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Not for 007
A Q that's not for James Bond
by Michael Jones
August 2001
KEF Q15.2 loudspeakers. $899
Given
that manufacturer's claims about their hi-fi equipment often stop just
short of curing baldness, it can be wise not to be too quick to accept
everything a manufacturer's marketing department says about one of their
products.
KEF make great claims with their Uni-Q technology, as seen in the Q-Series - of which the Q15.2 is the smallest bookshelf model. But in this case the claims appear to be true.
The Uni-Q driver differs from just about every other speaker you'll see. Remove the grille from the Q15.2 and it looks as if someone has lopped off the tweeter. The tweeter is still there, but just not where you'd expect to see it.
Look at the centre of the white cone woofer. That's not a dust cap - what you'd normally expect to see - but a tweeter, smack in the middle of the woofer.
One theory about speakers is that the sound should all come from an infinitely small point. Obviously this is impossible in practise, but KEF's attempt at this comes close.
The Q15.2 has a somewhat "dumpy" look to it, being short and deep, compared to many other modern speakers, but I still find it attractive. It's available in Black Ash and Cherry finishes.
The front baffle, being gently curved, helps break up the square look of most speakers. The grill covers all of the front baffle and seems to be well made so to not have a deleterious effect on the sound.
Underneath the grille is the Uni-Q driver, with the polypropylene woofer being coloured silver. A reflex port sits just below the driver. Around the back are bi-wirable binding posts
It's really nice to be able to talk about affordable speakers in terms of what they do right, rather than what they do wrong - in the past decade cheaper speakers have greatly improved in quality.
The Q15.2 is a wonderful example. It is a tremendous speaker that continually sounds enticing.
This is a smooth and cultured speaker. The midrange forwardness often found in budget boxes is removed, leaving a sound of naturalness.
For example, the cello can be a difficult instrument for speakers to portray, as it can set off resonances within the speaker cabinet. But cello through the Q15.2 is a delight - I'm listening to Yo-Yo Ma as I type.
One criticism that some people will have of the Q15.2 is that the bass is not "punchy" enough. There's not the dynamic thump on driving rock music that other speakers can produce. It's a fair criticism, and one that has to be weighed up against the many other strengths of this speaker.
The soundstaging is rock solid, and even holds up outside of the central listening position - usually moving away from a central listening position will result in the sound collapsing to the nearest speaker.
Stand
up in front of most speakers and there will be a noticeable suckout around
the crossover frequency (usually around 3kHz). With the Uni-Q drivers
uniform dispersion, you can stand up, sit down and move around without
missing any of your music! The even dispersion of the Uni-Q driver also
suggests that the KEF speakers should make good sense for a home theatre
system.
I think that KEF are on to a winner with the Q15.2 loudspeaker. These are well worth a listen.
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