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It's when you turn any of the T Series satellites sideways you realize that something out of the ordinary is going on. You have to set these to 120HZ for crossover frequency and let your sweet sub take over for bass. After watching concert Adele Blu-Ray, the experience is phenomenal. I'm still in this period and my speakers are still trying to settle in with some crackings.
The tweeter design must be damned robust, because KEF uses a very low 1.7 kHz crossover point. Most tweeters would distort or self-destruct with a crossover point that low. It could be action from the platform, personal decision by the review author, part of an entire account closure, even some data error on our part, etc. We counted 22 reviews for this product over the span of 3,557 days, an average of 0.0 reviews per day. If these reviews were created randomly, there would be a 99.9% chance that we would see 1 or fewer reviews on any given day.
Our Review Ethos
5 of the 22 reviewers have substantial overlapping product review history. This is within an acceptable range and it does not appear to be significantly affecting the overall rating for this product. They may be slim, but the T301 and T301c boast heavyweight build quality. Their faultless construction offers a rigidity and robustness that should stand them in good stead for life in the living room. The front panel of these 600mm-high speakers is almost entirely covered in a cloth grille with glimpses of black aluminium down the sides and gloss-black at the bottom.
I can see people being tempted, due to the T-2's slender dimensions, in sliding it behind a sofa. I feel that would tend to absorb some of the upper bass, that the package as whole requires if it's not to sound slightly hollow. So, it's best to take advantage of it's shape to make sure it's squeezed in up front and there's no reason why you can't position it sideways. That also saves you having to look at another bloody blue LED. It's red when in standby and blue when awake but I guess I'm getting used to being a lone voice on the AV beelzebub that is blue LEDs.
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The little midwoofer doesn't sound so clear in the lower register of the male voice, making some guys' vocals sound a bit bloated or congested. Melodic bass lines tended to plod a little; electric bass notes lacked some of their characteristic growl and punch. An average person would think the T305 sounds great with music, but I doubt audiophiles would be impressed. I had always been reluctant to have a separate sub because most .1 systems I'd heard didn't sound natural, but this setup does.
That said, it's quite discrete and at least it is right at the bottom of the cabinet. I have been a KEF proponent for more than 2 decades with floorstanding speakers, a subwoofer and surround sound ceiling-mounted speakers in our family room since the late 90s. We recently finished our basement and I wanted to continue with KEF as the sound system for both big screen entertainment media as well as surround sound audio. The T305s were the perfect solution for an "on-wall" product that comes awfully close to floorstanding system in terms of sonic excellence. I could not be more pleased with the results - great balanced approach for the audiophile as well as the AV junkie.
T101 Satellite Speakers
In total, we found that 11 reviews (or 50%) are within an overrepresented word count group. This is an excessively high number of reviews in overrepresented word count groups. 12 of the 22 reviewers have had at least one of their past reviews for another product deleted. This is an excessively large percentage of Take-Back Reviewers which may indicate unnatural reviews. Was about to get the Bose 5.1 speakers when I was introduced to Kef and the rest was history. Kef gives you High Definition sound to complement your HDTV.
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HiFi Speakers
It doesn’t jump out and grab you, but that’s the point – they’re designed to be a sleek, minimal accompaniment for your slinky flatpanel TV. On test here is the T205 system, which features a pair of T301 fronts, a pair of shorter T101 speakers for the rear channels and the T301c centre speaker, as well as the T-2 subwoofer found in all the packages. If you fancy an upgrade, the T305 system uses the superior T301s for all channels with a T301c again on dialogue duties. Sitting below the T205 is the T105 system, which uses lower-spec T101s for the fronts/rears and the T101c centre.
And, from my research, weren't anywhere near 2x better. I placed the order and never questioned my decision. Thus, the ‘lifestyle’ speaker was born to assuage domestic bliss and although some very small and cute designs have resulted, they tend to sound exactly just that – small. The problem is big sound requires big drivers and for the most part, the only way to shrink the depth of a driver, also shrinks its effective diameter.
The issue is not so much that that T-2 is lacking, but that the T301s are capable of performing out of their skin. The T101s would present less of a challenge, perhaps a better match, but the T301s have a significant extra SPL/dynamic capability that means a single T 2 is a bare minimum. If there is a weakness, it's that natural levels of mid range detail are slightly restrained, which can suck a little of the passion out of vocal expression. However, I found that the T 305s, yet again, enjoy the chance to stretch their legs with a bit of added volume and they open up quite nicely if you have the chance to listen at reasonable, if not excessive levels.
When I played the Blu-ray Disc of the recent Star Trek movie, I promptly forgot I was listening to a skinny set of on-wall speakers. Of course, such feats are to be expected of a larger system, but in a system this small they're a real achievement. The front and rear speakers can be installed in three different ways.
But many of them really don't - some are as much as 2.5-inches thick, while many of the latest thin TVs are less than 1-inch thick. 0 of the 22 total reviews for this product use substantial repetitive phrases between them. 6 of the 22 total reviews for this product are unverified purchases. Despite its unassuming appearance, the T-2 sub is actually the heart of the system. The T101s are styled in exactly the same fashion, except they’re 270mm shorter and have a slightly different driver arrangement. We have not discovered any deleted reviews for this product.
Tonally, the T 305s are neutral, which delivers clear differentiation in instrumental timbre and rather than projecting vocalists into your lap, keeps them nicely proportioned between the speakers. Treble is very clear and clean, giving cymbals a nice sheen, but resisting the urge to make them sound splashy and indeed, sibilance is natural, without over emphasis. This all makes for a refined listen, which at first acquaintance, can make the T 305s sound a touch restrained, but is really just a lack of boom and tizz, engineered in to impress on a quick demo. The good news, is that this is the first public outing of the full 'phat' T 305 system although, perhaps I should choose my words more carefully. The dimensions, when seen from the dead ahead, are nothing remarkable in the world of satellite speakers. In fact, they're actually quite large in terms of height, compared to even a sizable book shelf speaker.
Klipsch Reference R-625FA 5.1 Home Theater Pack, Black Textured Wood Grain Vinyl
They're available in various system packages; the T305 package includes four T301s, a T301c center speaker , and a T2. So while the home theater performance is excellent for a small system, the music performance is just OK. But I imagine most of the people who buy this system would use it primarily for movies and TV, secondarily for background music, and almost never for serious music listening.
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