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FIRST TESTS SPEAKERSYSTEM

KEFE3O5Speakersystemg9OO

NewKEFeggsate a smooth reatOnceupona time KEFwould havehada

right moan about us referring to its dinky

satellite speakers s eggs',but for the new

E3O5 ackagehat nicknameseems o havebecomepreffy much official. It almost

makesuswant to come up with a new

moniker.There'll be time for that later,

though - right now it's time to put the E3O5

system hrough its paces.

The E3O5 asbeena ong ime coming.

It'spredecessor,he KHT30O5 ystem,

launchedway back n 2006 - so t's little

surprise hat this is quite atechnological

step-up rom ts predecessor.

The big news or KEF ans s the

inclusion of a brand-newUni-Q driver,

derived rom the one used n the

impressiveQ30O tandmount peakers.KEF ists no fewer han eight headline

featuresofthis new driver which. combined

with anew crossoverand ow diffraction,

anti-vibration cabinet nspiredby the

workdoneon the f20,000 Blade peakers,

performancerom he E305system,we'd

recommendusingyour home cinema amp's

auto-calibrationas he fust step, hen

manuallyadjustspeaker izeandcrossoverifnecessary.

SubWooferlacement lso akesa ittle

thought. There'sa switch undemeath with

threesettings; ut, lat andboost.Forus,

setting t to 'cut' andplacing he subclose

to a wall resultedn the bestbass

integration. Everyroom'sdifferent,so t's

worth experimentingwhen you get the

E3O5 ome,but we suspecthat will bethe most effective arrangement or themajorityof people.

Terrific integration

Get t right and bass ntegrationreally s amassive tren$h of the E305.True o KEF's

aim, the subwooferdissipatesbass nto the

entiresunound ield andblends n so

seamlesslyhat t's mpossible o hear

wherethe satellitesend and he subwoofer

@E

@g@il@@@trilEil

thesewerscenetomTheAmazing*

Spidermannd the running water fills every Tcornerof the room, henasSpidey's ever

web systembegins o vibrate to the tune of

dispersesound makes or a thoroughly

seamless, nveloping surround ield. PIay

hundreds flittle lizards. t doesso rom all

angles n a terrifically effective way.

This sn't somuch aboutpinpoint

placement feffectsas t is about he

speakersaking hemselves ut ofthe

equation soyou get fully immersed n

the surround soundtnck. And it works

an absolute reat.That's not to say

effectsaren't,um, effective- they are,

and voicesareprojectedclearly and

with real body and richness.t's ust

that overall immersion comes before

any individual elements.

An expansive urround ieldOfcourse,omparisonwith&W'sbrilliant MT-50 package is natural,

and it's striking how different the

approach is from the two seemingly

similar systems. The B&W's punch and

precisionhighlightsa slight reticence

from the I(EFs hat meansaction scenes

don t quite have he oomph and attack hat

is designedo make he satellites ound

sweeter han ever.

And wed be remiss f we didn't mention

that subtlestyling changes ave made he

wee speakersook far more contemporarily

stylish.The open-bottomed,ivotingbase

also makes hem very easy o wte up andposition,evenon awall.

A newsubwooferIt's actually the subwoofer hat's most

obviouslydifferent to before.The oldPolo-shapedesigl makesway or a

completely losed, ompact, ome-likeunit with a downward-firing18cmdriver.KEF'S im s that the subwoofer s audibly

invisible in the surround ield - but firstyou'vegot to set he systemup.

KEF'S tarter recommendation s thatyou simplyset he evels o OdB, et he

speakerso 'small'and he crossovero

9OHz.While that will geta certain evelof

begins.That'sobviously agreatdeal o do

with careful onal matching,but it's alsohelpedenormouslybytheagrle nd

tuneful nature of the subwoofer.

It seemsas hough KEFhas aken a

lesson rom heB&WMT-5O vstem

here,and boy has t paidoff,

especially hen t comeso music.

Playu23600At TheRose owl

and he bass inebounces long

with rhythrnic and onalprecision, ather han simply

boomingdisjointedly at the

bottom, as t canwhen playedthrough esser ystems.t's notgot the outright bassextension

of some,which meansmovie

explosionsaren absolutely

massive,but we'll take ntegration

and agility over hat any day.

Sticking o the hemeof

integration, he way the satellites

Systembuilder Totalbuild E394O

m*frm**fuVreceiver

SonySTRDNIO4O***** c50sOne f he opperformersnavery eenlyontestedector.Readhe eviewnp62.

Blu-ray player

SonyBDP-S5|OO***** f,r4{}

Great icturesndawesome

sound uality:hisSonysa

top budgetBlu-rayuy.

l4 lwvw.whathifi.com

7/28/2019 What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision Agosto 2013

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might hope for - when The Lizard

for example, it's with less force

gives you.

On the other hand the E305's surround

siglificantly more expansive and

in many ways it does a

job of transporting you to the sewers- and you know you've always

go there.

Another big plus point in favour of the

s that they're exceptionally easy o

The treble might lack a

gives the system

personality that will play

almost any electronics in

The B&Ws, on the other

pushed into brightness if

not just a ittle bit careful.

when playedniceand oudflaw in the E3O5, hough: it

be played at quite high volumes to

just a bit

you lose too much dynamism and punch,

make everyday listening a

flat experience. It's not that you

play them at ear-splitting volumes,

remembering that if you have

of waking slumbering

you're going to lose a fair bit of

your movies, music and games.

Thatwill be a bigger ssue or some

people han t will for others, nd somewillprefer he more attackinganddetailed

deliveryof the B&WMT-5O ystem, ut

there's o denying hat theKEFE305

packages a realcorker.Forspaciousness,

smoothness ndexpansivenesst's

unbeatable, nd t'll work n any system nd

any oom.And et'snot forget hat at E9O0

it's almost 200 cheaperhan he B&W.

Tempted? oucertainly houldbe.

TECHSPECS

SATELLITESensitivity 6db/w/mo

lmpedanceohms) . Power andling]OOW Dimensionshwd)F/R 6 x 14

l6cm.Centre: 6 22x15cm

SUBWOOFERower 5OW Driver20cmo

TypeSealed DriveUnitOrientation

DownwardsInputs r Dimensionshwd)

32x43x27cm

Rating*****FOR errificubwooferntegration;eamless

surroundield;lexible ithpartneringit

AGAINST acksheoutright ttack f some;losesmoact t ower olumes

VERDICT antasticallylexible,oom-filing

system t anaggressiverice

Indetail

KEF asn'tcrimpedn hespeakererminals:hese reproper eavy-dutyi-fi nits

can ither ewalfmountedlplacednstandss equked

The omeJikeompactubintegrateseautifullyith hesatellitesoran xpansiveound

willneed xperimentingith:the ut optionworked estfor s

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