More details for KEF Audio

[3MIRA]

Wow!
How much HP and 0-60 you get from that?
Does it have cupholders and hydraulic steering?

Best results when driving my Grand Turismo Evija

 

[Nova]

I wired some Rockford Fosgate tweeters into the headrests of my Mazda MX-5 (Miata)... the cutouts were already there (oddly). It was a weird thing, hearing directional sound behind your head while driving...

Yea, there's been some neat tinkering in the car audio world since the 80's. However, the modern application of inexpensive-yet-powerful DSP and ultra-efficient Class-D amplification has really changed the game.

 

[ColonialHeavy798]

Hi everyone! This will be my first Lotus; I'm coming from an F-Type convertible with their Meridian sound upgrade. The Emira hooked me with the good looks.

I'm super excited for the Emira, but honestly not terribly confident in the sound system from what little details we're seeing. My music style is rap or electronic, so I'm looking for punchy base and defined vocals. Music matters to me in any car.

Kind of feeling like sound might end up being an afterthought, even with a brand name on it.

What would build some confidence...
- allow complex sound tuning by the user. Don't just throw a treble/low/sub slide trio at us. Give the full spectrum, control over cutoffs, and digital aux outs for a custom system. There should obviously be presets for those that don't care, but offer this manual tuning mode and it'll fit in with the mindset of the lotus being a car for drivers that know their stuff.

- I haven't heard it yet, but am I understanding right that the sub is basically installed on the body? If that's correct, then how does the sound change when the windows are down? Curious why they would leave a variable - use a box for consistent results?

- watts aren't everything. But they are something. I'm going to just guess that this car will be kind of a loud ride experience (compared to your average Audi or whatever) - is there really enough power for me to listen to music LOUD over road noise, engine noise, windows down noise and all without bottoming out and distorting?

I suppose I just wish I could hear it.

 

[r1lee]

Quite excited to hear the Kef setup. Someone saying that it is only 360w is a concern. I highly doubt it, as 360w for that size cabin is more then enough. The Uni-q drivers when paired with a class-d amp, hopefully the whole system is designed by Kef, I am sure will result in fantastic sound. My current HT which is 30x24 ft and has about 5500w (2 subs) of total power, sounds fantastic. My Kef LS50 wireless at 200w sounds which I keep upstairs, can fill the house and are musically some of the best monitors money can buy. Don't judge how good the Uni-q drivers can be, if kef is designing the whole system.

 

[Porter]

- I haven't heard it yet, but am I understanding right that the sub is basically installed on the body? If that's correct, then how does the sound change when the windows are down? Curious why they would leave a variable - use a box for consistent results?

It's a type of free-air subwoofer. Those have been around for many decades, but rarely integrated into a car because in car companies the audio system is typically designed in a very late step after the completed engineering of the unibody. Integration of the subwoofer venting into the car body is a very recent development, and a good one. My BMW actually has under-seat 8" bass units in the floor that are each in their own box that vents into the adjacent frame rail of the unibody and uses the air space there (which opens to atmosphere at multiple points) to propagate/dispel the back-wave.

This Lotus scenario is similar but actually seems to mount the sub into the wall of the car, and the back-wave propagates through a tuned housing into the space outside the chassis (but inside the body panels). The company behind this is BluAcs out of Australia, and the idea is to use the cabin volume itself as a type of vented box enclosure. Together it's a type of bandpass scenario using the whole air volume of the vehicle. I think the in-vehicle result may be very good but it certainly depends on how they tune it. I wouldn't stress too much about it until you hear it in person. Some Volvo models use these today, so you can do some research and go give it a listen at a dealer if you are curious.

KEF are very, very focused on audio engineering for home applications and will likely not tolerate a poor experiential result on a system that bears their name. If you aren't familiar with their Uni-Q concentric/aligned driver technology it's worth reading more about it. There are a number of different companies that have pursued similar design goals over the years, including Tannoy, and it's a great technology for reducing phase-related distortion, particularly in near-field scenarios. This is not a coaxial design with a tweeter mounted on the front like some car audio of the past... these are engineered as a paired, integrated design which behaves as a physically aligned audio point source while partially controlling the destructive interaction of the wave at the tweeter edges. It has been dissected a bunch by audio engineers in various articles and KEF have become well-respected for the performance of this design. The LS50 monitor speaker (which uses a similar Uni-Q driver configuration to that which will be used in the Emira) has been repeatedly rated a Stereophile Magazine recommended component, and different iterations of the LS50 have won several of their Editor's Choice awards over the years against products many times (sometimes more than 10x) more expensive.

Car audio is incredibly challenging due to the offset seating positions, but anything that reduces the terrible phase coherence problem associated with physically separated high/low frequency drivers can only help. This is the reasoning behind SQ competition systems traditionally placing tightly paired speaker components in custom kick panel enclosures in the footwells in order to get them as close to each other and as far from the driver as possible. The KEF Uni-Q concentric design achieves a similar aim through inherent design, while retaining a door-mounted location.

I'm very optimistic about the outcome and I'm looking forward to seeing what they are able to deliver.

 

[Smudge]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but the references here are for 340 watts for the KEF system. On the configurator (US), it now says "560 w". Is this a change to specifications?

 

[NicolasB]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but the references here are for 340 watts for the KEF system. On the configurator (US), it now says "560 w". Is this a change to specifications?

Someone last week stated that there was a power upgrade to the system they were going to be doing for production cars. Maybe that is it? I hope so, because 340 is kind of low-end for the "high-end" system it supposedly is getting.

 

[TomE]

340W was the original spec and I'd heard at Goodwood they were doing a power boost for production cars, so 560W is probably correct now. The UK configurator shows that too.

 

[VL3X]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but the references here are for 340 watts for the KEF system. On the configurator (US), it now says "560 w". Is this a change to specifications?

Nice find! I hope we do get 560w!

 

[TomAce]

It's crazy but I just had the feeling that Lotus is maybe using their pre-production cars and comments from journalists all over the world to really improve on the things that really have to be sorted out still.

And finally, maybe in spring 23 we will all be surprised as all the issues before have been adressed and are sorted out then. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise?

I think they are really hanging behind their targeted time-schedule in a lot of areas, but they were forced to release earlier than they would have wanted to. But sometimes also pressure is useful to get somewhere. Only under highest pressure a diamant will come out...

 

[NicolasB]

It's crazy but I just had the feeling that Lotus is maybe using their pre-production cars and comments from journalists all over the world to really improve on the things that really have to be sorted out still.

And finally, maybe in spring 23 we will all be surprised as all the issues before have been adressed and are sorted out then. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise?

I think they are really hanging behind their targeted time-schedule in a lot of areas, but they were forced to release earlier than they would have wanted to. But sometimes also pressure is useful to get somewhere. Only under highest pressure a diamant will come out...

Somehow there still exists optimism on this forum.

 

[Leonard]

It's crazy but I just had the feeling that Lotus is maybe using their pre-production cars and comments from journalists all over the world to really improve on the things that really have to be sorted out still.

And finally, maybe in spring 23 we will all be surprised as all the issues before have been adressed and are sorted out then. Wouldn't that be a nice surprise?

I think they are really hanging behind their targeted time-schedule in a lot of areas, but they were forced to release earlier than they would have wanted to. But sometimes also pressure is useful to get somewhere. Only under highest pressure a diamant will come out...

I'd love to believe that, but I think it's pretty clear it's just a wait for parts now

 

[Nova]

Parts shortage could explain the power boost. They may have been forced to switch to more powerful chips due to availability. A lot of the class-D amplifier chips are pin-compatible and can be swapped without without too much redesign (well... you need higher supply voltage, thermal management, and output filter component size, but that's all a piece of cake in the modern day).

Of course, this is just conjecture.

 

[digilotus]

Harman amp supply issues aside, I wouldn’t be surprised if KEF recommended the power uplift.

After all KEF are putting their brand name on it and they wouldn’t want to start their first foray into car audio being unsatisfactory compared to their direct competition.

 

[digilotus]

Parts shortage could explain the power boost. They may have been forced to switch to more powerful chips due to availability. A lot of the class-D amplifier chips are pin-compatible and can be swapped without without too much redesign (well... you need higher supply voltage, thermal management, and output filter component size, but that's all a piece of cake in the modern day).

Of course, this is just conjecture.

The power amp is a line level Harman booster amp so it’s an easy swap. Will be a piece of cake to swap it aftermarket as there’s no fibre connection using MOST or A2B protocols by the looks of things.

 

[CDM1855]

I have suspicion that while they are awaiting parts, and hence need to delay production, they may well be taking onboard comments from journos and others to make some improvement tweaks where possible

 

[digilotus]

I have suspicion that while they are awaiting parts, and hence need to delay production, they may well be taking onboard comments from journos and others to make some improvement tweaks where possible

I hope you’re right. That would be the smart thing to do. Never waste an opportunity.

 

[DJS]

I wonder if they will change the V6 to a V8

 

[NicolasB]

I wonder if they will change the V6 to a V8

You took the words right out of my mouth...lol

 

[CDM1855]

I hope you’re right. That would be the smart thing to do. Never waste an opportunity.

I heard a rumour that they were tweaking the chassis setup. I believe recently there was information released suggesting that there is now going to be slightly different ride heights between sports and tour.

So some tweaks are being made