| KEF Audio KHT 5005.2 5.1 On-wall Speaker System |
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| Sunday, 01 April 2007 | |
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Introduction Huge
changes are occurring in the audio/video industry. Flat panel displays
are now sold at Costco and other super discount chains, having gone
from high-priced status symbols to a practical and affordable option
for nearly everyone. I love the floor space saved by such a display in
my bedroom, but to truly take advantage of the savings of real estate,
you likely need to get your speakers off the floor as well. This
realization has led to a new market for speaker designers and builders,
the so-called “lifestyle” speaker systems. Initially, these where
expensive and sounded pretty lame but, over the years, quality improved
and prices dropped just like the displays they are designed to
complement. Now almost every speaker company offers at least one such
system. KEF offers several levels of lifestyle systems and now they
have upped the ante with the release of their new KHT 5005.2 system.
Falling in the middle of their KHT line, the KHT 5005.2 comes as a
complete home theater system, with four satellites, a center channel
and powered subwoofer. The system sports improvements in KEF’s Uni-Q®
driver and comes with a radically new subwoofer design. This entire 5.1
speaker system is available in matte silver or high gloss black to
match your display and décor and costs just $1,999.The five speakers come packed with the HTB2 subwoofer in a single box measuring 33.5 inches tall, 23.5 inches wide and 16.5 inches deep. The four satellites, model HTS 5001.2, and the center channel, model HTC5001.2, come housed inside another box. Each speaker is wrapped in plastic to protect the finish and packed in Styrofoam in two tiers, one for three speakers, the next for two. Each measures 16.5 inches at its longest point, is five inches deep and just under three-and-a-half inches at the greatest width. Each speaker has the shape of a slightly flattened cylinder, more narrow than deep, with the grilles covering the front half of the cylinder. The matte silver or gloss black casing covers the top and bottom and, on the center channel, the sides as well. These edges angle back so that the front is the widest part of the speaker. Tucked into one side of the rear half of the speaker ends are small recesses that house a pair of knurled metal binding posts, which accept bare wire or spades, but not bananas. The black mesh grilles are removable with some force and reveal the three three-inch drivers used in this speaker system. The two outer drivers are long excursion bass drivers, while the center driver is KEF’s Uni-Q® driver, which houses a six-tenths-of-an-inch aluminum dome tweeter in the acoustic center or the mid-bass cone, making for a near-perfect single-point source driver. KEF utilizes this set-up to ensure both drivers’ frequencies are delivered in-phase with precise focus and to provide the widest possible dispersion of their output. Each of the satellites can be mounted on the included table-top stands; alternatively, the stands can be removed with the included Allen wrench and a small panel on the rear middle of the speaker can be flipped to access the bracket for attaching the speaker to wall-mount brackets also included in the package. Taller stands to convert the speakers to floor standers and fixed or infinitely adjustable desktop stands are available separately to tailor the speaker height to your needs. The center does not have any attachment point for the table-top mounts, but it does have the same reversible plate on the back for connecting to the wall mount. Another piece can be attached here for placing the center horizontally on a flat surface. Each of the speakers weighs five pounds and has a rated sensitivity of 87 dB at 2.83Volt/Meters. KEF quotes the maximum sound output of these transducers at 104 dB at one meter, and a frequency response of 100 Hz to 30 kHz. Overall build quality is excellent. The cabinets are very solid, given the light weight of the speakers, and rapping on the cast metal housings only gave me sore knuckles. The screw threads into the cabinets are not of the highest finish, but work fine. The HTB2 Subwoofer completes the package and is as unique in appearance as it is in performance. Housed in another box inside the main system box, packed in Styrofoam and wrapped in a soft cloth to protect its available gloss silver or black finish, the sub looks more like something from a futuristic film than a speaker. The HTB2 can be positioned vertically or horizontally. For simplicity’s sake, I will describe it as positioned vertically. The subwoofer measures 15.3 inches high by 17.3 inches wide and seven-point-three inches deep. In this position, the unit is essentially round from the front, with a small bit cleaved off the top and bottom, where the figure eight-shaped stand mounts and the power switch, fuse, single-ended line-in input, phase, bass boost and power on setting option switches are located. The matching top section has a KEF logo that doubles as the power indicator: red for standby, blue for on. From the front, the large black bass driver is plainly evident, and a matching auxiliary radiator is on the rear. From the outside of the drivers, the cabinet curves back, with a smooth rounded edge all around the disc-like shape of the speaker. The subwoofer weighs a little over 24 pounds, and has a quoted frequency response of 30 Hz – 250 Hz, with a maximum output of 110dBs. You can remove the stand it comes mounted on and attach the included rubber feet into the appropriate holes around the driver to position the sub flat on the floor for a more UFO look if desired. To compensate for room conditions and user taste, the bass boost switch allows bass to be boosted by three or six decibels at around 40Hz. Phase can be inverted and the sub can be set to power on at a signal or to be hard-switched on or off. Set-up When the KEF system arrived, I immediately unpacked the speakers, reviewed the installation manual and marked out where they would be best centered to the side of and below the plasma in my bedroom. I positioned the left and right speakers nine inches out from the vertical center of the display, and the center four inches below the horizontal center. My plasma is mounted on the outside wall of a concrete block house, so I have no studs to find. I used two 50-pound drywall anchors for each speaker after using the included template for mounting the wall brackets, then attached the speakers to previously-run wires and secured them to the wall mounts. I learned to attach the speaker wires first, as it is difficult to do once they are mounted. My 50-pound drywall anchors easily held each speaker’s five-pound weight securely. The wall mounts allow toeing in and out of the speakers to adjust image focus. I found the left and right speakers did well faced straight ahead, while I settled on the center channel angled slightly upward, aiming at the listening height. The surrounds were placed on their included table stands on both my and my wife’s nightstands just off to the side and slightly behind our listening position. The small footprint of these speakers paid off, as they were almost unnoticeable on the nightstands and my wife never said a peep about their presence. I ended up with my ideal listening position between eight and 12 feet from each of the five speakers. I tried several different places for the subwoofer and ended up with it positioned in the front left corner of the bedroom and settled on zero bass boost and zero degree phase, which seemed to provide plenty of bass for the room. I chose the auto power mode. It activated the speaker quickly and effectively throughout my time with them and allowed the sub to power down when not in use. KEF includes almost everything I needed to install these speakers. The only tools required to complete the installation were a pencil, large screwdriver and the drywall anchors I used to attach the brackets for the front three speakers to the walls. This is truly an all-inclusive system. Once all the installation was completed, the speakers were connected to my Denon 4306 receiver, which has a Scientific Atlanta 8300HD HD-DVR, Samsung BDP-1000 Blu-ray player and a Denon 5910Ci universal player as sources. Power ran through a Monster Cable HTS 5000 power conditioner, with my Panasonic TH-42PX60U plasma handling the video. I received these speakers in the silver finish and it was a solid match to the silver and black case of my plasma; they just looked great together. I ran the entire system for a few weeks before doing any critical listening. |
