"Blown away by KEF/Hegel combo!!!!"

"The other day, I visited my local Magnolia Home Theater at Best Buy.  At the far  end of a large room, was a very simplified audio system, which consisted of only one component and a pair of speakers.  The speakers were KEF Blade One Meta, and the lone component was the newer Hegel H600 integrated amp."

Yesterday, I visited my local Best Buy and briefly heard the KEF Blade One Metas connected to a Hegel integrated amp.  

It was a very 'crisp' sound and I was immediately impressed with the clarity and soundstage.  I did feel that it lacked some warmth - or perhaps that it was a bit shy in the bass.   I attributed that to the Hegel but of course, I don't really know.  I've heard these very same speakers once before - in the very same room - driven by huge McIntosh monos (MC1.2ks) and I don't remember thinking it was bass shy.

That said, both times were very casual and brief visits.

I did ask the salesperson to play the KEF LS60s which were on the opposite end of the room and even without a sub it presented a more full/weighted presentation with OK instrument separation but nowhere near the same clarity as the Blade/Hegel combo.

I am interested in acquiring the Blade 2 Metas but the choice of electronics is giving me pause.

@kennymacc "The other day, I visited my local Magnolia Home Theater at Best Buy“ - that triggered me right off the bat.  More in a minute.

Most of my listening experience with KEF speakers is in show rooms and a family member’s pre-meta pair of LS50s. My take away is that the brand is characterized by accuracy, transparency, and very sensitive to the quality of source and amplification.  Garbage in, garbage out.  Excellence in, excellence out.

The new line of Hegel integrated amplifiers are generally thought to be an improvement over the last iteration, and the H600 especially so, approaching the performance of their separates.  It is a beast in terms of clarity and control, but perhaps not the last word in nuance or “beauty”. I am not surprised it sounded great with the big KEFs and it probably did not set a foot wrong, especially if the material listened to was energetic.

As for “Magnolia at Best Buy”. I recently went into my closest store, which is in the city where Magnolia HiFi originated, and was interested in seeing a top end AVR, a Bluetooth speaker, and any turntables they might have in stock.  I first went into the high end showroom which had a system with KEF blades on one end and a couple of ProJect tables.  I asked if they could hear the better table and the sales person seemed surprised at the request.  He fumbled around for a bit trying to make sound come out and then apologized that the cartridge was not connected to the head shell. OK, on to the room with the AVRs.  

I asked to hear an Arcam AVR31 connected to some KEF R11 Metas. The salesperson went to the control screen in the showroom and played around for a bit, and nothing.  He then bent down and opened up the cabinet under the wall of electronics, and… he couldn’t figure out how to make anything work.  I left him struggling and went out into the “Magnolia” lobby with the TVs and the smaller electronics and asked if I could listen to some of the Bluetooth speakers.  No, I couldn’t because they weren’t plugged in.  I left the store and was thoroughly disgusted.   

Magnolia HiFi pre-Best Buy was a going concern if you were into audio and video.  I bought one of my current amps and subwoofers there, and they have served me well for 14 years. The original shop in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle was created by passionate Hifi zealots and was at the vanguard of music reproduction in the area at the time.  Not anymore.  I am glad the OP had an enjoyable listening experience there recently.  Me, not so much.

kn

There’s a reason? The stuff a dealer dude gets the biggest cut on will usually be what he has on display...or stuff he doesn’t have to compete too much with other dealers (he’ll call it ’synergy’ n all...)  Other times, certain brands will get together and have a few ’friendly’ agreements with each other and so on....You will learn a lot when you cut through the ’synergy’ bull.

His ears and your ears will never be the same and his ’synergy’ will never be your ’synergy’. There’s no such thing as he’ll put together some synergistic sht for you because he knows best. That’s the first lie....The second, third, etc are all the above mentioned reasons.

There’s a reason that KEF uses Hegel in many of the shows and dealer events that they do.

@madfloyd 

Thank you.  It was very interesting hearing your take on your KEF/Hegel experience at your local Magnolia at Best Buy.  It seems that we heard pretty much the same musical attributes from this wonderful combo (did they use H600 at your Magnolia?).  Obviously, different locations, rooms and acoustics will effect the sound of the same audio set-up (if they were indeed identical).  With that said, in the room that I heard the system in, I didn't feel that anything was missing in the sound quality from this absolutely incredible speaker/integrated amp combo, including warmth (warmth is subjective), or, especially bass extension.  I was simply amazed by the deep, tight, dimensional bass that was being produced by this incredible audio system, For me, there was just the right amount of warmth for my taste, and to my pleasure.  I lean more to the neutral, natural, detailed and transparent camp for my musical taste, so I was in complete audio nirvana!!!  Thank you for your valued perspective.  Happy listening  

@knownothing 

Yes!!! I agree with you wholeheartedly Lol!!!  In years past, Magnolia was definitely more audiophile oriented, not just because of the audiophile high-end audio equipment they sold, but also because of their far more passionate, knowledgeable and audiophile oriented  staffs.  Those were the good old days.  Over the past 30 years or so in the hobby, I’ve owned and enjoyed various types of speaker/amp combinations, including ribbons and horn speakers, driven by an assortment of tube, SS, and Class-D amplification, and I enjoyed them all immensely.  Through all that, I was able to come to realize of just what sound qualities I value most.  I basically value a more neutral, natural, detailed, transparent, ultra dynamic, ultra bass extension, ultra dynamic sound with just the right amount of warmth, rather than a more euphoric, warm (overtly warm), softer, less bass intense (less chest pounding powerful bass), less extended sound, which I did experienced in the past, especially with tubes.  So, I guess an individual audiophile’s sense of warmth, beauty and nuance are highly subjective.  For me, there was plenty of beauty, nuance, and just the right amount of warmth in the sound that I heard out of that simple, down-sized, phenomenal sounding KEF Blade One Meta/ Hegel H600 audio system (it was my kind of "Sound").  Over the past couple years, I wasn’t nearly as impressed by the same KEF speakers being driven by top McIntosh separates in the same room.  I very much appreciate your valued perspective.  Happy listening.