New KEF R11 META : The Real Giant Killers !

Haha!!! If Rick had his way, giants would be extinct by now 😁

The original R11s rightfully received a lukewarm reception, easily outclassed by similarly priced competitors. Based on that, I can’t imagine the new series are “giant killers.” Very few mass-market speakers are true performance bargains. 

Why is that? I would think mass production would lead to economies of scale. Someone making thousands of speakers should have better R&D and be able to give you more product for the price. 

I think a lot of it has to do with:

1. Too many cooks in the kitchen and voices of the final outcome. Nitpicking every cost saving measure and profit maximizing they can. 

2. Dealer markup is number one by far. Which is totally justified but is what it is. 

3. Just an overall abundance of money people involved that don’t give 2 shots about the final product as long as it hits a demographic and a sales target. I think it’s less on the mid to super high end stuff. But basically trying to give you the least amount possible for the least amount of outlay. 

I know a lot of peeps aren’t but I’m personally a big Tekton fan. The Double Impacts for example you would be hard pressed to diy for what they are charging for them. Salk, Ascend and some others same thing to a lessor degree. As I’m listening to my mid grade Focals…. Lol

Most people would think spending a grand on speakers is ridiculous. 

I am also kind of luke-warm on Kef. They don’t do anything wrong they just don’t do anything exceptional either. I need to give them another try sometime. My local Best Buy has both the blades on the floor but the setup is questionable, though they claim a Kef rep set them up…