In case anyone is interested the KEF Kube-1 and Kube-2 subwoofers are on sale on the KEF Direct web site. The Kube-1 is $399 and the Kube-2 is $499. I just bought a Kube-2 and will be picking it up right after lunch. The sale goes until October 31, 2017. The Kube-2 normally sells for $749 so the $499 price is quite attractive to me. I wasn’t really thinking about getting a sub but for the price I couldn’t pass it up.
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Thanks John. I’ve already got a REL T7i otherwise I’d be after the Kube-2 (good choice by the way).
Have fun getting it setup!! Obviously the sub will need to be set-up for your listening environment so any advice I offer will be nugatory. All I will say is two things:
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the KEF’s will ALWAYS send a signal to your sub even if you’ve disabled it in the app. The app only engages the low pass filter and doesn’t disable the signal being sent.
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import some test tones into Roon. I’ve got a set that go from 20Hz to 150Hz in 10Hz increments. Sat in my main listening position I could tell where the peaks and dips of the sub were and that helped me with positioning the sub relative to the Kefs. Incidentally, and again this is in my room, the REL was happiest in the corner and still relatively happy directly between the speakers. The closer you can get the sub to be in line with the KEFs the better from a timing perspective (unfortunately we cannot yet adjust the subwoofer output to accommodate distance of the sub from the speakers)
Enjoy!
Thanks for the advice. Just got the sub home and am playing with settings.
Dan the sales manager at KEF told me to set up the sub itself with the crossover set full out to 140Hz and to do the crossover at the app. I followed this instruction. I set the volume knob at 12:00 and set everything in the app at the plain default vanilla settings. At 12:00 the volume was too much and I had to scale it back to about 11:00. As for placement I am kind of locked on where I can place it due to space considerations. I have it sitting directly behind the left channel speaker currently. I want to dial it in until I can hear a hint of the extra bass but not to where I know it’s there. I bought it to augment the speakers not to be the end of the discussion as it comes to the bass response. So far so good.
I will check out the test tones when I get some free time. Thanks for the suggestion.
That’s actually not a bad position. I’ve done the same thing that your dealer recommended - got the REL set to max crossover and the app set to 70Hz.
By the way, if you’ve got TIDAL via. Roon, then the Glass Animal’s album ‘Zaba’ makes good use of the bass region. Not in a drum’n’bass way but more of a broad soundscape of low frequency synth/drums/bass, etc.
Oh, and the volume setting on my REL is at the 7 o’clock position. It is so low that the amp is only just kicking in. Sounds fantastic and it just goes to show that once you’ve got a sub properly dialled in it shouldn’t need much gain.
Just changed my crossover in the app to 70Hz and it seemed to smooth out the presentation in a very nice way. Good call. I will be playing with the volume knob a bit over the next few days I am sure. Keep the suggestions coming. I will check out that track when I have time.
In my room the KEFs do bass ‘better’ in the 60hz+ than the REL - that is I found it had a bit more punch and speed. Not surprising really. However, with the test tones it’s apparent that my room has an unwanted peak at about 60-70hz. I calibrated the sub to remove that peak and hence that was why I set the KEFs to xover at 70Hz. Its possible your room has a similar room node.
Could you describe your listening room?
Home office. 16 X 14. Computer desks and working desk in an L shape opposite the speakers. Nothing is optimal here. Speakers on wall opposite the desk so they are behind me. Speakers are on stands 32" from the wall and 3 1/2 feet apart. This works in the logic of the room and would not be where I would place them if I had a dedicated room. I just love to listen to music while I work and am not on the phone so Roon pretty much plays for 8 hours a day.
Same here John, I listen to them all day whilst working too… It’s a hard life isn’t it!!
Your Kef’s are very close together. I assume 32" from the wall is referring to the wall behind them? And, therefore, assuming that they are both closed in on the sides? Have you got them set to wall mode?
Are the KEF’s firing down the 16ft or 14ft length? You can determine the likely room nodes using an online calculator like:
http://www.1728.org/freqwavf.htm
For example, if your KEFs are firing down the 16ft length then you may find that you get bass boom at around 68Hz or if its down the 14ft length then around 77Hz. Worth bearing this in mind.
I fire down the 16’ side. I know the speakers are too close together and too close to the wall but this is what I have to work with. It’s an office first and a music room second. It works out okay at the end of the day.
Well in that set up I’d think the Kefs are probably the best speakers to get the most from your room. I bet they still sound great.
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Thanks. Agree. I had the KEF X300A before the LS50W. Same positioning. I loved them. I just love these better. I am sitting here listening and thinking just how great they sound. The sub is subtle. It fills out the overall presentation really nicely. I know you think this, but the trick is to get them integrated so they sing but in the background as an augment to the LS50W and not as the dominant speaker in the chain. I keep playing with the volume control trying to get them dialed in. Those Glass Animal tracks were great but so far away from the Jazz I normally listen to that I had to stop playing them. I am trying to dial this in with real music and the kind that I like to listen to. Where can I download test tones?
Well, you got me thinking about getting a sub now. I am leaning toward the Kube 1 due to its size.
I had a 12" Klipsch and it was way too much for my little apartment in size and volume. Could never use it really.
Any reason you guys can think that I should not get the smaller 8" Kube 1 sub vs the 10" Kube 2?
So it depends on the size of the room. The amp in the Kube-1 is 150W. The app in the Cube-2 is 200W. Right now the difference is $100 between the two with the sale. Me? I bought the the Kube-2. In case I ever move it to a bigger room I will have all my bases covered. I can make the Kube-2 smaller by dialing down the volume control. You cannot make the Kube-1 bigger. Just my two pennies worth of wisdom.
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The specs say they both have a 200W amp…is KEFS site wrong?
Well the site must be wrong or the manual is wrong it says 150W amp…
I can’t comment on the amps in these subs. What I will say is that if you have a smallish room then either of these will pressurise the room comfortably. If you’ve got the option of corner positioning then that helps with a smaller sub. The Rel T7i I have is an 8inch driver in a 12 x 18ft room and it has bags of unused amplification available (got the gain set at a very low 10% and it is entirely acceptable). For me combining a sub with the Kef was to take care of the sub-60hz range thus freeing the Kefs up to focus on anything abo e that. As I’ve said already I get bass boom in 60-70hz range and so I bumped the sub up to 70hz as I can calibrate it to the room to remove the boom.
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There is a video on the KEF site that also says the Kube-1 is a 150W amp. That’s where I got this from. Who knows what is correct.
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I bought the Audiophile hi-res system Test album off HDtracks in DSD for £10. I’m pretty sure you can find some free ones online too - try googling it.
Thanks. I will check it out.
Okay so I have been listening to the LS50W with the Kube-2 subwoofer now for two days and I have to say that it has definitely improved the overall presentation of the music. After listening most of the day I shut the sub off with the power switch and immediately missed it. I had to turn it right back on. The depth that is being added by the sub is amazing. I have the sub dialed back so it’s there but not over powering and to use the word again, the depth it is adding to the presentation is really great. Glad I pulled the trigger on this.
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You guys are making me jealous 
. What is the matter regarding enabling the woofer @150Hz vs @70Hz?. Woofer is added so that LS50W works less in LOWs domain and Woofer takes over the grunt right.
Why not enable all the way 100Hz, 120Hz or 150Hz ? Why stop at 70Hz? Is there any SQ difference one can hear ?
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