All the same, the iQ30s were quite obviously clear and detailed, apparently fast with transients and had clean, tuneful bass that was far from heavy. As I noted with the B&W 685 review our Sugden A21a amplifier exacerbated the effect the iQ30s need a softer delivery from a Naim Nait or NAD C315BEE perhaps. This made listening to old, less clean recordings quite difficult at times as they could sound harsh. So with the Eagles 'Somebody' both 'shoulder' and 'icy' had a lacerative sibilant edge and the balance was too tilted toward highs, even though I was listening far off axis. The new tweeter remains both hard and intrusive, robbing brass of its characteristic sonority and this both dominated and diminished the timbral resolution of the iQ30s. However, the new treble unit sounds steely even well off-axis and this brought and obvious 'schhh' to cymbals on Duffy's Warwick Avenue, on both CD and LP. Spinning Gerry Rafferty's The Ark underlined good midband clarity, a trace of boxiness heard as small 'boof' issuing from the port and well balanced bass. They sound less expansive, but more dense and solid in image quality, and very strongly focussed. The iQ30s image in the plane of the loudspeakers, and between them. Listening to the KEF iQ30s after the B&W 685s showed that although apparently similar they are different as chalk and cheese. Offering a claimed 89dB from one nominal watt, even a 40 Watt amplifier will sound loud with this loudspeaker. However, the iQ30 is even more sensitive so will sound louder in an A/B demo. This may well be to match the 685s on-axis sound. Helping disperse treble is a Tangerine waveguide, but measurement showed the iQ30 still sounds smoothest off-axis, and a little bright on-axis. This arrangement gives even dispersion and both focused and consistent imaging, regardless of listener position. KEF fit a 165mm cone version of their unique Uni-Q drive unit, where the tweeter fires from the centre of the bass unit cone. Measuring 386mm high and 220mm wide it is of similar dimensions to the B&W, occupying the same market slot, that of a small loudspeaker with a big sound. P art of KEF's new iQ range, the 6.7kg iQ30 is described as a shelf mounter, but at 327mm deep (13in) it barely fits a 12in shelf like B&W's 685 it really needs stands.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |