Kef R3 Meta / Triangle LN 05A

[Pratyush J]

A few things that trickled

1. LN05A is out as it is powered. While it felt less of a hassle repairs can be an issue.
2. I took a demo of Indiq diamond towers and really liked the vocals. However I may need to take one more demo with Class AB amp that I want to purchase.
3. The room is quite empty so I may need fill it little bit is a great suggestion I recieved

For Amps these are the ones I have shortlisted

1. Nad C399
2. Audiolab 7000A
3. Atoll IN100
4. Roksan Atessa
5. Any other recommendations?

Leaning towards the Atoll IN100 unless you suggest otherwise. I prefer warm soundstage with opened up vocals mostly. I do not have a way to demo all 4 amps together.

Plan is to buy the amp and take demo between Kef r3 Meta and diamond floorstanders from indiq audio.

I own younger sibling of diamond achals for more than 3 years and I can vouch for their vocal capability. I also own their class AB and Class A amplifiers in different chains. You can DM me and I can probably help you decide on the amp. Got to know through indiqaudio's news letter that they are coming out with a totally new Class AB amplifier (probably 1st from Indian company), you could talk to them about it

 

[AP@1992]

A few things that trickled

1. LN05A is out as it is powered. While it felt less of a hassle repairs can be an issue.
2. I took a demo of Indiq diamond towers and really liked the vocals. However I may need to take one more demo with Class AB amp that I want to purchase.
3. The room is quite empty so I may need fill it little bit is a great suggestion I recieved

For Amps these are the ones I have shortlisted

1. Nad C399
2. Audiolab 7000A
3. Atoll IN100
4. Roksan Atessa
5. Any other recommendations?

Leaning towards the Atoll IN100 unless you suggest otherwise. I prefer warm soundstage with opened up vocals mostly. I do not have a way to demo all 4 amps together.

Plan is to buy the amp and take demo between Kef r3 Meta and diamond floorstanders from indiq audio.

Have heard Audiolab 7000a, Atoll IN 100 and Roksan (K3 and not the attesa). These amps tend to favour clarity and resolution (read bright in certain play backs) and I wont call them warm in any sense of the term.

Open up vocals and warmth (being your specific requirement) in solid state amps is usually a hit and/or miss. If I were you, I would go pre-power and introduce a tube preamp (says a tube preamp of 6n2p/6sn7 tubes) to get the midrange bloom and wramth. Looking at your budget, only Accoustic Portrait Swara Tube Pre/Power comes to my mind. But you can venture deep.

I am not suggesting any good tube amps (integrated or tube pre/power) since your choice of speakers are not exactly tube amp friendly.

But a tube pre and a SS power may just do the trick for you, given your preference.

On a side note: I had demoed R3 Meta at Provfx, Bombay. Lovely speakers. Cant go wrong with them. I drove them with Tube Amps (EL 34 making 40 odd watts). They sounded just fantastic albeit a little sacrifice in bass agility. Mid range clarity and vocals were fantastic.

Cheers.

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

You have the R3 Meta? Which Amp?

I don’t have the R3 meta.

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Have heard Audiolab 7000a, Atoll IN 100 and Roksan (K3 and not the attesa). These amps tend to favour clarity and resolution (read bright in certain play backs) and I wont call them warm in any sense of the term.

Open up vocals and warmth (being your specific requirement) in solid state amps is usually a hit and/or miss. If I were you, I would go pre-power and introduce a tube preamp (says a tube preamp of 6n2p/6sn7 tubes) to get the midrange bloom and wramth. Looking at your budget, only Accoustic Portrait Swara Tube Pre/Power comes to my mind. But you can venture deep.

I am not suggesting any good tube amps (integrated or tube pre/power) since your choice of speakers are not exactly tube amp friendly.

But a tube pre and a SS power may just do the trick for you, given your preference.

On a side note: I had demoed R3 Meta at Provfx, Bombay. Lovely speakers. Cant go wrong with them. I drove them with Tube Amps (EL 34 making 40 odd watts). They sounded just fantastic albeit a little sacrifice in bass agility. Mid range clarity and vocals were fantastic.

Cheers.

The r series and references sound agile when placed right in the room, their woofers are very accurate and the decay is as good as you can get. Only issue is the port, it fires really odd to me that, depending on how you aim them to the wall behind(angle and distance) the sound changes vastly. At the right setting, it’s faster than sealed boxes that I had listened in the past including the likes of harbeth, Spendor and co.. At a store it won’t be at the perfect setting. To know bit of how good rhey can be try with the supplied foam plugs of listen closely to the woofers. They really sing with the signal perfectly.

 

[kpp]

Quite optimistic, the amplifiers you have chosen might be good bring out the potential in the kef ls50/ fyne f500/SF lumina's and the like but for the Kef R3 meta you will need better amplification along with equally good source. For amplifiers Rogue sphinx/exposure 2510/unison research unico primo/Rotel 1572 MKII should be where you begin having a look(even better if you can find them used). Try talking to some FM's who are using O&B amplifers, Haven't heard them in person but seems like the crowds favourite in the budget segment.

I have an option to.pick something from Bangkok...

Rotel RA 1572 MKII
CA CXA81
Rotel A14 II

Which one would be recommended?

Hegel is more expensive here. Audiolab dealer is different.

 

[Phew]

I have an option to.pick something from Bangkok...

Rotel RA 1572 MKII
CA CXA81
Rotel A14 II

Which one would be recommended?

Hegel is more expensive here. Audiolab dealer is different.

Get the demo for both The Rotel RA 1572 MKII and cambridge CXA81 and decide. Do confirm the pricing in india also and then go ahead if the difference is considerable

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Get the demo for both The Rotel RA 1572 MKII and cambridge CXA81 and decide. Do confirm the pricing in india also and then go ahead if the difference is considerable

I had listened the Cambridge audio cx series(not sure if it’s the exact same model you mentioned here) with R11. It could drive them easily with lot of grippy bass. I never liked CA amps before but with KEF they work well.

 

[Phew]

I had listened the Cambridge audio cx series(not sure if it’s the exact same model you mentioned here) with R11. It could drive them easily with lot of grippy bass. I never liked CA amps before but with KEF they work well.

I'm not a fan of Cambridge audio either having owned the Cambridge cxa80 for a good two years, never got to like its sounds and hence sold it. Haven't heard them again since 2021 so cannot comment if they still are the same. Since @kpp mentioned these two I suggested a demo to choose what he likes, I'm more inclined towards the rogue and unison research amps as I have heard them on multiple occasions and really like how they sound.

 

[kpp]

I got a Rotel RA 1572 MKII. Deciding between the Kef R3 Meta or R7 Meta. Prices are close to double. Below is an image of the room... I am open to other floor stander suggestions as well.

 

[Analogous]

I got a Rotel RA 1572 MKII. Deciding between the Kef R3 Meta or R7 Meta. Prices are close to double. Below is an image of the room... I am open to other floor stander suggestions as well.

Since you have bought your amplifier it may be possible to carry it to the KEF dealer and audition both these speakers and find out which one sounds better to you.
Even better if the dealer lends both the speakers for an audition at your listening space; but convincing them would be a huge challenge.

 

[Analogous]

If you can carry a flash drive or some CDs (or Vinyl). 3-5 songs/tunes that you are familiar with it would make it easier.
Trust your ears and feelings above all, budget permitting of course.

 

[Phew]

I got a Rotel RA 1572 MKII. Deciding between the Kef R3 Meta or R7 Meta. Prices are close to double. Below is an image of the room... I am open to other floor stander suggestions as well.

Going by the drawing you shared you could read up or demo(if possible) the pylon jade 20(front ported), Proac sm100(front ported), Proac DT8(bottom ported) which are more placent friendly in your case with no rear facing port.

The rotel also pairs very well with sonus faber so the lumina v and Sonetto 3 can also be glanced at.

Between the R3 and R7, both are equally capable, given the room size the R7 will be more room filling, bigger sounding, placement might be take more effort compared to the bookshelf, tonally and sound signature wise both are going to similar, so a jump in price will not get you a different or superior tone and sound signature.

As analogous suggested you have the amplifer, now is the chance to carry it to the dealers in your area with available demo's and see what matches best. Likelihood of dealers sending over speakers specially floorstanders looks bleak.

 

[reignofchaos]

Not sure where you are located but there is an R5 meta for sale for around 1.8L in Bangalore.

The KEFs can be kept near a wall due to a bass shelf designed in their response.

 

[kpp]

Not sure where you are located but there is an R5 meta for sale for around 1.8L in Bangalore.

The KEFs can be kept near a wall due to a bass shelf designed in their response.

Where would this be?

 

[reignofchaos]

Where would this be?

Please DM. Will pass the number.

 

[Swamyvk]

One is an active tower speaker and the other is a passive bookshelf. Not really comparable

The R3 meta is a great speaker and would work in that room size

I have Kef R3s. They are great for newer bollywood music. However, I found monitor audio bronze 6 towers to be more well rounded for older as well as newer bollywood recordings. Wharfdale lintons are awesome too.

 

[Clarar]

About 1L. But if spending 1.2 L gives me something that exceeds anything in 0~3L types in real world I am fine stretching it by 20K. I am open for used amps too.

If spending an extra 20K gives you a superior product compared to the 0-3L range, it's definitely worth it. Exploring used amps is also a great way to find high-quality options within budget. Gb Whatsapp Download