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Vintage KEF vs new Salk

Hi all,
I recently started a thread asking if posters think I could do better with modern speakers vs my KEF Reference 3.2s. Unfortunately, my speakers need refurbishing to sound the way they should, so now my follow-up question is: am I better off sinking  bucks into what I have, perhaps upgrading some elements, or should I get one of the Salks I've been looking at? I just emailed Jim Salk to ask about the silk tower, song3 encore, and Veracity 2 and ST, so I'm sure I'll get useful info about my options there, based on the details of my room and such.
I don't have the urge to repeat all the info I provided in my earlier thread about my other equipment, what I listen to, etc. Perhaps someone could simply speak generally about how the two options might sound relative to one another in any room, as well as the likely cost of a non-DIY KEF fix-up.
Thanks,
Marc
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Showing 2 responses by b_limo

b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,271 posts
 
The crossover situation is actually easy.

e-mail kef and ask for crossover schematics.  They’re fgreat about that.

then e-mail the schematics to madisound and they’ll give you a quote.  
You can usually, easily, swap crossovers out yourself.

Still, if you like the idea of an open and clear sound with tighter bass, go new.  Salks are great and you can get an even better deal used.  There are a few pairs of used Salks right now for under $4k.  Any of them would probably suffice!

Wait time on a build from salk can be 6 months... ask hilde45.
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,271 posts
 
Your Kefs have a very full, laid back sound.  They were and still are very nice speakers but I’d sell them and buy something like the Salks, which should offer more clarity, more of an open sound and possibly tighter bass.  
The problem I have with the kefs is the age of them and the cost of upgraded crossovers and surrounds.

If you have a beautiful pair of kefs with some really nice bookmatched woodgrain and you already like them, you can upgrade the crossovers and get new surrounds and they’ll be good to go for many more years and they’ll be better than new.  You’ll want to check ferrofluid in those tweets too.  Not sure if they use it or not.

Aren’t you the one we were saying needs to upgrade the dac?  If so, keep the kefs, upgrade the crossovers and get a nice dac... you’ll be very happy!
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