Still THE $299 Speaker to buy?! KEF Q150 Bookshelf Loudspeaker Review! 

The JBL Studio 530 are on sale at The Harman Store for $240/pair with Free Shipping. Not the prettiest speakers, but they do a heck of a lot right for that price ✌️

@@MrChristopherMolloy Yep, if you like that "live / Forward" listening experience, they are fantastic speakers. ESPECIALLY for the price!

The reasons I've been informed the Q150's are on a big sale is to liquidate inventory - all revised KEF speakers are going to employ the "Meta" material being utilized on their flagship model. Available on both Crutchfield and Amazon now for $300.00.

@@Audiomainia2310 - Yep. I'm not sure when the new line is coming out though. They've been very hush hush about it. Still, I'd say it's clear to ALL of us that something will be released soon.

@@ZeroFidelity Do you mind mentioning the "linear or flat (neutral?)" speakers that come to mind at or below $1000? BR-03? 3020i? Which Elac? Others? Thanks - really useful video!

How would you rate a Cambridge AXR100 on the average/cheap spectrum you're describing?

May I have the dimensions of the room where these speakers are located?

Thanks!

@@ZeroFidelity, I really think it was an amazing review. Sean, it really was perfect.

At $300 this would be a good candidate for a GR Research crossover upgrade. Of course he overdoes the goodies and makes the package too expensive 🤷🏻

@@seanb3303 Or you could simply replace some of the stock xover parts with some better components of the same exact value for $50 or less. Granted, opening up and altering any hi-fi product will void the warranty, but hey - fun is fun. And you'll learn a bit more by doing this yourself in the process.

@@ZeroFidelity Good point Sean. That's what I always say about Danny. He could sell his plans for a crossover upgrade and let the buyer choose the level of parts that he/she can afford, but his business is in selling you his overpriced parts at a very hefty profit. It's not really about making your speakers better, but about selling his snake oil at very inflated prices IMO.

I have the q 350 and would have to agree, I've had the meta and older version of ls50 and I like the q350 better in pretty well every way, of course the 350 is bigger all around and has much more low end to boot. The only ones I've heard recently that would win over on these may be the xls encores and the revel performa m106, and it wouldn't be an easy shootout between the 3 models.

I've just ordered a set for the exact same amp. I've had q acoustic 3010i but find I have to constantly play around with the bass and treble. Would be great to hear how yours sounds now? Now it's all run inn.

I was wondering the same thing,maybe fresh out of the shower?🤔

Wondering if that also impacted in-room response…LoL

I was curious so I just looked at his results. Bro. He literally circles the HF response and remarks about it being boosted, which in his words, may cause the sound to come across as "brittle" / "bright" to some. What you also see is a distinct rise in the lower mids and upper bass. That's V curve. This is a common voicing strategy for most hi-fi speakers at and below 1 grand.

@@ZeroFidelityOk, Sean. I don't hear these to be V shaped at all. I hear speakers like most of the Klipsch R and RP series, the B&W 600 series, and the Jamo S series, which all have a big suckuout in the mids and super elevated treble as V shaped, which Is not what these sound like to me at all. His estimated in room response follows the ideal almost perfectly, with no elevated midbass, only elevated treble above 7khz.

Point source speakers will always have a better image cos the vowels&consonants of the voice sound are coming from the same place instead of 8" apart!

You need to hear open baffle

The KEF Q350 might suit you well. They are a similar sound but for a bigger room.

@@clinteastwood7198 funny thing is, I upgraded to an audiolab 6000a and now the soundstage is huge! However they now lack bass, but I think this is due to my room placements and furniture changing more than anything. I will be upgrading them soon I think, but to be honest I think I’ll try a taste of something different than kef.

@@Brett1334how big is your room?

"This is an excellent speaker" "I'm thinking of upgrading" Spoken like a true audiophile 😉

I had the r3s they are spectacular. So amazing I sold them and bought r5s lol and am always looking for r11s

Hey Shawn, got my Kef 'q's 150 and 250c. Set them up fronts toe'd iin as usual high fi speakers. Big mistake - omg the treble was accentuated. Read the manual and Kef do not suggest to toe in, or a minimal amount would be ok, I probally have them toe'd like 7 degrees. They sure look weird with speakers almost straight in my room, but that has calmed the highs immensely. Gonna enjoy theses now. Your review was right on thank you!

Side by side, the Q150's treble isn't (significantly) more laid back than what you get with the LS50 Metas. The only difference is that the LS50 Meta doesn't feature the same level of boost in the midrange and bass as the Q150. This alone will make the LS50 Meta sound a bit more aggressive in the treble by direct comparison. I suppose however, one could argue that if this is what you experience in the real world, then that's all that matters. Still, the point is that the Q150 is not an inherently laid back speaker. Especially once you give it some volume. But as always, treble is something that many people do not agree on. One mans bright is another mans smooth and visa versa.

@@ZeroFidelity Maybe the amp I used just didn't happen in the treble as much with those speakers. I had to wind the treble up a lot before I liked the sound (in that room). My B&W 706s have strong upper treble but not enough "chuff" in the voice sound for my liking. Strong cymbals but voice sound is a bit "muffly" on the 706s (in that room). My home designed and built speakers have a bit more "chuff" giving the voice a more 3D sound. That's just me. And My friends seem to agree. But the 706s are a God send cos overall they are the only thing I can go by as reference monitors for my made speakers. And then I make my own "artistic" slight tweaks to my made speakers after copying the 706 sound. The 706s made my speakers sing. Thanks for reading my comment and responding. Cheers Big Ears!

I bought the Q350 for 250$ from my retailer. Best price for some decent speakers.

Yeah, that's what he said in video, smh.

JBL 530 can touch them

I could see that. While I haven't heard the Q100's, I frequently prefer the sound of smaller bookshelf speakers over larger ones.

They will go loud, but they won't sound very good doing it. The watt ratings are something to all but disregard.

They are, I have them and I like mine better than the ls50 and metas I had last year, just my opinion much more heft in the low end also where the ls50 doesn't do so well in a larger room.

Good to know. Although I need to make it clear that the location of a port doesn't have as big of an impact as people think it does when it comes to how a loudspeaker performs near wall boundaries. That behavior has a lot more to do with tuning.

@@ZeroFidelity Actually, Thujan did a direct comparison Q100 vs Q150 video - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QUHn3BEhUnM.html

@@ericjohnson829 You just said Thujan. And for that reason, I'm out.. haha

@@ZeroFidelity lol

No. Dannys upgrades will not take them close to the Metas. Thats not how loudspeaker engineering works. That said, explore that option if thats what you want to do. No hate! Just go in with realistic expectations.

It depends!!! Just kidding! I hear ya!!! Thanks!

A pair of Danny's magical tube connectors can make any speaker sound 15x better. Danny should be the only person in the world allowed to build speakers, nobody else on the planet knows what they're doing and can hear as good as Danny or have a better room than Danny. Danny is the be all and end all, the alpha and the omega, an audio God of Gods. We should all bow at the altar of Danny and strive to be just like him everyday of our miserable audiophile lives. We are not worthy 🙌

We don’t mention that name round these parts after the callout. I kid i kid

Danny ? Fuhgeddaboudit

I'm curious about newer Mission speakers also. I have a couple vintage pairs and wonder if the new ones are as good in the bang for the buck department.

@@1980JPA the QX2 is mad bang for the buck. If only they gained more exposure. I really hope Sean checks them out.

@@indranilmitra6535 yeah, I think they've always been a bit under the radar and underestimated, but I absolutely love them. We have a small group of friends here in town and we're all blue collar audiophiles. Mission has a high place in our circle that it may have never reached amongst the public. They just make damn good speakers. Going to check out the QX2.

@@1980JPA I'm a blue collar audiophile as well. I love budget speakers that sound amazing. I can whole heartedly recommend the QX2. So musical and balanced.

I have the QX5 and it's absolutely mad! If the QX2 does the same as the QX5, but with less bass, it gets a massive thumbs up from me!

When you listen to something like a Q150, it's easy to appreciate how much speaker you can get for the buck. And then when you listen to something like the Buchardt S400 MK2, you quickly become thankful that better options exist. Especially since those S400 MK2's can deliver both exceptional sound quality while getting dangerously close to delivering the sound of larger speakers, particularly from the upper bass on up. Now don't get me wrong. I'm a tower kinda guy. I usually prefer big speakers over small ones. At least in a primary system. But even with my bias, I have to admit that bookshelf speakers have come a long way, which is partially why they currently outsell towers by quite a bit across most product lines in this business. Either way, options exist. I understand why people chose what they do, based off their priorities, experience, budgets, etc.

@@ZeroFidelity Oh, I understand, believe me! Thanks for your thoughts btw, but it still boggles my mind lol . I just can’t see myself dropping those large amounts of cash for small speakers.. I just don’t feel like I’m getting my money’s worth, but I do wholeheartedly hear you. Thankfully, there’s enough variety for the bulk of us..That said, if I was in the market for bookshelf models, I would be looking to hopefully find satisfaction with the $1200 per pair competition. At that point you are spending enough money that I think you should be able to expect a reasonable sound quality. At $2000 and beyond, I don’t want to buy bookshelf types.. just me. Oh I just want to add that the only reason I bring this up is because I’ve been noticing a lot of audio reviews for some pretty pricey bookshelf speakers, so that’s what brought on my rant, which was not exactly applicable to this video. I do definitely appreciate the response.

Somebody I know runs that configuration in a similar room and loves em'. To be fair, I haven't heard their system myself so I can't tell you whether or not they are full of it. heh

Make sure you have a sub and crossover at 100 you'll be fine

@@idray986 That was my plan. Cross over between 80 and 100hz to let the subs handle the bass frequencies that aren't easily localized by our ears. Our normal listening volume in the living room is about 80 db on average anyway.

@@ProudPapaKY here is the objective data ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SiGslBHnK9c.html

I have these with Cambridge Audio AXR85 and subwoofer crossover set at 100, and the sound is amazing. Play “Wish You Were Here” by Seguridad Social, and these speakers come alive.

I wouldn't know.

I had the Adam t5 and they are pretty sweet for the money as an AIO solution. Probably best to fill in with a sub but they are quite good. For my I couldn’t deal with the AMT in the Adam over long periods of time. In a brief demo the tweets are impressive but they get tiresome during long listening sessions.

Another option is Yamaha HS8 as no sub is needed and I found the tweeter to be more natural than Adam. Bass shelf I put -2db and I pull 18 inches into the room or the bass is way overpowering. The hs7 is crap.

It's from a company called BDI. Link is in the description box!

@@ZeroFidelity Thanks Sean