More details for KEF Audio

[Kimmax]

I’d like to know how the bass response changes if a window is open.

Cracked window definitely enhances bass for me.

 

[seriously]

my brief experience with a demo car was great. I was expecting to find fault but I didn’t. Sound was clear and strong over Apple CarPlay. I can’t imagine build quality impacting audio quality. I’m not concerned but we’ll see when we get the final cars.

 

[Tokion]

Spot on but I want to be fair as my assessment was done on all 4 Emira's, after I pulled up in my Audi Etron GT that has the upgraded B&O system. In terms of its audio configuration, the B&O system that is in my GT, has 16 speakers that combined output 710 Watts. At the front, there is: a tweeter at each extremity of the dashboard; a center loudspeaker placed in the middle of the dashboard; active wide-band speakers within the A-pillars; a mid-range and bass speaker within each of the front doors. At the rear, there is: a bass speaker and tweeter within the rear doors, and two effect speakers within the rear parcel shelf. Finally, there’s a subwoofer in the boot. I want to make that clear to the forum members reading my comments that I am picky too.

Yes, Fasttoys, I already got the impression that you are in the 99th percentile of car audio users.

On the other hand, in an “Simplify, then add lightness” Lotus, it’s also better to keep the audio system simple and light. My point is that this does not mean to accept “bad sound”. Some of the simplest of systems can give you some of the purest and “most musical” of sounds, and this is without banging subwoofers and spine-tingling tweeters.

I simply want a car audio system with presence, sound stage, and life-like presentation. I currently have this in the upgrade, one level above standard OEM system in my BMW Alpina B3 (the system is an unmodified OEM system for BMW by Harman Kardon). I am of course well aware that it is not realistic to have a 7-channel system in a compact sports car.

To Digilotus I will say that live music remains the same regardless of what (presumably different) ears are hearing it. A lot of processed recorded music may be so messed up by the time it is played back that only those who played it originally may know what it was supposed to sound like. I am not at all attempting to tell anyone here what they should be doing to their car audio systems, and even less what they are supposed to be hearing. But don’t forget that there are good recordings and wonderful music that can be rendered while driving, and I prefer that to sound good enough to not keep in turning the audio off (like I had to on some test-drives).

I am simply telling you what my own personal opinions are, and what I intend to do with my own car audio system. Obviously only a few will ever care, and I am not going to worry about all the Emira owners that won’t ever care about the audio, and focus 100% on the driving and handling.

 

[Fasttoys]

Yes, Fasttoys, I already got the impression that you are in the 99th percentile of car audio users.

On the other hand, in an “Simplify, then add lightness” Lotus, it’s also better to keep the audio system simple and light. My point is that this does not mean to accept “bad sound”. Some of the simplest of systems can give you some of the purest and “most musical” of sounds, and this is without banging subwoofers and spine-tingling tweeters.

I simply want a car audio system with presence, sound stage, and life-like presentation. I currently have this in the upgrade, one level above standard OEM system in my BMW Alpina B3 (the system is an unmodified OEM system for BMW by Harman Kardon). I am of course well aware that it is not realistic to have a 7-channel system in a compact sports car.

To Digilotus I will say that live music remains the same regardless of what (presumably different) ears are hearing it. A lot of processed recorded music may be so messed up by the time it is played back that only those who played it originally may know what it was supposed to sound like. I am not at all attempting to tell anyone here what they should be doing to their car audio systems, and even less what they are supposed to be hearing. But don’t forget that there are good recordings and wonderful music that can be rendered while driving, and I prefer that to sound good enough to not keep in turning the audio off (like I had to on some test-drives).

I am simply telling you what my own personal opinions are, and what I intend to do with my own car audio system. Obviously only a few will ever care, and I am not going to worry about all the Emira owners that won’t ever care about the audio and focus 100% on the driving and handling.

Tokion, I agree with all your points & feel we both have very similar ears on what we believe to be quality of sound. It will be nice once I have my car to do a deeper dive.​

 

[kitkat]

For those that want to analyze upgrade packages, these guys have been tearing down and upgrading the KEF system and will supposedly have a tear down and analysis video soon.

Would be interesting to see what information you can get out of it.

Upgrade the sound system in your Lotus Emira today! — Cambridge Car Audio

Lotus Emira Sound System Upgrade! Audio Upgrade Packages specifically designed for your Lotus Emira by Cambridge Car Audio!

www.cambridgecar.audio

 

[lynchy73]

For those that want to analyze upgrade packages, these guys have been tearing down and upgrading the KEF system and will supposedly have a tear down and analysis video soon.

Would be interesting to see what information you can get out of it.

Upgrade the sound system in your Lotus Emira today! — Cambridge Car Audio

Lotus Emira Sound System Upgrade! Audio Upgrade Packages specifically designed for your Lotus Emira by Cambridge Car Audio!

www.cambridgecar.audio

Cool. Some of their packages look nuts and totally OTT.

My impressions of the Kef system are as follows:
1. High frequencies are not so bright. Driver seated position is off axis of the speakers, so high frequency response will be down.
2. Something strange happens with the bass. I’ve not been able to fully understand what is going on. Bass can sound good with some material, but then with a different track it can be quite coloured/distorted. Open or closed windows has an impact but haven’t had a chance to get a proper understanding yet of what’s happening.

The audio system isn’t a total disaster and it does have clarity, but at the same time, something weird is going on with the bass. The large plastic trim under the rear window, behind the seats is not well braced at all and can rattle, I suspect that is part of the issue with the bass distortion/colouration.

 

[Nova]

I took a quick look. The Audison Thesis tweeter used in the higher end systems is $1800 USD a pair. The fundamental design makes it a questionable choice for a car audio environment. The Fs, FR, and directivity look terrible for a driver that costs this much. I also couldn't find any reviews of it. The only "full review" I found was a YouTube video that's pretty much an unboxing. This makes me very suspicious.

I'm sure they'll dog the stock stereo system, but maybe we'll glean some useful information from it.

 

[kitkat]

I took a quick look. The Audison Thesis tweeter used in the higher end systems is $1800 USD a pair. The fundamental design makes it a questionable choice for a car audio environment. The Fs, FR, and directivity look terrible for a driver that costs this much. I also couldn't find any reviews of it. The only "full review" I found was a YouTube video that's pretty much an unboxing. This makes me very suspicious.

I'm sure they'll dog the stock stereo system, but maybe we'll glean some useful information from it.

Yup, they’re in the business of selling stereo upgrades — like i said in my post, what information can we get out of it, like where are the real deficiencies.

 

[Porter]

I assume they are using the "unused" A-pillar mount locations for those tweeters. But even so, you want a pretty wide dispersion tweeter design with a slow roll-off of the frequency plot when moving off axis, or you get really weird results in a car.

 

[K_Squared]

For those that want to analyze upgrade packages, these guys have been tearing down and upgrading the KEF system and will supposedly have a tear down and analysis video soon.

Would be interesting to see what information you can get out of it.

Upgrade the sound system in your Lotus Emira today! — Cambridge Car Audio

Lotus Emira Sound System Upgrade! Audio Upgrade Packages specifically designed for your Lotus Emira by Cambridge Car Audio!

www.cambridgecar.audio

Approx. $10,000 USD for their "Most Popular" option seems absurd. I'd rather just wear headphones than cough up $10K for a sound system in a sports car.

EDIT: OMG I hadn't even scrolled down to see the other 4 options. The most expensive one is $86,780.67 USD. That's almost as much as the car itself. Hard to believe this is real.

 

[Eagle7]

It will be very interesting to see what they come up with, although after looking at their site, it appears they like to put a lot of Skinz sound deadening mat on everything. It will add weight which is the exact opposite of what I want to do with my car. In the past, I've always used Damplifier mat from Secondskinaudio which works quite well and isn't tar based so it doesn't smell.

The key to damping panel resonance is to apply just enough in the right spot to change the frequency the panel resonates at. You don't have to cover the entire panel. Usually a square or rectangle at or near the center of the panel will do the trick. Use the least amount necessary to do the trick so you don't add a lot of extra weight. A single sheet of Damplifier which is 1 x 2 ft weighs about 14 oz.

Once I get my car I'll do my own experiments to find out where road noise resonance is coming from, as that's usually what interferes with car audio sound quality.

 

[Gprodigy]

LEVEL 8 is the same price as the base model car lol

 

[ToonFan]

Totally shooting from the hip here as I haven't heard the KEF factory system but decades ago had to solve low end problems for customers who didn't want to completely replace their audio systems and had cars with limited options: SAS bazooka tube- amplified version. I have no idea if there is enough room behind the seats or not but it would fill the void in the low end and not weigh the car down enough for any noticeable loss in character.

 

[Time2Fly]

It will be very interesting to see what they come up with, although after looking at their site, it appears they like to put a lot of Skinz sound deadening mat on everything. It will add weight which is the exact opposite of what I want to do with my car. In the past, I've always used Damplifier mat from Secondskinaudio which works quite well and isn't tar based so it doesn't smell.

The key to damping panel resonance is to apply just enough in the right spot to change the frequency the panel resonates at. You don't have to cover the entire panel. Usually a square or rectangle at or near the center of the panel will do the trick. Use the least amount necessary to do the trick so you don't add a lot of extra weight. A single sheet of Damplifier which is 1 x 2 ft weighs about 14 oz.

Once I get my car I'll do my own experiments to find out where road noise resonance is coming from, as that's usually what interferes with car audio sound quality.

You're hired! Will it still cost $68k GBP?

 

[Eagle7]

You're hired! Will it still cost $68k GBP?

That's not only ridiculous, but they're going to install 90 sheets of Skinz mat?? That has to weigh anywhere from 80-90 lbs! And they're also going to keep your car for 2 months to do that to it?

The only thing of value I can see coming from this is if they post pictures of the inside of any Emira panels, especially the wheel well liners. That would let me know if and where there might be places to consider a FEW pieces (not full mats) of damping mat.

 

[Time2Fly]

Yeah, I could see spending a couple grand for a good audio experience and to isolate road and panel noise but not the cost of a base Emira.

 

[Cwolf]

These audio upgrade costs are laughable. Anything over $3-4k would not be worth it.

 

[Shyatic]

The entire Cambridge site is really designed for them to shoot a full length "upgrade" video to pimp out their YouTube channel.

The quality you might get because of expensive ass components in the Emira is not going to be worth the upgrade. $10k, lol.

 

[lynchy73]

This company offers these extreme and OTT upgrades, but my guess is they’ve never done any of those extreme builds yet, they just have suitable components selected. They also offer various much less extreme builds, at lower price points.

It’s a good thing they are looking at the Emira IMO. I feel there are some changes that could be made that will improve what is a system that contains descent components but needs a bit of dialling in and some acoustic treatment.

 

[Fasttoys]

The sub option is nice but then you have a box sitting behind the seat. I will wait till I get my car to view all options.