KEF is sprucing up a few of its speaker lines, just in time for summer. The company just debuted the Blade Two and The Reference at last week’s Munich High End Show. If both products sound a little familiar, it’s because these models are actually updates to two of the company’s flagship speaker lines.
The Blade Two has KEF’s Uni-Q “point source” driver array, which features a 25mm vented aluminum dome tweeter right in the acoustic center of a 125mm midrange driver. Other features include four 6.5-inch bass drivers and a curvy high-density polyurethane enclosure that’s sturdy enough to ensure that the sound is coming from the drivers, not the cabinet.
If you’re in need of a full speaker complement, The Reference offers a whole range of possibilities, including a three-way bookshelf speaker, two three-way floorstanders, a three-way center channel, and the a twin-driver 1,000-watt subwoofer subwoofer. Each of those speakers has the latest version of KEF’s Uni-Q array.
“The Reference and Blade Two are both logical extensions of classic KEF lines,” says Johan Coorg, KEF’s global brand ambassador. “They’re enhanced by new technologies and advanced materials that didn’t exist previously, massively extending performance to fully realize the potential of contemporary music and movie formats. We want every note, every voice, every sound rendered exactly how it was intended to be heard.”
Shipping this month, The Reference will be available in black, rosewood and walnut finish options. There are also “Kent Engineering and Foundry Edition” finishes, which are Blue Ice White and Copper Black Aluminum. Sold in pairs, the Reference 1 bookshelf speaker has an MSRP of $7,500, with the Reference 3 floorstanding speaker selling for $13,000, and the Reference 5 floorstander priced at $18,000. The last in the lineup is the Reference Centre center-channel speaker and the Reference Subwoofer. Those will be sold individually for $7,500 and $5,500, respectively.
Late in the summer, KEF will also start selling the Blade Two. The standard finishes include black, white, red, grey and silver, while the “Kent Engineering and Foundry Editions” will include Frosted Blue and Frosted Copper Black. All of those will be available in August for $24,000 per pair.
KEF’s Blade Two (left) and The Reference (right).
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