Unexpected disappointing performance of KEF Q300 :(
- Thread starter john_k_antony
- Start date
john_k_antony
Well-Known Member
Thanks for letting us know your experience. I guess I didn't audition KEF Q300 fully before I bought them 
. Seems like more people are seeing the driver issue with KEF Q300 when driven a little hard.
-John.
. Seems like more people are seeing the driver issue with KEF Q300 when driven a little hard.-John.
Audio_Freek
Well-Known Member
Thanks for letting us know your experience. I guess I didn't audition KEF Q300 fully before I bought them
-John.
John, The only issue we have testing the Speaker at High Volumes is not Possible as it would be not entertained by the showroom Guys.
But good or Bad Your experience is going to influence some crowd to think twice before they decide on KefQ300 Now.
Even MY Dream Speakers now bit slipped now, Probably the Epos Epic 2 and Mezzo 2 are in the Row.
Probably i would grab any one of them by end of the year. Lets see how i get influenced
hyeah:But am happy that the Drivers were been Replaced,without disappointing you.
john_k_antony
Well-Known Member
Friends,
I have finally decided to "retire" KEF Q300 from my dedicated HT room to my Living Room. I don't want to sit and watch a movie thinking that when my speakers are going to blow out
.
Now KEF Q300 will be powered by my Marantz NR1402 in my living room. I guess Q300 should be happy with a 50w/ch Marantz and I don't play high volume in Living Room. I guess Q300 will settle fine there. I have Velodyne EQ Max-10 in my living room already to complement Q300 with deep bass duties.
Now I am moving my KEF iQ7 and KEF iQ60C to my dedicated HT room. I have been using them for the last 4 years and both of them are rated at 150w and have a higher efficiency of 90db compared to 87db of Q300. So theoretically, they need half the power to create the same SPL levels compared to Q300. And both of them are 3-way design with dedicated woofers. I will connect KEF iQ7 to my AP power amp and then take front L&R pre-outs from Denon and feed AP power amp for now. That is going to take some burden off Denon as it will only need to feed the center and surround channels.
I am also in the process of building the DIY CNC phono stage and Pass B1 pre. Once my Pass B1 and CNC is ready, I will connect my Oppo 105's dedicated stereo out, Technics SL-Q33 and Denon's Front L & R pre outs to Pass B1 and then Pass B1 will be connected to AP power and AP power will drive my KEF iQ7 FS. Bass duties will be handled by Velodyne EQ Max 12 that I already have.
I will have to implement the HT-bypass in my Pass B1 to make the above setup work. I think implementing the HT-bypass will not be a "rocket science". With the HT-bypass, the idea is that my Pass B1 will just act as a "pass through" that will simply send the input signal from my Denon directly to the output that goes to AP Power.
The biggest drawback with the above setup is that it will defeat my original idea of having the exact same speakers for L-C-R to produce a very balanced front sound stage, but I am okay as this setup will NOT blow any of my speakers or amp and I will be able to enjoy my movies with decent loud volume and of-course with some peace of mind
.
Hope this new setup will work for me till I save some money for the next HT upgrade.
Thanks,
John.
I have finally decided to "retire" KEF Q300 from my dedicated HT room to my Living Room. I don't want to sit and watch a movie thinking that when my speakers are going to blow out
.Now KEF Q300 will be powered by my Marantz NR1402 in my living room. I guess Q300 should be happy with a 50w/ch Marantz and I don't play high volume in Living Room. I guess Q300 will settle fine there. I have Velodyne EQ Max-10 in my living room already to complement Q300 with deep bass duties.
Now I am moving my KEF iQ7 and KEF iQ60C to my dedicated HT room. I have been using them for the last 4 years and both of them are rated at 150w and have a higher efficiency of 90db compared to 87db of Q300. So theoretically, they need half the power to create the same SPL levels compared to Q300. And both of them are 3-way design with dedicated woofers. I will connect KEF iQ7 to my AP power amp and then take front L&R pre-outs from Denon and feed AP power amp for now. That is going to take some burden off Denon as it will only need to feed the center and surround channels.
I am also in the process of building the DIY CNC phono stage and Pass B1 pre. Once my Pass B1 and CNC is ready, I will connect my Oppo 105's dedicated stereo out, Technics SL-Q33 and Denon's Front L & R pre outs to Pass B1 and then Pass B1 will be connected to AP power and AP power will drive my KEF iQ7 FS. Bass duties will be handled by Velodyne EQ Max 12 that I already have.
I will have to implement the HT-bypass in my Pass B1 to make the above setup work. I think implementing the HT-bypass will not be a "rocket science". With the HT-bypass, the idea is that my Pass B1 will just act as a "pass through" that will simply send the input signal from my Denon directly to the output that goes to AP Power.
The biggest drawback with the above setup is that it will defeat my original idea of having the exact same speakers for L-C-R to produce a very balanced front sound stage, but I am okay as this setup will NOT blow any of my speakers or amp and I will be able to enjoy my movies with decent loud volume and of-course with some peace of mind
.Hope this new setup will work for me till I save some money for the next HT upgrade
.Thanks,
John.
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How the Focal 706? I am little intrested on this...
John,
It is not about the percentage you have the volume up. It does not work like that at all. Turn your Q300 speakers up to a moderate volume after you set your stereo to the small speaker setting. When you hear and see, from the side of the speaker cabinet, that the woofer is almost bottoming out, turn it down. After, adjust your bass setting down and then go back to your previous volume (moderate volume). These speakers need time to run in. I was absolutely on fire when I first hooked them up to my Yamaha (the bass was horrific). Now after they have had many hours of play the bass, mids and highs are vastly different (night and day). It is a 6 1/2 inch woofer so you have to cut your bass down. These Q300's have excellent bass and you would be surprised how little the woofer really needs to move to have clean, deep and rich room filling bass. Just because your new sports car can rev to 9,000 RPMs and go 165 MPH does not mean you should drive it like that. Your woofer is wobbling because you are cranking it up way too much. The adjustments mentioned are the steps I took to adjust my Q300 speakers and now they rock. I can even play Rap without a sub. These speakers are excellent once you dial them in.
It is not about the percentage you have the volume up. It does not work like that at all. Turn your Q300 speakers up to a moderate volume after you set your stereo to the small speaker setting. When you hear and see, from the side of the speaker cabinet, that the woofer is almost bottoming out, turn it down. After, adjust your bass setting down and then go back to your previous volume (moderate volume). These speakers need time to run in. I was absolutely on fire when I first hooked them up to my Yamaha (the bass was horrific). Now after they have had many hours of play the bass, mids and highs are vastly different (night and day). It is a 6 1/2 inch woofer so you have to cut your bass down. These Q300's have excellent bass and you would be surprised how little the woofer really needs to move to have clean, deep and rich room filling bass. Just because your new sports car can rev to 9,000 RPMs and go 165 MPH does not mean you should drive it like that. Your woofer is wobbling because you are cranking it up way too much. The adjustments mentioned are the steps I took to adjust my Q300 speakers and now they rock. I can even play Rap without a sub. These speakers are excellent once you dial them in.
What on earth do you mean, woofer control? He is cranking the volume up way too much. I have Kef IQ9 tower speakers and I don't crank them up to 80%.
Leroy Bad
New Member
Hi this is my first post here. I was encouraged to register because I was just about bid on a pair of Kef Q300 on eBay until I read about this experience.
Perhaps you all can help me. I'm still interested in taking a chance with the Q300, but I wanted know if my receiver sounds like it might break them.
I have a Onkyo TX-8050 which a stereo only receiver that I use for music listening only. It outputs 80wpc and has a frequency range of 20Hz-20kHz but no adjustable cross over, bass management, nor speaker size configurations. Just Bass and Treble tone controls. So basically the Q300 would run at full range. Would I risk damaging or having them clip or bottoming out?
Thanks!
Perhaps you all can help me. I'm still interested in taking a chance with the Q300, but I wanted know if my receiver sounds like it might break them.
I have a Onkyo TX-8050 which a stereo only receiver that I use for music listening only. It outputs 80wpc and has a frequency range of 20Hz-20kHz but no adjustable cross over, bass management, nor speaker size configurations. Just Bass and Treble tone controls. So basically the Q300 would run at full range. Would I risk damaging or having them clip or bottoming out?
Thanks!
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cmsajith
Well-Known Member
There is no problem in using the Q300 unless you try to push the amp to clip, it will damage the speakers which happened in this case. Its not the problem with the speakers, in simple terms, its the amp-speaker mating went wrong wrt the user's use case or db expectation. Ideally the amp should be rated higher than the speakers handling capability so that the amp can control the speakers better. The amp will never have to produce more than the speaker's rating to produce the speaker's rated db and if you need more than that, you need to check different speakers.
Note: If you are looking for specific answers better start a new thread and also this is an old thread.
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soulforged
Well-Known Member
Ah! the prodigal audio guy returns!!!
hyeah: Where've you been buddy? missing in action for far too long... 
cmsajith
Well-Known Member
Ah! the prodigal audio guy returns!!!
Lol, been busy with lot of things, so preferred to be a passive listener
A beautiful, well-constructed speaker with class-leading soundstage, imaging and bass that is fast, deep, and precise.
