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  #1  
Old 10-23-2016, 05:45 AM
jplinville's Avatar
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Location: Dayton, Ohio region
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KEF speakers

In my basement shop, I have a multi-speaker stereo system that has been missing a few speakers for the past couple of years. My son has been using a receiver of mine in his room, and has been borrowing my KEF K160 and K140 speakers, leaving me with the pair of K120 speakers, and some older 6X9 used car speakers mounted in boxes. Don't laugh...it was working. Anyway, he decided to buy his own speakers, especially after the surround on one of the used car speakers decided to let go, and I told him I needed a pair of my speakers back.

After about a week of searching, he found a pair of well cared for KEF Q55 speakers for the nice price of $125. The guy that had them is a hobbyist that buys used speakers, refurbishes them with proper electronics or repairs the surrounds and resells them for a small profit. These speakers originally sold between 1997 and 2000 for $800+ per pair. We went yesterday morning and checked them out. He had replaced the surrounds on one woofer, and cleaned the cabinets. The cloth had one or two threads that were less than perfect, but otherwise, the speakers were in great shape. I had gone with the intention of talking him down until I saw his shop, and the quality of his work. That's when I decided that for likely the first time in my adult life, I was going to approve of the asking price.

We got them home, and hooked them up to my son's Pioneer VSX-522-K. Never has this receiver sounded so clear since it came into the house. I promptly played Sufjan Stevens - The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! and was able to pick up subtle sounds of guitar squeaks that I hadn't known existed in the recording before. I then streamed Gary Lightbody - Chasing Cars, the acoustic version, and picked up more of the gems in his playing style. The music came alive through those speakers. These speakers have such a great sound, and do a wonderful job of recreating the sound to the ears. Bass isn't overwhelming at all, and the highs are super crisp.

I'm jealous...the sound quality blow away my pair of Cerwin Vega D7 that I use for music only. To my ear, I thought these were the best, then my son bought those.

Anyway, I get one pair of K-series speakers back in my basement later this morning.

Now he has the job of finding the right speaker for his center channel to match the side speakers. Unless he buys used, like most of mine are, he won't be able to afford one for a number of years...the closest timber matched speaker from KEF is in the $600 range...for one speaker.

I"m considering a low level search for good used pair of KEFs for the living room now. The K series that I have don't have the ability to throw the highs the way I like, so they won't replace the Cerwin Vega VE series I have in the livingroom for daily use. But, wow...those Q55s sound amazing.

Anyone here have KEF speakers? If not, what do you guys use and prefer?

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  #2  
Old 10-23-2016, 10:20 AM
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Check out: https://www.audiogon.com

if you know what you are looking for you can also search across craig's list with google advanced search.

for example go to google.com and type the following:

KEF K160 site:craigslist.org

I’m a fan of Magnepan and Martin Logan loudspeakers. Both of these brands require some pretty powerful amps, not that that's hard to get these days. Anywho, there are many different ways to produce high quality sound.
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  #3  
Old 10-24-2016, 02:33 PM
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Magnepan.

Though one of mine is starting to buzz, so a rebuild is definitely in my future.
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  #4  
Old 10-24-2016, 06:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by iwrock View Post
Magnepan.

Though one of mine is starting to buzz, so a rebuild is definitely in my future.
Which model Maggies? The rebuild shouldn't be too hard for someone like you.
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  #5  
Old 10-25-2016, 12:05 PM
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My spouse bought a used Magnepan center channel a few years ago which she found on Audiogon. She sent it to the manufacturer in MN because it was a different color than our other Maggies. They checked the speaker for working properly (it did), put a different color on it and sent it back for a nominal charge.

As Kuan suggested, they will also send parts.
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  #6  
Old 10-25-2016, 04:09 PM
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We found a KEF Q95C, used, at a local shop. It's more than I would have paid, but it sounds really nice with the Q55 RF and LF speakers.
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1987 560SL
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Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
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  #7  
Old 10-26-2016, 12:47 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuan View Post
Which model Maggies? The rebuild shouldn't be too hard for someone like you.
SMGs... (I've also got a pair of MMGs, but those are in unknown condition) The time involved is what's really deterring me from rebuilding them myself. From what I've seen/read it's not a difficult process at all, just very time consuming... Life has me busy - I've hit the point where it's worth the money to farm stuff out to have it repaired vs me spending time to fix it. I barely have enough free time to hang out with my friends. (ask SirNik84 )

Quote:
Originally Posted by link View Post
My spouse bought a used Magnepan center channel a few years ago which she found on Audiogon. She sent it to the manufacturer in MN because it was a different color than our other Maggies. They checked the speaker for working properly (it did), put a different color on it and sent it back for a nominal charge.

As Kuan suggested, they will also send parts.
Have any idea what they charged you? I'm shopping around to have mine rebuilt.
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91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.
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  #8  
Old 10-26-2016, 12:35 PM
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Quote:
Anyone here have KEF speakers?
After your post I read some reviews about the KEF speakers and they rated very highly by the reviewers. I’ve been looking at something to replace the bookshelf speakers in my shop so they will become candidates. That is, if I ever recover from buying another car.

Quote:
Have any idea what they charged you? I'm shopping around to have mine rebuilt.
I don’t recall the cost to repair the center channel as my spouse did the project. But you can call Magnepan directly in MN and they’ll give you a good idea. The main problem would be shipping for the speaker(s) due to the size. I’d bet that Magnepan would send shipping boxes. They seem to put effort into customer service.
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  #9  
Old 10-26-2016, 04:40 PM
jplinville's Avatar
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Quote:
Originally Posted by link View Post
After your post I read some reviews about the KEF speakers and they rated very highly by the reviewers. I’ve been looking at something to replace the bookshelf speakers in my shop so they will become candidates. That is, if I ever recover from buying another car.
For my basement shop, I have the KEF K-series speakers. While they have come out with others that sound better, these reproduce sound quite nicely. I found mine rather inexpensively at garage sales. You may have the same luck.
__________________
1987 560SL
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Meet on the level, leave on the square. Great words to live by

Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should soon want bread. - Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
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  #10  
Old 10-26-2016, 04:57 PM
Banned
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Texafornia
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Quote:
Originally Posted by link View Post
Check out: https://www.audiogon.com

if you know what you are looking for you can also search across craig's list with google advanced search.

for example go to google.com and type the following:

KEF K160 site:craigslist.org

I’m a fan of Magnepan and Martin Logan loudspeakers. Both of these brands require some pretty powerful amps, not that that's hard to get these days. Anywho, there are many different ways to produce high quality sound.
google craigslist advanced search

so does this work with rat rod parts too !! grinny emogi

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