Sound guru KEF has updated two of its high-end KEF speaker series with the latest acoustic innovations, including Metamaterial Absorption Technology.
If you’re someone that takes your soundscape seriously, then you’ll know KEF a brand that’s coveted by audiophiles the world over. Now the brand has launched the latest additions to its pioneering Blade and The Reference collections.
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The two ranges demonstrate how innovation and design can create the most accurate and realistic sound with acoustics in mind. Blade is about perfecting a ground-breaking concept to delight people with the ultimate listening experience while every pair of The Reference series can be matched within half a decibel to the laboratory-maintained ‘reference standard’, hence their name. Now both benefit from a raft of new technologies, including Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT), a truly revolutionary tool in the KEF acoustic armoury that sees each of the intricate channels efficiently absorbs 99% of unwanted sound.
Every speaker in Blade and The Reference ranges exudes the same sense of sheer quality that comes from being hand-built by KEF’s master craftsmen in Maidstone in the UK. They speaker is designed to be acoustically exceptional, attractive to look at, and is meticulously built.
The state-of-the-art Uni-Q driver array in each speaker can deliver consistently sweet, lucid and lyrical treble, irrespective of the volume, while a new ultra-low distortion midrange motor design lowers the total harmonic distortion (THD) in the midrange and reduces thermal compression, improving efficiency.
At the heart of Blade lies the Single Apparent Source technology. Single Apparent Source extends the iconic Uni-Q driver array to achieve the acoustic ideal of a point source, where low, mid and high frequencies radiate from one point. This makes Blade incredibly coherent across all audible frequencies; what you hear is real and immersive.
The contours of the dome within The Reference’s midrange horn and surround are all computer-optimised to ensure a perfectly smooth transition to the cabinet. KEF’s patented tangerine waveguide technology manages the airflow to recreate the wide, even spread of a natural sound field, dispersing the astonishingly pure high-frequency imaging throughout the room.
Acoustics dictate Blade’s sculptural design, which is available in eight finishes. The gentle front radius tapers gracefully from top to bottom and from front to rear and presents no discontinuity to mar sound clarity. The complex parabolic curves of acoustically inert cabinets are cleverly engineered to eliminate standing waves that might blur the sound.
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The composition of The Reference sees all cabinets designed by using finite element analysis to determine the ideal shape and bracing geometry to minimise secondary radiation from the sides. Constrained Layer Damping is also applied to turn what little vibration is left into heat.
Furthermore, the expertly engineered cabinets are finished in a sumptuous high-gloss or richly detailed, pair-matched wood veneers to complement the unique front baffle designed to eliminate anomalies caused by diffraction. Five finishes are available, a combination of three cabinet finishes and five driver cone colours.
Be sure to check out these remarkable speakers yourself at one of KEF’s innovative retail spaces.
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