KEF - Q Series 6.5" 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) - Satin Black

About 18 years ago I fell in love… With a pair of speakers! I bought my first pair of KEF tower speakers, which featured the Uni-Q technology speakers. I’d already owned a pair of B&W tower speakers, so I was familiar with what audiophile speakers sounded like. What I mean by that is speakers that don’t color the original sound. High-end speakers are meant to be transparent and not add anything, they should reproduce audio the way it was recorded. What I loved about my first KEFs (Q50’s), was their ability to reproduce vocals. In my opinion at that time and price point, nothing else came close. Fast forward to 2020 and KEF is continuing to create magnificent audio speakers. The case in point is the Q350 Bookshelf Speaker system. These speakers pack a punch in a small package and feature KEFs newest Q-drivers. These speakers also feature state of the art materials, from the custom in-house drivers to the solid non-resonant cabinets. The Q-series speakers are unique coaxial design drivers. KEF places the tweeter in the middle of the woofer to blend the sound waves in an even distribution, and increase clarity and sound stage. From a stylistic/aesthetic perspective, you are either going to love the look of these or hate them. These do not come with speaker covers, so what you see is the full-on raw speaker driver in a very crisp, tight-right angled cabinet. These are not pretty speakers, in my opinion. But they are cool to look at! If you want speakers to be heard and not seen, these may not be your cup of tea. But if you like the look of high-tech speakers - you’re going to love them! You can get speaker covers from KEF, for an added cost. But don’t do it! These are incredible speakers that and audiophile will want to see uncovered. There are lots of speakers in this price range to choose from, and it is hard to know which to go with. For me, it comes down to what I like to listen to. If you want wall-thumping, bass-pounding speakers - you’re not going to find that here. But if you enjoy accurate reproduction of audio, particularly in the midrange. I love to hear clear, rich full vocals. Q-series just do it so well. The audio imaging is so precise, so open sounding. I love them! If you are looking at these KEFs you probably already have an appreciation for audio, and you know that KEF is a top tier brand. The Q350 will perform equally well in a small room, to a large one. You can pair them with just about any amplifier, and still get a great sound. I paired mine to an esoteric tube amp which isn’t particularly powerful but puts out clean warm sound. I can power these speakers just fine and the speakers are efficient enough to deliver amazing balanced audio. But if you really want to amaze your friends, put these on a high-end amp and push the watts through the channels. I hooked these up to my 900-watt per channel Rotel amp and I was just floored. They sound so good! If you made it this far in my review, I hope you’ll treat yourself to a pair of KEFs. They are incredible speakers and well worth their price point. One bit of advice I will leave you with is if you do get a pair take your time in setting them up. The position plays a huge part to get the best experience out of these. These are bright speakers, with incredible imaging. Depending on your room size and shape you may need to move them around a bit, and point them in directions you may not have originally planned on. Once you get the direction and position just right you will be treated to beautiful soundstage and imaging that will make you smile ear to ear.

I bought these speakers based on many positive reviews from many audio magazines and owners. These are excellent speakers for the money. A stout Amplifier will bring out the best in these or a high quality surround receiver. Highly recommended.

The speakers provide the sound quality that I was looking for both television and music.

KEF - Q Series 6.5" 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers (Pair) - Satin White The KEF Q350 bookshelf speaker has a 6-1/2” full range driver and a 1” aluminum tweeter. Frequency response is stated as free field 42Hz to 50kHz. It starts changing as you add open cell foam port plugs. I found the open cell port plugs to offer nothing to my room acoustics, so I did not use them. The speakers do not come with any covers (grills), and as far as I could tell KEF does not make them in white ( I could be mistaken about that, but I couldn’t find them in white).The speaker is stated as 8 ohms but is measured out at 3.7 ohm, this is not hidden, it is clearly stated in the manual. The low end of the frequency does not cut off until below 32Hz. There are a few frequencies that have extreme drop offs. I’ll just put in 2, there are others. 213Hz and 288Hz drop quite noticeably. There are also a few spots where there is cabinet rattle. Again, I’ll just put in 2, 144Hz and 92Hz. Please note that adding the open cell foam port plugs changes nothing about this. All testing done was with 2 different amps to ensure a non-biased opinion. The first amp is an early 70’s Marantz capable of 45 watts per channel into 8 ohms. The second is a Yamaha natural sound amp capable of 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms with clipping indication. I know I’m about to catch a bunch of slack over this review, but here goes. My main setup is a set of B&W tower speakers. They are also driven by a different Marantz amp. The B&W tower speakers are power hungry. If you want to get the best out of them nothing but 25 watts and up will do (driven power). If you don’t know what 25 watts sound like you should spend some time with a true stereo shop, 25 watts is very loud. The main reason you need and amp that has over 100 watts of power is to be able to drive power hungry speakers at lower levels and still get beautiful sound. The amp needs to have the ability to push a power hungry speaker. I tested the KEF Q350’s with both of the first 2 mentioned amps and at varying levels. With and without port plugs, and moved around the room. My best sound was about 1 foot from the back and side walls. Toed in about 2 inches, on 30 inch stands, 10feet apart with the listening area about 13 feet in front of them. This setup was so not ideal for the room but seemed to be ideal for best sound, so for testing I stuck with that. The KEF’s required more power than I would have liked. At my normal listening level they did not produce acceptable sound. Once turned up a bit more they came into their own. So now I’ve established that they will require more power and be louder than I would like to get the best sound, ok next move. Now before I go on let me say that I ran these speakers at normal listening levels for about 8 hours, on and off, before I started pushing them. I picked 2 songs I listen to a lot so I knew what I was expecting to hear at higher levels. As I increased the volume I noticed something I did not care for, the treble seems to be getting covered up. Is this a by product of the tweeter being in the center of the driver? To this point I had been listening to them flat, no equalization. I added in a bit more treble and was able to overcome this coverup at the higher levels but when turned back down the treble would try and split your head open. So some balancing needs to be done. Turning the volume up to a level that is unacceptable for the room I’m in I noticed voice coil bottom outs. What? How was that even possible with the early 70’s Marantz amp. There speakers are rated at 15-120 watts. I took this as a sign that the amp must be clipping at this level. So I switched out the Marantz that has no clipping indication with the Yamaha, larger amp, that has clipping indication. Now I’ll see the clipping and sort out what’s going on. Again just above the level that would be acceptable for this room, coil bottoms, hard cracks ( you know what coil bottom sound like). I rechecked the polarity on the speakers to see if I was doing this. No, they were correct. So very carefully I did it again and watched in amazement as the coil bottom seems to be happening and the full extension of the cone, not the other way around. This mean the spider is being over extended and pulling the voice coil into the magnet. On closer inspection I noticed that at that level the distance between the tweeter and driver cone seemed to vanish. Could the cone be malforming and striking the tweeter? I decided to measure the driven wattage at the point when this is happening. 24 watts, no clipping using an external audio watt meter, not a VU meter. The audio watt meter holds about 1 second of power internally that is driven to the speaker to give you the average at that time. To be clear, 24 watts could be as much as 30, or as little as 18. My bottom line is if you are going to be using these as a main set of speakers check carefully that your listening habits will get along with these. For my use they are going back in the box. Not because of the coil bottom (or what ever is making the noise) because that is well above the level for this room. But because I have to push them too hard to get good sound from them and I know they could never be moved to the living room where they would be pushed. Here is the part that really sucks. I now have to put my Polk Audio Monitor Series 2 M4’s back up. I know in my heart these KEF’s should have beat the pants off the Polk’s. But the Polk’s have such a warm full sound at a normal listening level I’m being forced back to them.

The speakers are very good, end of the story. There’s not really anything to complain about, other than the suggested price. They to go on sale a few times a year, and thus I would recommend waiting until they go on sale to maximize the value you’re getting here. Overall, the Q350 bookshelf by KEF is a fantastic speaker if you value clarity, and amazing soundstage, and spatial sound overall. These are not going to be the greatest speakers for face lovers, as the low-end is not the greatest, and if you prefer a warm sound these are also probably not going to sound the best to your ears, as the sound isIs very true to life. I also believe this speaker is it shine more in audio setups with higher quality audio files really bringing out the sound, but you also will need a powerful amp to drive them, they perform their best the louder they get. All music types sounded great and I seriously have no complaints in that regard. I have mine paired with a decent subwoofer and that really helps even out the sound. One thing to note is that these are heavy speakers and their larger than your standard bookshelf if you’re used to a smaller cabinet. On the other hand, these speakers look amazing, especially if you have a more modern or BoHo-styled room. The style of sound reproduction definitely takes a little getting used to depending on what speakers are coming from, but I found that after a week of listening to my ears could really tell the difference of what a clear, detailed, and concise soundstage would represent when driven at the right volume and amp. My only real complaint about the speakers, if there is one and I’m kind of just digging here, is that they lack in the home theater/movie department. This isn’t to say they’re bad just with their base response they can leave a little bit lacking at times. I’m not an audiophile by any means, but I have value on my speakers sound like as I love to listen to music and watch movies on my home theater system, and these are by far the best speakers I’ve owned. I’ve used Klipsch, Sony, Polk, and JBL speakers during my journey for the perfect pair, and I feel like I'll be content for quite a while with the KEF Q350.

Upfront reviewer bias: I’ve wanted Kef speakers and a Parasound amp since I was a teen, but they’ve always been “pie in the sky” for me. Man Cave Room Acoustics: 8’x10’ with laminate wood flooring. One chair. Glass cases with action figure collectibles. Source: FLAC & MP3 files via smartphone via headphone to rca adapter. Connected to Parasound Zamp v3 with basic 14AWG cables. The Kef Q350s sound fantastic. These speakers actually have pretty deep bass for bookshelf speakers. Thought I was going to have to hunt down a small subwoofer, but after playing selections from David Bowie, Queen, Pink Floyd, Alan Jackson, Beatles, Twentyone Pilots, and Fratellis, I am pretty satisfied sticking with a 2.0 system. Lots of nuances to songs I love that I’d forgotten over the years. Make sure your amp is 50watts or better as it really gives you a “sitting in the recording studio” feel to the music by opening up the soundstage and giving the speakers plenty of power to work with. Overall, I’m very pleased. This is a major check on my bucket list, and sounds great as well. It doesn’t rattle windows, but that’s never been my thing. Really a great sub $1k system.

Sounds extremely clear. Hi and Mid are smooth and rich. these paired with a sub sound great.

Great for music! Incredible value. Hooked up to a pioneer elite receiver.