KEF Electronics Ltd. was founded in 1961 by Raymond Cook and Robert Pirch. The city of Maidstone became the home for the company. The office is located on land owned by Kent Engineering & Foundry. It was owned by Robert Pirch and his father - hence the acronym KEF.
Raymond Cook was an electronics engineer at the BBC and later served as CTO at Wharfedale. After a staff reshuffle, Cook decided he was ready to start his own brand.
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KEF's emphasis on synthetic materials and innovation has become a major feature of KEF: in its first speaker, the three-way K1 Slimline, the company used vacuum-molded polystyrene cones with foil for stiffening and the revolutionary T15 tweeter with a cone made of Melinex (also known as Mylar in the US and Hostophan in Europe), a thin but durable polyester film.
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The technology used in the K1 was also used in the next development of KEF - the compact two-way Celeste, which offered high-quality sound in a fairly small size. It was this model that made the company famous and provided capital for a long time.
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By the mid-60s, the KEF portfolio included several very different acoustic models suitable for a wide range of installations. It is worth mentioning the Portable Celeste compact monitors and, in fact, the self-assembly kits K1 and K2, which the owners could install in the case or place in the walls, following the detailed instructions.
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KEF became famous thanks to its collaboration with the BBC: the company became the exclusive manufacturer of the LS5 / 1A monitor speakers, which were equipped with the BBC studios. This model has long been the face of KEF, showing the brand's commitment to the most accurate, complete, and complete sound reproduction. In this system, the developers chose neoprene as the suspension material, due to which they managed to achieve high sound quality in the entire mid-frequency range.
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But the development of midrange did not end on neoprene: almost immediately after the release of the LS5 / 1A, Cook, together with engineers, began to develop new material for the diffusers. It was named Bextrene and was a lightweight sheet of acetate plastic pulp. It has been used in both the midrange and woofer of the LS5 / 5 monitors.
The main features of this material are the invariability of characteristics regardless of humidity and temperature, as well as a uniform response over the entire frequency range. Subsequently, other manufacturers of acoustics began to use this material.
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Beckstrand was developed, with its use, large and small speakers were produced, which were installed both in KEF systems and in the acoustics of other brands. By the 1970s, the company had developed many speakers that could be combined in a variety of ways to create audio systems suitable for a wide range of applications.
For example, a 5-inch B110 mid-bass speaker and a 0.75-inch T27 Mylar tweeter were installed in the Cresta bookshelf audio system, and later in a smaller, but technically modified version of this acoustics - LS3 / 5 monitors. In 1975, the company introduced the iconic LS3 / 5A monitors, setting the "BBC standard for speaker systems."
Most of KEF's acoustic innovations in the 70s and 80s came from Laurie Finch, a former chief engineer at Celestion and Goodmans, who joined the company in 1968.
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It was in the 70s that the company introduced the first acoustics in the Reference series - models 104A / B and 105, which became famous all over the world. When creating these acoustics, the company has already been using computer analysis methods to design, simulate and test new developments. Thanks to a well-thought-out analysis system, KEF learned how to select speakers in stereo pairs with an accuracy of half a decibel.
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In the 1980s, technology emerged that is still associated with KEF technology - the Uni-Q spot emitter. Thanks to innovative technologies, the KEF developers were able to create a very compact tweeter, place it in the center of the midrange/bass module and thus achieve a solid point source sound from this bundle. The technology has been widely developed and continues to improve to this day.
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In the last decade of the 20th century, the company took up the creation of multichannel systems, including those with Uni-Q emitters. The brand's portfolio includes both classic-looking systems, which were among the first to receive THX certification, and visually improved design models such as the KHT2005 with rounded-out satellites resembling eggs. They were more affordable than traditional high-fi options, but they still offered a signature sound.
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KEF, as at the very beginning of its activity, paid a lot of attention to the design of compact systems with tangible bass response, as well as affordable, but high-quality acoustics: it was in the 90s that the Q series was born, for many, it became a ticket to the world of audiophilia.
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However, the business of the company, despite active development, did not go very well - as a result, in 1992, KEF acquired the Hong Kong GP Acoustics. New items were still developed in Maidstone, top-end models were assembled there, and production of more budgetary ones was transferred to Chinese Shenzhen - to a factory that the company shares with Celestion. This order continues to this day.
Raymond Cook died in 1995, but his principles of "quality, honesty, dedication, and innovation" are said to be held in high esteem by the company ever since. In the same year, KEF launched the fourth generation of the Reference series loudspeakers with the fourth generation Uni-Q speakers.
The company met the new millennium by focusing on more meticulous computer modeling of new developments. This approach allows you to optimize ideas in a virtual environment before producing physical prototypes. Through careful preliminary analysis, for example, the midrange/woofer cone in the next generation of Uni-Q drivers has been reinforced and optimized for geometry.
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His company was actively used in the development of perhaps its most famous audio system - Muon. The exterior of this model was designed by the architect Ross Lovegrove, and the acoustics became a symbol of the perfect fusion of form and function.
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The company also applied this approach in its other acoustics - Blade, released in 2011. Rounded enclosures with speakers located not only on the front panel, but also on the sides, impressed visually, but their shape is primarily due to the fact that it has a positive effect on the sound.
The centerpiece of the composition is the next-generation Uni-Q speaker, surrounded on the sides by woofers. Three years later, the company, listening to the audience, released a more compact version of the Blade speaker called the Blade Two. Instead of 9-inch woofers, it received 6-inch ones, and the volume of the cabinet was reduced by a third.
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In 2011, when the Blade was born, the company showed a completely different development - the LS50 monitors, the heirs of the legendary LS5 / 3A BBC monitors for which KEF is famous. This model was planned to be released for a short time, but the market fell in love with it for its recognizable character, compactness, and appearance, which is atypical for high-fi and therefore lingered on the market for almost ten years.
The LS50 continues to evolve: KEF has released its active version, the LS50 Wireless, with Class AB amplification and wireless connectivity. Both models became some of the company's most popular products in the 2010s, and the LS50 Wireless, according to KEF representatives, has changed the entire active speaker market.
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The success of the LS50 Wireless bookshelf spurred KEF to evolve towards active acoustics, and at the end of 2018, the company unveiled the LSX model - in fact, a more compact version of the LS50 Wireless. It uses a smaller Uni-Q driver, and instead of Class AB band amplification, the tweeter and mid / bass section are powered by Class D amplifiers.
Also in this decade, the company tried its hand at designing headphones and released several models: the M500, created in conjunction with Porsche Design, as well as Space One, Space One Wireless, and Motion One. The models have interested audiophiles, but in the near future, KEF does not plan to return to the production of headphones.
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According to representatives of the company, in our time, KEF continues to be true to the principles laid down by Raymond Cook, and develops technologies, paying maximum attention to the quality of products, regardless of where it is created - in a factory in China or in a production facility in Maidstone.
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| image credit: KEF |
The company produces a wide range of acoustics: in addition to the aforementioned LS50 in active and passive versions, Blade and LSX KEF, it upgrades the budget Q-series, the older R-series, the top-end Reference, and also offers new options for built-in speakers and speakers for home theaters, with each generation. changing models almost beyond recognition and introducing technologies that were previously found only in flagships in the younger lines.
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Advanced computer modeling, meticulous component selection, and GP Acoustics' vast capital allow KEF to innovate, experiment with materials and new manufacturing processes to get the most honest sound from the acoustics.
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The modern KEF catalog is very diverse and includes audio systems suitable for a wide range of installations: home stereos from very compact to large floor standing, built-in appliances, subwoofers, home theater kits, personal audio in the form of headphones, and wireless speakers.
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