. Lov kefs

[@kevinroosa1315]

I wonder if one of those JBL-style "Acoustic Resistance Shell" (fiberglass pads around the back of the woofer) would help attenuate some of that energy making its way into the enclosure.

[@rickc661]

Fun. totally different > I ' upgraded' my somewhat similar KEF Q350..... by purchasing a piece of 1 ft x 8 ft oak veneer with pre glue back... fit both speakers with 3 inch left over. perfect. looks real good, question being - how long will the veneer stick to the uglllee vinyl ?

[@jay12345ist]

I'd like to see hope they turned out. Have you posted pictures anywhere?

[@User_not_found_403]

I owned 4 sets of Q100s (now just 2 pairs). They did include port plugs and they are wicked budget speakers. I think I'll get the kit just for kicks to see much better they get. I don't understand all the analysis but appreciate your knowledge and approach and we'll see if it bears fruit :)

[@Lerch-zc3ww]

Did you do the upgrade?

[@gordthor5351]

No wonder I prefer port plugs in all my Kef speakers. I typically plug the ports in all my speakers because when I pull out the plugs the bass sounds like it is in slow motion.

[@Cartier_specialist]

That's interesting I didn't know the Kef q100 was broken.

[@kennethz3366]

With your new crossover, does it have more warmth or fuller body to the sound? Can you describe the sound difference? Thanks

[@Noshow.4880]

So much information thank you for these videos!

[@nesertema4583]

mine KEFs (q300) came with foam plugs included. never tried them, though...

[@dannyrichie9743]

Give them a try.

[@naqqashsharif5561]

Q100s came with plugs too. I use mine and they give the speakers more clarity and definition.

[@NiSHAN256]

Dat off axis response, ohh.

[@xedasxedas]

Its the UniQ concentric driver with the tweeter at the center of the woofer. They have been tweeking (or milking) it for 30 years.

[@rartolak]

Ive been looking for such a channel on crossovers. Mmm subbed!

[@stevecook2137]

It would be nice if I could get your website to work in the UK as I can't find it

[@ebkesq72]

Any thought to fixing the KEF LS50? I know others have done so but it would be great to see your take. I’ve been a fan of yours since the Onix x-ls.

[@gen-X-trader]

I demoed the speaker when I was looking for something to put on my desk and watching your video gives me a visual of what I heard. That 2db hump might sound small in practice but what you get is a speaker that's not bad but then a certain sound comes across it and it just seems shrilly. I was guessing it was in the 1-2khz range since EQ in that down helped but your frequency response shows it being a little lower. My own personal preference is for a speaker to actually drop in that range a couple DB so this totally explains why I didn't really like the sound, also not a hundred percent sure I like the way that cone material resonates. It doesn't really have the more natural sound of paper or poly or even a good Kevlar. After returning them and getting my 299 back I found a used pair of B&W 601 S3 in mint condition for the same price that to my ears are much more pleasing

[@vicg5323]

Thats awesome. Do you have a kit for the elac debut 6.2?

[@MrPoots12]

Vic G he does, he has another video on them. Good for you.

[@tehJ0hnnyK]

How would these compare to the xls Encores?

[@royrodriguez4779]

Good stuff!! Love your videos!

[@bernardchesneau3091]

The steeper slopes of the new design most likely means more delay at crossover frequency but is the relative delay between driver improved nonetheless in the newer design or is something that you do not focus on when improving other people's designs? When I work on my own loudspeakers, if for example I have a tweeter forward of the midrange, I will use a filter slope that will delay the tweeter of course but I will be careful of using a low pass filter on the midrange driver that will minimise adding additional delay on the midrange and if I need a steeper rolloff I will use elliptical filter topology to keep delay down on the mid. The listening experience seems to favour less delay. What do you think?

[@dannyrichie9743]

Time arrival always has to be considered. In this case they maintain really good time alignment while also fixing other issues. And the performance from the difference in parts quality is huge.

[@dwormon8525]

What's your take on ribbon tweeters. ??

[@peterrabbitwarren]

Hi Danny, I like your videos. I have a question about impedence. I don't know exactly what it is but I thought it was a little like resistence where the higher the number the harder it is to push power through it . ie higher impedence less volume for the given amplification. Sometimes I hear things said which indicates its the opposite of this. Can you explain this? You seem to know all about this stuff. Cheers from Australia.

[@dannyrichie9743]

You can think of higher impedance as higher resistance. And it is true that the amp will not deliver as much power into a higher impedance load. But that is not harder in the amp. It is actually demanding less current. As impedance gets really low it places a much higher current demand on the amp that it might not like. Really low impedances can be seen as close to a dead short. And that will fry and amp in some cases.

[@giovannibianchi2315]

It seems that the modified box works more like a closed-box (see the impedance curve)

[@MrPoots12]

Hey Danny I’m wanting to upgrade my Kef Q100’s. Would upgrading my Q100’s be better than upgrading a pair of the Sony SSCS5’s? Thanks for any help you can give. Great channel. I’m gonna post in the Sony video too in hopes to reach you and get others options. Thank you sir.

[@naqqashsharif5561]

The q100s come with foam port plugs. I play mine with those ports plugged. Sounds cleaner. I love my Qs.

[@chiquito003]

Hi. I've just discovered your videos and I think they are cool. Could you suggest upgrades that could be done to my Wharfedale Reva 3?

[@dannyrichie9743]

Not without having one of them here to evaluate.

[@chiquito003]

Thanks for your reply.

[@robertm8518]

Any plans to look into improving the Buchardt S400 speakers?

[@carlitomelon4610]

Wow, they used a cajon for a cabinet :-D The KEF LS50 cab is very inert by contrast. I'm glad they put the port to the rear too, since you can hear mid-range output from the port when standing behind the speaker. Very interesting mod for those who love to tweak. Subscribed :-)

[@ericjohnson829]

The specs say the nominal impedance on these is 8 ohms ?

[@jvesik]

Ya, nominal. Drops down to 4 in the lower frequencies. Good to have a high current amp.

[@machoheadgames8854]

Danny's measurements of factory speakers often show severe response and impedance problems that are not seen in other measurements of the same speaker. Why is that?

[@yogiwp_]

Bought these for $299 new, and have been using them sealed from the start. $275 upgrade does not make a lot of sense tbh.

[@dannyrichie9743]

So a budget level performance for $300 is okay, but stepping up to a MUCH higher level of performance for $575 doesn't make sense?

[@jonathanharris185]

Makes sense to me

[@JJ-ow9ev]

Is this the same tweeter as the q500

[@badoorama]

What about the KEF LS50? That would be cool....:)

[@jked7463]

Try cutting an angle into the port. That way the low frequency length will be the same but the high frequency resonance will change. That way you will still get the lows out of the port.

[@jked7463]

Mitering an angle

[@jked7463]

Mitering a bend into the port is what I meant

[@jonathanginofilippi]

Got to dynamat the port itself?? Also: in my experience , use no fill from woofer to port, or it will ruin sound. Just foam the walls on a ported box.

[@MrBeblis]

If tube connectors are more superior to binding posts why even companies like Wilson audio or Avalon etc .. use regular binding posts, their speakers cost 30k or more in some instances. Also would love to see a teardown of a Wilson audio to see what they use.thank you.

[@cbocker]

Danny, What are your thoughts on using passive radiators vs. tuned ports in speaker design - are they better or worse? I had a pair of speakers with a smaller driver (6-8 inch) coupled with a larger passive radiator and it had surprising bass without sounding boomy. Thinking about constructing a set with PRs, but are they more trouble than they are worth?

[@joesshows6793]

Just got a pair of these…interesting

[@edjackson4389]

Hey, I have started a habit of wrapping a 1" thick 1" wide piece of foam around the port about 1/4" from the port entrance on the inside of the box (kinda like putting a scarf around it's neck) and it always seems to make the bass a little better. Have you ever tried this? If so what's your opinion? Is it just my imagination that it helps?

[@ChicagoRob2]

It’s amazing how Danny can come in and fix what the big shot engineers couldn’t.

[@leroy7647]

I'll probably get downvoted, but considering the upgrade is pricier than the speaker itself, it's not strange that the big shots couldn't get it to be any better than what it is. I'm no fan of modern KEF speakers, but that's subjective. What is objective is that this is an entry-level speakers, which comes with entry-level quality.

[@TysonHook-22-]

@@leroy7647 Yeah not to mention the new Q series improved on some of the original Q's flaws... though theres some other aspects the originals got better... It a fine game to play when crafting high performance budget speakers. The fact is that KEF LS50s have been going down in price as well over the past few years (nearly a decade old speaker design now) one would be much better off to shell out the extra $ to upgrade to the LS50s then modding out there KEF Q100s for nearly $300. Though people like to customize any and everything, so im sure this has appeal to some people out there but to me the cost to benefit just isn't there. but it was interesting to hear the solutions Danny came up with. For those that fully committed to an entire Q series home theatre and dont want to replace everythiing, I suppose this could be a fisable upgrade path for them to get the most out of there existing speaker setup in both longevity and performance... though im no engineer/speaker experts I imagine each speaker in the Q series line would need slighlty different mods to fully optimize there performance... so again I can't see the real cost benefit but i'm sure there are those that do under giving circumstances. This could certainly be a reasonable upgrade to those that pick up the Q100s off the used market for an extremely cheap price then one might be able to afford the upgrade mods and still be getting an amazing bang for buck meaning like under or just over current KEF Q150 retail prices, otherwise imo your better off just buying the newer Q series speakers or moving up the KEF line... The older the KEF Q series becomes I'm sure mods to them will become more and more prevalent, but for many of us original owners (even if you scored them on the amazing out going discounted prices) I just can''t see the cost benefit here, compared to upgrading within or even outside of the KEFs speaker line. and I'll finish by saying I appreaciate that they're engineer type folks out there that offer easy upgrade solution to us audio nuts that want them, certainly can't knock them for that at all as I would'nt know how to mod my Q100s if I wanted to without the aid of such folks... but lets keep things in perspective theres always gonna be cut corners when it comes to making budget friendly audio equipment... claiming Danny does things KEF engineers and R&D could never accomplish is simply absurd and thats not to say that he doesn't do amazing work. For ex. just like Adam Jone's (former KEF employee) and Elac... the debut series is marvious and extremely high value for its cost and was a ground breaking speaker design upon its release but as we've seen with the evolution of Elacs products as the performance specs go up so does the product cost. its a difficult task to make exceptional audio equipment and budget friendly price points.

[@mdd47]

The speakers are being engineered to a price point. It's not that the designers *couldn't* fix them, it's that they were constrained by budget.

[@hom2fu]

Da Crossover is 10 Dollars. they also cheap of much to fill the inside. the more to reduce resonance.

[@arongatt]

Hopefully someone will send the Kef Q300 , I would upgrade mine in a heartbeat

[@luisrodriguez8639]

I would put a RLC in series with the tweeter to supress a bit that 6.5 khz peak because that will make the speaker sound too metalic

[@Pirxel]

Strange, I have that pair and I tried a lot of A/B ing between plugged and unplugged and they just sound a bit congested, not to mention the reduced low end (since I have no sub that's bad for me). I really tried, but just couldn't make that tweak work on my system.

[@RobertKohut]

Nice!!

[@home_lab]

Hello! Why don’t you show graphs of the phase response, because this is no less important than the frequency response? Thank you!

[@matt88169]

Wow great video. Clearly the quasi-anechoic measurements are similar before and after so the question is really if the move from a 6 dB slope to a 12 dB slope improves on the sound quality in a meaningful and audible way? What happens to the THD? Do they play a little louder than stock (e.g. max SPL before significant distortion?) In my own measurements I can seen the 700 hz or so "bump" and also the port spikes in the 1 khz region. But stuffing the ports kills the bass, which reaches down to 50 hz or so in-room and adds to the fun of these. If you added an in-room average response or a ground plane measurement we could see the effect on the bass. Keep up the great work.

[@dannyrichie9743]

The change it slope will have little to do with how it sounds. The higher order slope does keep the tweeter a little further away from its resonance frequency (slight bonus). There is nothing changing that effects THD. Unless there is a problem THD really has nothing to do with how the speaker sounds. Those numbers are typically below the noise floor of the room. Nothing about the upgrade changes how loud you can play them. The bump in the 700Hz region being down will really help and the upgraded quality of the parts, wire, and the addition of tube connectors is an improvement across the board that is pretty significant. There is where the big gains are.

[@ChicagoRob2]

@@dannyrichie9743 What about phase?

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@ChicagoRob2 Acoustic or electric?

[@ChicagoRob2]

@@dannyrichie9743 Acoustic

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@ChicagoRob2 Check the 11:18 mark. They are very much in phase.

[@mdocod]

Simply replacing components in a crossover with higher "quality" parts is not a guaranteed upgrade. If the original designer took into account the higher resistance inductors and non-linear characteristics of the electrolytic caps and iron cores, then simply swapping the components to nicer versions of the same "value" components may actually change the response profile and minimum impedance of the design. Whether it's an improvement afterwards depends.

[@rikardekvall3433]

You haven’t heard what better parts do to a speaker? Water is water, wine is wine and coke is coke, no difference between brands?

[@cliffordcostley9798]

Did you do something to your sound?

[@dannyrichie9743]

It's a new camera.

[@pedrofmc0000]

Hi, I've just bought these speakers and the specs document says these ones work with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms. Am I missing anything?

[@dannyrichie9743]

The impedance does drop to 4 ohms.

[@pedrofmc0000]

My speakers work, nominally, to 8 ohms (2 KEF Q100 and 3 Mission M70) and to 6 ohms 2 speakers Dynavoice. Then should I set the impedance to 6 ohms? My receiver doesn't allow to set less or 8 or 6 ohms. I don't understand a lot about these subjects. What I've noticed is the KEF Q100 seems to like a little more of power to sound good. I don't have that problem with the other speakers. Anyway, I'm happy with them.

[@naibafabdulkobor4301]

@@pedrofmc0000 - If your receiver offers different settings for loudspeakers of different impedance and 6 ohms is the lowest setting, then set it to 6 ohms. KEF makes some of the most refined speakers on this planet, but for reasons I don't get they simply do *not* give the nominal impedance of their products correctly. This is definitely a 4 ohms speaker, as much as about everything in their current product range.

[@pedrofmc0000]

@@naibafabdulkobor4301 It sounds really weird KEF does that... Can't understand why. No problem with failures or too hot?

[@naibafabdulkobor4301]

@@pedrofmc0000 - I have no good explanation. Some 20-30 years ago, the typical discussion was if a good power amp had to be stable (and beefy) into 2 ohms load. Looks like this has shifted quite a bit and even some quality brands won't specify their amp's power output in to loads lower than 6 ohms. This might have been partly driven by the fact that early designs of Class D amps had a hard time driving "low" loads. Personally, I wouldn't even consider an amp that cannot drive 4 ohms speakers. So, maybe KEF gives these false numbers to pretend some level of "compatibility". They probably get away with it easily. Most people buying inexpensive speakers (like the Q100) will not play loud enough to exploit the problem. Those buying more costly speakers will usually also buy costlier amps that don't suffer from this problem. And here comes LS50: Still cheap enough to attract many budget audiophiles, but their budget audiophile amps often couldn't handle the 4 ohm dip in the most power hungry band around 150Hz.

[@rosssmith8481]

What is no res? Does it have a proper name?

[@mdd47]

The Q300 was much, much better but I bet it would really benefit from a few tweaks like this.

[@kolinstallman3788]

The Q100 comes with foam to block the ports. The fix cost more the then speaker is worth so that kind of sucks. They must not of been able to get around the port issue because the updated q150 is enclosed.

[@dilbyjones]

Using straws in the port ?

[@dannyrichie9743]

That might work.

[@carlitomelon4610]

My old ProAc Tablettes used this method ;-)

[@matytinman]

Images with measurements and new crossover proposed by Zvu: www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/kef-q100-speaker-review.11987/post-352885

[@kdomster9141]

Nice work as always ! I never understood why speakers manufacturers did not sell apeakers with say upgraded package of better parts in crossover along with more precise cross over design. People would pay extra 300usd a pair for such improved version .

[@AWSimDrifter]

Because that costs more money and on a budget speaker it's expected to cut costs to meet that price point. If someone wants a speaker with better parts, then buy the higher end models.

[@kdomster9141]

@@AWSimDrifter People would pay 699usd per pair for upgrated version of the 499usd per pair speakers .... it would have to use upgrated quality parts

[@AWSimDrifter]

@@kdomster9141 You don't get what I mean. My point is that buy buying a higher model in the first place, it's expected that it has higher quality parts than it's budget counterpart, thus eliminating the need to perform an upgrade kit.

[@kdomster9141]

@@AWSimDrifter Every model across the line could include crossover upgraded version. So improvement would not undercut any model in each line...

[@davep2945]

No, K, they wouldn't. You might be willing to do so but most people see more value in going another model higher or with a different brand if they aren't getting what they want. Most want the finished version at a predetermined price point. If they see an option to "upgrade" they don't see it as an upgrade they see it as a rip off. They generally think, why don't you just build them that way in the first place and give me a discount because you were buying those parts in bulk. And most who were happy with the speakers in their base form wouldn't see any need to change anything. Besides, with speakers like this there's simply not enough refinement in the driver or substance in the cabinet to allow an upgrade to make anywhere near the difference simply using the higher quality driver and cabinet that the same $300 buys you in the next model up.

[@nickreecy4229]

Awesome. I modded this speaker a few months ago. Wish I would have seen this, first!

[@MrPoots12]

Nick Reecy what exactly did you do and what was the outcome? I have these as well and I really want to make them better. Close to calling GR and ordering this package.

[@db029936]

Ridiculous to spend so much for minor change.

[@widespot_]

Isn't the KEF 100 a 8 ohm speaker? Presenter says it's 4.

[@dannyrichie9743]

The impedance curve showed 4 ohms.

[@TysonHook-22-]

KEF speakers tend to dip below 4ohms at certain points of operation . generally its not that big of an issue with a mid - high tier AVR but you can experience clipping issues and what not running KEFs on lower tier AVRs that aren't supplying enough power... This was my personal experience with my KEF Q100s and going from a budget Denon to a mid tier Denon. The LS50s are notorious for being power hungry and the KEF Q series and other KEF speakers all share the same general sentiment among audio enthusiast. which is, that you wanna feed KEF speakers with as much clean power as you possibly can (afford) for the additional headroom it will give your speakers during those few odd 4ohm dips that KEF speakers experience under certain loads.

[@tee-jaythestereo-bargainph2120]

Yes their 4 ohms just like the polk LSIM 703s and elacs new speaker that drops mostly down to 4ohms companys lie to you to have you think their speakers are easy to drive , but call out the Engeener he will tell you the truth ! Andrew Jones admitted the new Elac Bookshelf speaker is basically 4 ohms Danny being real !

[@AWSimDrifter]

The information in this video is welcomed and it's really interesting. You seem to have a lot of knowledge and I respect how genuine you are, but I'm struggling to understand why anyone would spend so much upgrading a budget speaker. The target market for this speaker is for someone who is interested in audio, but doesn't want to break the bank. I'm pretty sure if the people buying this speaker had a spare £275 then they wouldn't have bought this speaker in the first place and instead would have bought the Q300 or possibly even the Q500. Maybe even a different manufacturer altogether. I guess what I'm saying is that I don't see the point of upgrading such a budget speaker. For the cost of upgrading it, you might as well just sell it and spend that £275 on the highest model that budget will allow you to get. I can only see the value in this when the cost of upgrading the unit is far cheaper than buying the next model up. For example, I have the KEF Q900's and to upgrade to something with the same meat and weight but higher quality, I'd be looking at something like the KEF R7's, Dali Opticon 8's or the Arendal Sound 1723 Tower S - all of which cost a considerable amount more than what I paid for the Q900's and over double the amount of the resell value of the Q900's. Now if you told me I could get 80-90% of the performance of any of those speakers I mentioned by buying a £300 upgrade kit from you, I'd be all ears. Unfortunately it'd be technically impossible for me since I'm in the UK but theoretically it'd be perfect and IMO this is the type of market you should be aiming for with these upgrade kits.

[@davep2945]

Ro, there is no reason to modify this speaker as there's simply not enough to gain no matter the changes made to it. Now, to be fair, some folks just like to tinker and have the money to spend doing so. To me that's fine. Where I find fault is with the idea that this is a "fix" or and upgrade. It's neither of those things. Instead it's merely changing the speaker to meet the preferred measurements of Mr. Richie. Will it sound different? No doubt about it. Will that difference make it more pleasing to some? Of course. But it will also ruin the sound for others. Most, however, wouldn't care enough one way or the other. What I wonder is why all the Danny fanboys don't just buy his kits and build their own speakers that were designed using the drivers, crossovers and cabinets that the man himself prescribed. Seriously, an X-LS Encore kit is only $249 a pair. A pair of X-Static floor standers are only $399 a pair, minus cabinets. An AV-2 kit would come in around $660 for the pair. So it would be far less expensive for most to just buy the kit and enjoy. But that's not really what they want. Most of these guys just want to see what happens when something is changed and they want to see what happens on someone else's dime. Frequency response graphs and waterfall charts don't tell you much about how any speaker will sound in your room and with your equipment. But they're fun to look at and imagine great things.

[@dannyrichie9743]

Pop those models open and you'll see the same budget level parts. You'd have to upgrade those as well to get them up to the performance level of this one with mods.

[@AWSimDrifter]

@@dannyrichie9743 I'm sorry, but I don't buy into that statement at all. "same budget level parts" - Everything is made to hit a budget, even your products (I'm assuming you're the guy in the video judging by the comment above who mentioned you by name). You even said yourself that you're trying to keep the cost down as low as you can so you can't even claim to be using the highest quality parts. Now I'm not saying the parts you're using aren't good quality, I'm just saying it's not the cream of the crop. Now let's take the Arendal Sound 1723 Tower S. These cost £2500 for the pair and AS decided to use HDF and not MDF for their box material and even went so far as to Rhodium plate the speaker binding posts, which is more than you're using in your upgrade kit. Now I'm not saying that Rhodium plating the binding posts makes a difference in sound quality, I'm just using it to enforce the fact that the craftsmanship that goes into a product at that price point is quite high and it's pretty obvious that they care about what goes into their products. At £2500 I'm pretty sure they can spare £275 of that for the internal components to at least match the quality of your upgrade kit or better it. In fact you can read what they used here: imgur.com/JgjrUub But that's just the first issue I take with your statement. The second issue is your last statement. So I have a pair of Dali Sensor 1's in a small system in another part of the room and a couple of weeks ago I decided to try them out in my setup in replacement from my Q900's to see how much of a difference is between them. What I found was you can definitely tell a difference in tweeter design and had a different style of sound to them, but the biggest difference was in the soundstage and authority - or lack of. The Dali's with their single 5.25inch driver just sounded thin and anaemic, there was no weight to the sound which closed a lot of the soundstage. Now the Q900's aren't perfect, but each time I plugged them back in and retested with the same song everything opened up like an asthmatic with an inhaler. Listening to live performances felt like it was happening in front of you whereas on the Dali's you could tell it was coming from a speaker. Now the reason I'm saying this is because the Q100's use a single 5.25inch driver, the same size as the Dali's and I don't care what's in your upgrade kit, you can't beat physics. There's only so much a small cabinet design and a single 5.25inch woofer can do regardless of the internal components. With your upgrade kit, will the Q100 have a flatter frequency response? Very possibly. But will it actually *sound* better than something that's 4 times of the size of it? I very much doubt it. Believing that with a couple of small upgrades a small cabinet speaker with a single 5.25inch driver will sound better than a speaker with 4 active 6.5inch drivers and a waveguide tweeter (or in the case of the Dali Opticon 8's it would be 3 active 8inch drivers and a ribbon tweeter) is ludicrous.

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@AWSimDrifter With all due respect, I know what I am talking about. Let's take the speaker that you referenced, the Arendal Sound 1723 Tower S. If you do a little scrolling then you can see the crossover used in them here:arendalsound.com/1723-s-thx-series/1723-tower-s-thx/ It uses some cheap budget level parts that include small iron core inductors and sand caste resistors. We offer higher quality components than that in every kit we offer, even the kits that start at $229 a pair. They are even using PCV jacketed wire. We won't use that with anything. And Rhodium plating doesn't improve signal transfer. They are still using binding posts, and those still fall below the clarity achieved by using tube connectors. And pop open those Q900's or the Dali's and you'll also see those same cheesy parts. And I am not saying that the Q100 is going to sound bigger than the larger floor standing version. But with our upgrades it will sound better within the range it plays and by a significant margin. And there is no question about it.

[@tee-jaythestereo-bargainph2120]

Are you serous ! I love my kef q-100 i video reviewed them also, they like a warm rich amp lol guess your going to redo all my speakers lol !!!

[@dannyrichie9743]

Maybe then you should give one of the upgrades a try and review them again.

[@tee-jaythestereo-bargainph2120]

@@dannyrichie9743 alright, I ll take you up on the Q-100 😆 upgrade , I know those speakers like the back of my hand (Nearfield)( price point) Thanks Danny appricate you putting in the hardwork for us Audio-Nuts 😆

[@dj_fuma]

Just wante to point out, the KEF Q100 is an 8 ohm speaker, not 4 ohms.

[@matytinman]

Dutch & Dutch 8C vs KEF Q100 (measured by Zvu at 40º-50º-60º). Same scale. [IMG, link] www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?attachments/dutch-dutch-8c-vs-kef-q100-horizontal-png.54870/

[@ZYZZXX]

KEF what happened to this company? They used to be a contender.

[@OldPoi77]

hmmm bi-wire = BUY wire, its a well known scam in the marketing and makes 0% audible difference.

[@dakken74]

Measurements aren't everything. If I cover the tweeter on my speakers with my hand they measure almost completely flat but sound terrible.

[@dannyrichie9743]

You are correct. But fixing problem areas and and improving the quality of the parts used accounts for big improvements.

[@dakken74]

@@dannyrichie9743 is it really a problem area if it only shows up in measurements but can't be physically heard?

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@dakken74 If a humped up area shows up in the measurements that same humped up area will easily be heard. Hearing it with a microphone and hearing it with your ears are both acoustic events.

[@dakken74]

@@dannyrichie9743 sounds logical.

[@tuantrd]

Save $ 300 buy another pairs put it real close to yours ears than you hears everything 😜

[@markphilpot4981]

KEF has not been the same since they sold out to another company. I don’t recall the year, but their quality went to hell in a hand basket after that sell out. They have tried to change that in some of their newer Reference line speakers, but after that sell out, they are just another company that makes speakers. What a shame!

[@samhalsey5051]

Hi Danny! I just ordered the Elac Debut 2.0 B62 (Brand new for $215 “scratch and dent”regular price is $379:-). Was wondering if you could please do one of those soon. I’d love to know if there’s anything I could do to upgrade them latter. Or are they too low budget to bother? Thanks again really love you’re stuff and great new channel!

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@samhalsey5051 Send it over.

[@dilbyjones]

@@dannyrichie9743 I'm going to try to take him my B 6.2 this weekend. From my initial assumptions this would be a great Candidate for his upgrades

[@dilbyjones]

I still have some questions about best way to Solder what type to use... Ect.

[@markphilpot4981]

Texan Range, there are differing opinions on this subject. The best solder I’ve ever used and use now is Kester 282 which is an RMA, rosin mildly activated, flux cored solder. It is a 63%tin and 37%lead solder which is a pure eutectic solder meaning it is either liquid or solid. This is the best solder to learn with or use in production. The extra flux I use is a liquid RMA flux and it is Kester 186 liquid flux, an RMA flux. These two products are a perfect match by brand and chemically because they are brand matched. There are three other brands that I have used and they are AIM, Alpha Metals and Multicore. Opinions vary on this, but my experience is extensive and you can go with any of these brands as long as you use a pure eutectic, 63%tin 37%lead, solder with an RMA, rosin mildly activated, flux core and an RMA extra flux, ideally brand matched. This will give you consistent, repeatable, reliable results with the highest quality. If you want to do any soldering, you want to make things easy on you and great results. You can’t go wrong with any of these solders and fluxes as long as your skills are up to it. They are the best so get at it guy! You can do it!🤠🙌🏻

[@briansimmons5363]

I am not a fan of negative selling. I understand this is what your goal is to sell your products but so much negativity on stock speakers is just too much to take for so many people have invested in this. Less negativity and more emphasis improvements would be welcomed. Don't make people feel bad about their choices but how one can approve what they have and how one takes it to another level, what to expect etc.

[@oskjan1]

I didn't hear negativity. He was neutral, told it as it is and offered a remedy. Is he supposed to censor truth?

[@briansimmons5363]

@@oskjan1 Nope let's go the truth. But its even in the title: "Let's fix the Q100". Perhaps, "Let's make the Q100 even better" would be better and not so negative. He is always saying cheap components, on/off axis a mess, frequency dips/peaks/holes all over the place which maybe true. It's more they way he says it, the words chosen and his facial expression and head shaking of disgust.

[@davep2945]

@@oskjan1 Yes, Danny definitely tells things as he sees them. And he is adamant about what he believes to be the best way to design crossovers and speakers in general. He wants to see certain things in his response graphs and you can see in every video he's done like this he strives for the same basic response. Now, his ideas aren't bad ideas. But they are his opinions. And while many people will agree that his finished product does indeed sound better, many will prefer the original sound of the speaker. After all, why would they have bought the thing in the first place if they thought it sounded bad? Unfortunately, Danny he does offer his opinion as fact and that runs into the negative selling side of Mr. Simmons assertion. If he were merely addressing a single clients complaints then he could say he "fixed" the issue his client was having with his speaker. But when one comes out and say he's going to "fix" a speaker then that suggests there is an inherent and objective problem. But there's not. The only issue is the difference in the way KEF designed the speaker and the way Danny thinks it should have been done. While there will be audible differences in the two versions, the original frequency response graphs and the altered speakers response are not dramatically different and his version still has the hump from 6 to 800 hertz that he criticized in the original speaker as something you don't want. But the truth is other than for sh*ts and giggles changing a speakers crossovers when the drivers and cabinet are at such a low level anyway is never going to gain you enough improvement to warrant the money spent. You'd be better off to go a model up or with a different brand if you're not getting what you want.

[@oskjan1]

I get what you mean. Sometimes an "imperfect" response highlight a certain strength of the speaker or gives a vibe that was intentional. A speaker can also be ear tuned, and the resulting objective respons doesn't matter at that point. With regards to "After all, why would they have bought the thing in the first place if they thought it sounded bad?": we all learn and develop our ears over time. What first sounded perfect can later come across as tainted - the bar has been raised. To be fair, this is the first video by him that I've seen. There might be a subtle but persistent negative narrative across his videos, which I'm not aware of.

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@briansimmons5363 I did not pick the title. And I do tend to tell it like it is. When it's good, I say it's good, and when it's bad, I say it's bad. Two weeks ago I praised one for being good: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y3S6h6uQftdoqpo

[@ssleddens]

Seems like this guy is wasting his life fixing cheap speakers.

[@toby9999]

It's not a waste if he enjoys doing it.

[@janinapalmer8368]

I don't like those Kef drivers .. too fragile and are more suited to sealed box designs

[@tokobjork]

Sorry to say but your image quality sucks! Looks like a blurry mess... You should up your game here. Content is great, but the image quality... not really fun at all to watch on big screen...

[@dannyrichie9743]

Must be an issue on your end. These are recorded in high def and the file sizes are huge. And it looks crystal clean on our monitors.

[@tokobjork]

@@dannyrichie9743 Thanks for response. :) During playback it shows 1080p. But the image quality does not seems to be that good either (my preference is 4k). Perhaps fotage is out of focus? I know KZbin recoding gives a quality decrease... but not to this extent usually. I don't recall this was any issue when you uploaded your content trough "New Record Day".

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@tokobjork There must be a problem somewhere in the playback chain. It looks great here even blown up to full screen.

[@jakes3139]

@@dannyrichie9743 video quality is great on my S9+

[@jakes3139]

@@tokobjork What country are you from? I believe KZbin is reducing video playback quality in some parts of the world.