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"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.  I have owned a Hegel H590 integrated for several years now (I us an outboard DAC with it), which drives an incredible pair of Revel Salon 2 speakers, with phenomenal effect, so I was fully aware of how wonderful Hegel products are capable of sounding.  But now, I got the chance to hear the H600 (as an all-in-one using it’s internal DAC) with a pair of the world-class, IMHO, KEF Blade One Meta speakers, and I was extremely excited about it.  The source was Roon/Tidal.  As I sat there and the music of  my choosing began to play, all I can tell you is that this was one of the most incredible sounding audio systems I’ve ever heard, and I've heard quite a few in my day!!!!  The sound was super dynamic, wonderfully detailed and transparent, the bass was phenomenal, the soundstage was tall and wide with much depth and separation and coherency, beautifully natural, smooth, lush and full sounding, and it was also easy on the ears, and not in any way bright sounding.  For me, it was pure heaven!!!  I could’ve sat there all day long and listened to that incredible system.  I was absolutely blown away by that simple (but expensive) audio system!!!!  Happy listening.                    

kennymacc
kennymacc OP
723 posts
 

@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  

kennymacc OP
723 posts
 

@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.  

troutstreamnm's avatar
troutstreamnm
101 posts
 

My local ListenUp dealer was demonstrating KEF Reference 3 Metas with SimAudio Moon separates.  It was amazing sound quality and sold me back to solid state amplifiers.  New SimAudio products were out of my reach unfortunately. A few weeks later they ran the same KEFs with a full Mac system. It too was impressive and very powerful, but I preferred the clarity of the Moon.  They did not have any Hegel amps at the time to demo, but tried an H20 amp given all the KEF/Hegel relations and the 30-day no questions asked return policy at ListenUp.  As I said in an earlier post, the Hegel was nice, but I couldn’t get the SimAudio amps out of my head.  Ended up returning the Hegel and found a quality used SimAudio amp at TMR so this story has a happy ending. 
 

BTW our local Magnolia/Best Buy shop is a nightmare. A lot of poorly arranged mid-fi stuff with kids that don’t know much. Not likely I’ll be going back. 

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