Amazon Customer

Verified Purchase

May 18, 2013

It is probably redundant to add another five star review here, but I am highly impressed. These were purchased strictly for music. I am very old school (and probably very old) and listen to all of my music collection in stereo. I received the Sound Sommeliers last Monday, so this review is based on only seven days worth of listening, about twenty hours. However, in that time, I have some very firm opinions of the capabilities of these little speakers.

One (and most impressive), amazingly open. The sound is like that of one of the older dipole speakers like the original Quad Electrostatic or three panel Magnaplanars. When you pull the speakers into your room a minimum of 18" to 24" from the walls, the speakers honestly disappear and you hear only the music. No localization. Simply wonderful sound from beyond the boundaries of the speakers in both the lateral as well as the front to back planes. This is most true on acoustic music and vocals, but also comes through well on electric music. Symphonic music is not handled quite as well (I don't think). Have only listened to a few favorites here and the material was tough for any speaker.

Two, very good bass response down to about 50hz. I have not had the desire to connect any of two available sub-woofers to the setup which could extend the bass down to 20hz-25hz range. The bass is open and fast via the 3-1/2" full range driver and I have seen the addition of a sub-woofer actually muddy the sound of some full range speakers. I plan to live with these units for a while (at least a year) prior to any decision to extend the bass. Besides, on most recording, there is very little output below 40hz anyway so unless you know you are looking for some extremely deep output, you probably won't be missing much.

Three, articulate treble response. I am unfamiliar with the full range driver, but it is surprising that it has response that has such good midrange and upper midrange/lower treble response. At my age, I know I have little hearing above the 5khz-7khz range, so extended treble response is relatively unimportant. If someone in their twenties were to tell me these roll-off treble response, I can stand corrected on this. However, my wife's hearing is still pretty good (according to hearing tests, not me) and she likes what she hears and doesn't think the units are missing anything. She also likes that they don't seem to get sibilant on voices, cymbals and other instruments that sometimes bother her.

Four, WAF. Yup, the good old Wife Acceptance Factor. These are so slight that they pass most WAF's with flying colors. Not only that, easy to hide when not in use and if you want some background music, sound is acceptable up against a wall.

What's not to like.

Received mine with one top end cap off. Cut myself attempting to get it back on. My bad. Should have sent it back but didn't want to wait.

Wish they came with a stable base.

Absolute volume is not very loud without some distortion. Still loud enough to enjoy most music. If you are young and you still want to put on something and "CRANK IT UP", you better look somewhere else.

Nice job K&B.

By the way, these are being used instead of Infinity Interlude IL-40's matched with Infinity sub-woofers which are now officially in the closet (subs had been in the closet since sometime in 2012). No side-by-side comparison. K&B definitely more open. Definitely not as much detail and won't play as loud. Playing loud is not a criteria at 63 years old.