KEF knows how to throw a party.
First, you invite the coolest kids on the block. Or in this case, an entire block of your fancy loudspeakers — check that wall! That’s a Muon! Oooh, a Blade! Hey, wait — that’s a Blade Two!
… Oooh, aaah ….
Johan Corg was once again whipping up the crowd, demoing this now-available novelty from KEF, the Blade Two. The Blade, if you’ll recall, is that insanely elegant looking pillar of gorgeous curves that recently debuted to much fanfare and sighing. The Two, then, is another Blade. Yes. But it’s also a bit more wallet friendly ($24k vs $30k for the original Blade). We like that. The specs are rather similar, with a bit more bass extension going to the larger model, but your in-room expectations will probably not be far apart. Driven here by electronics from Parasound, with cabling from Audioquest (the board, immediately below, has the makes and models), I heard absolutely nothing to complain about.
Also shown were the new Reference 5 ($18,000/pair) and the stand-mounted Reference 1 ($7,500/pair). In a rather interesting but perhaps unsurprising turn, there is a shocking amount of “family resemblance” for these speakers and their upscale siblings — it seems the voicing is very similar. Good news for the more budget constrained!
Sadly, I did not get to hear the $200k/pair Muon loudspeakers. I mean, there was only one and it was a static display, but I’d still love to hear what all the fuss and bother is about with the stately Silver Surfer of the line.
Anyway, an extremely impressive demo here.
