Great story.
KEF Q800ds heads up check yours
As happy as I have been with my KEF Q series HT system, I've struggled with getting the imaging the same L/R. I stumbled across an article that said to check the Q800ds for phase / matched pair using a battery... and in so doing discovered that I did not have a matched pair, but rather two the same... the result being that no matter how they were set up one side would be in phase and the other out of phase when used as side surrounds and if used as rear surrounds the center null point could never be correct... unless you flipped one upside down. If you are using Q800s you should check yours!
Although I have had good information in the past from my dealer; accessories4less, they have been uncooperative on this issue... notified them a month ago. So, I proceeded to rewire my 1 year old +$500 pair of speaker myself....which sucked! and took longer than it should have... getting the wires free of the silicone glue was tough... but in reality I should never have had to do this...
The results though were well worth the effort and now the sound is correct and even L/R in the room... imaging is just great and the true dipole effect is now in play.
Also, FYI when I pulled the Q800s down off their stands to do the phase check I found that a 3" corner piece of the black laminate pealing from a bottom corner on one of the speakers... again nothing from the dealer except to reglue it myself. LOL You should check yours....
Noteworthy is that in my large room (18' x 20' with a +14' cathedral ceiling) I was never able to get the sound as "full" as I expected using the Q800s for sides and KEF Ventura 5s for rears... once I sorted the Q800s I moved them to the rear and moved an old pair of Dahlquist dq-16s that I had in another system into the side surrond position.... what a wonderful difference... sound is now everything I hoped for when I built the HT system... especially for movies and music! (using Q900s for mains and a Q600 for center channel)... the Q800s just don't have the output / sound field necessary to fill the room the way it needed to be.... but are more than up to the task of rear surrounds.
Although I have had good information in the past from my dealer; accessories4less, they have been uncooperative on this issue... notified them a month ago. So, I proceeded to rewire my 1 year old +$500 pair of speaker myself....which sucked! and took longer than it should have... getting the wires free of the silicone glue was tough... but in reality I should never have had to do this...
The results though were well worth the effort and now the sound is correct and even L/R in the room... imaging is just great and the true dipole effect is now in play.
Also, FYI when I pulled the Q800s down off their stands to do the phase check I found that a 3" corner piece of the black laminate pealing from a bottom corner on one of the speakers... again nothing from the dealer except to reglue it myself. LOL You should check yours....
Noteworthy is that in my large room (18' x 20' with a +14' cathedral ceiling) I was never able to get the sound as "full" as I expected using the Q800s for sides and KEF Ventura 5s for rears... once I sorted the Q800s I moved them to the rear and moved an old pair of Dahlquist dq-16s that I had in another system into the side surrond position.... what a wonderful difference... sound is now everything I hoped for when I built the HT system... especially for movies and music! (using Q900s for mains and a Q600 for center channel)... the Q800s just don't have the output / sound field necessary to fill the room the way it needed to be.... but are more than up to the task of rear surrounds.