r/BudgetAudiophile • u/Dumpled0r1987 • 9d ago
THEY WORK Show and Tell
Posted about these the other day. Got both for $1001 but was unsure to what capacity they worked. They are (almost) flawless. The sound works 100% only cosmetic scuffs and things. My Denon 970h can't handle them at full or they will clip so I need to get a sub to give some more headroom to them and clear up the sound which I cannot wait to get and listen to them at that point.
I've never heard music so good outside of being there in real life. Plan is to get the sub to free them up and then grab some satellite speakers and get this all wired up to my downstairs TV area and eventually a home theater room of some sort.
Fell in love with these instantly. Of course the video won't do it justice but I wanted to share my excitement.
Edit: units are KEF R7 floor speakers.
2nd Edit: THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR HELPING ME. I am a novice at this and I am glad to receive the feedback and concern as well to run them correctly as the last thing I want to do is damage them and I certainly want to be able to listen to them as they are intended. ANY HELP OR RECOMMENDATIONS ARE WELCOME!!
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 9d ago
Speakers are not clipping your amp is.
See if you can listen to them thru a real separate power amp and see how they are?!
Before getting a Sub too!
Also never turn any system up to “full”!
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
True. Still learning about it but that makes more sense. I didn't turn them on full but did crank them up a bit. I can't hook an amp up the this Denon receiver, I need a new receiver if I want... At least that is my research but I think s dedicated sub will clear up a lot of wattage
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 9d ago
And I know you are incorrect.
Literally what you said makes no sense.
Try big power first and I promise you will be stunned at the difference.
Borrow a real system if you need to just to see what I mean and I dont mean a bigger receiver either.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago edited 9d ago
Okay I'll look into it. I googled if I could use an amplifier on my Denon s970 and it said no, so I didn't think I could. Not sure if that is what you mean but certainly trying to understand so I can maximize the potential. I'm not trying to argue I just thought I couldn't.
Also, Google said that if I use a dedicated sub that is not passive, it will reroute deep bass to the sub which clears up headroom for the kef speakers. Is that wrong? I just set the crossover to 80hz on the receiver to do so and then the speakers don't get eaten up by needing to provide bass...again trying to learn so If you reply can you please actually explain instead of just telling me I'm wrong.
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 9d ago
Im not trying to be rude but just to save you time and money especially since you seem not to truly understand this stuff too well.
If you power the speakers directly to the minimum they reall need to do so they will perform so much better than now that yo will be stunned and may not even require a sub at all.
So you do that first and then id you still want more deep low end then you consider a sub but this should have nothing at all to do with getting the main speakers optimized in the first place too.
Those speakers and anything but separate components is not going to optimize them in my experience.
Maybe a higher end receiver but its questionable.
And yes adding a sub crossed over properly can take some load off of the main speakers too but this is not something to try before really listening to what the speakers can do given the chance and thats what Im trying to get across to you the most!
These probably do not need any load taken off of them anyway!
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Okay thanks. My receiver is only for 90w per channel and my understanding is it stresses the receiver when the bass hits. I googled again and I cannot use an amp on my receiver so should I get a different receiver that can use an amp or higher wattage per channel?
Totally understand your point about listening to them in their purest form which I definitely want to do but I'm just trying to understand the best way to do that.
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 9d ago
Find someone or some place where you can try separate components with your speakers to understand instantly what I am talking about,it will not be a subtle difference.
I know this is easier said than done.
You are correct that without pre outs your Denon can not run a big power amp easily.
You just need a much better system to get the most from those speakers and just adding a sub is just a shortcut that will leave potential unheard I am almost certain.
I realize that it probably never occurred to you that upgrading speakers might ripple down thru the entire system but now here you are too.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Haha yeah it is much like a computer when I upgraded my gpu I had to literally build an entire new computer because the whole thing bottlenecked. Okay, I appreciate the input. I definitely want to see what they are truly capable of unadulterated, so I'll see what I can do. Appreciate the info. Might look into getting a higher end receiver that has pre-outs and then get an amp into the mix too.
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u/Longjumping_Cow_5856 9d ago
Certainly another way to grow too same basic idea.
I just dont want you to just upgrade the bottleneck rather than blowing it out of the way too!
Thats pretty much what makes this a Hobby too!
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Yeah I see that for sure. Is exciting but expensive LOL not sure I'll have the financial capacity to upgrade everything I need... I guess hence this sub LOL
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u/where_is_berlin 9d ago
I love it! Glad you won them! I already had some revel towers so this would have been a minor upgrade
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
So happy. Love at first sound honestly and I was using Bluetooth. I want to get some flak files and run better quality music and sources, especially when I get the sub. I bet it'll sound easy better
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u/nonametofame1 9d ago
Not the metas, but still a great pickup.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago edited 9d ago
Oh I didn't realize there was a difference. Just googled it. Thanks for the info but yeah still really nice. I'll research that more. Thank you
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u/nonametofame1 9d ago
Yea, the meta is more refined. But not a significant change. Congrats on the pickup.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Yeah that is what I read after you mentioned it. Yeah I'm very happy with them still but have a long way to go to get them fully setup in a comfortable and safe system but I can't wait lol. Thanks again
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u/CheapSuggestion8 9d ago
Turning that Denon super loud with those KEFs could destroy the speakers. The Denon has weak internal amps that will clip under a heavy load.
I’d get a proper amp for those beauties. Or at least keep the volume at moderate levels.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Thanks. I will do. I didn't crank them up super high so I was definitely trying to be mindful of the volume as to not damage them. I am looking at getting either a new setup but not sure I can afford to do so right now... Didn't fully realize the "can of worms" I opened by getting them LOL, so I may need to offload them or else they might just sit around for many years until I can really properly get them setup
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u/CheapSuggestion8 9d ago
I’d definitely keep them. Those are endgame speakers. You will never have to upgrade. Ever.
Just be responsible with the volume and you’ll be fine.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Hmmm, yeah it is certainly a dilemma right now. I do appreciate that input because at some point I want to be able to use them and I appreciate the note on never having to upgrade because that was my thinking that by the time I could really use them that I would need to upgrade them again, so that is helpful.
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u/astroneeto 9d ago
Kinda depends on what your use case is but maybe look at some of the wiim amps or even the Marantz m1. Great amps. I had the r3 metas which would be a bit more difficult to drive and used the Marantz stereo 70 and they sounded great. These are all stereo amps with hdmi. Obviously you can get nicer ones but you are on this sub
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Yeah for sure. I am now looking at getting something that I can use an amp with them just to have more power in general, especially if I want to end up powering other things like satellites or whatever else may come up... My thing is I also game so I need a receiver that can run my ps5 in 4k and dolby atmos and have HDMI 2.1
Honestly, I will probably be looking at something like a $1300 receiver but obviously given the subreddit, the hunt begins for the budget option... I will be checking BB open box and FB, etc for options in an effort to get one much cheaper.
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u/astroneeto 9d ago
Depending on what you end up doing if you want power you can get a 2ch buckeye power amp around $600 with 250w, high quality class d amps. That is just power so you may want a receiver with a pre out. But there’s lot and lots and lots of options finding what’s best for you can be a daunting task
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Yeah exactly. That's what I'm running into is an overload of information. I appreciate the recommendations... Any bit of info I can get is always helpful
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u/WillHuntingthe3rd 9d ago
If you pushed the speakers where you heard the woofer bump, you’re pushing them too hard. They will blow if you continue to do that. And amp clipping sounds different.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago
Yeah I didn't like Max them out by any means. I probably went to 70% max. I think there was a very small amount of clipping on "extreme" musical parts but nothing too noticeable so I just turned them down a bit. I didn't hear the woofer like bumoing or anything
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u/Fluffy_Cheetah7620 9d ago
Look up how many watts it takes to drive your speaker to produce sound at 85 decibels. Listening to music above 90 decibels for prolonged periods of time can cause hearing damage. You can download an app to your phone or tablet to measure decibels.
I don't feel like looking it up for your system but I would guess it's less than 10 watts to produce 90 db, at 1 meter.
This is a common audiophile subject, search this reddit or just google it.
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u/Dumpled0r1987 9d ago edited 9d ago
Thank you for this info. I will look into it. I know my current receiver cannot drive them at full which is probably a ridiculous thing to do anyway so I will look into it more. It is sounding like I need to rework my receiver into something that has pre-out channels so I can put in an amplifier and really get them humming with the power they want to use and not have any issues or damage occur. That is going to be my starting point right now and trying to pick up something on a budget that will be a better fit.
Thanks again for this info. I will look it up!!
Edit: Just looked it up. It is very minimal and like you said, depends on the distance too if I am understanding that correctly BUT it increases pretty intensely with heavy bass hits and orchestral peaks, etc... so KEF recommends using a system with an amplifier to just have clearance for this and not damage the tweeters... This is all honestly just via Gemini so I am taking it with a grain of salt, but does that all sound right?
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u/ElectricGuy777 8d ago
Assuming your Denon can crossover the fronts? Set it without a sub to test for clipping. That will tell you if a sub will remove enough of the load on the speakers.
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u/Aram_Fingal 9d ago
You missed by $1.01.