Subwoofers

I liked the precise sound emanating from the KC62 so much I bought another one for a small bedroom system. Ear candy.

Just get it if you have a woman who doesn't want to see a subwoofer but still appreciates good sound. She will never ever question the money you paid for it once she watches her favorite movies or listens to her favorite songs. Do yourself a favor and finish your system with one of these endgame subwoofers.

I am a retired Electronics Technologist. When I did a Duckduckgo search for
"Amazing Small Subwoofer" I began my investigation of KEF's KC62. I was convinced after reading the KEF whitepaper on the KC62 subwoofer that KEF engineers confronted the dragon and wisely made friends with him. Up to now, the term "small subwoofer" has been a contradiction in terms but KEF in developing the KC62 has come up with three patentable solutions to minimize resonance, vibration and distortion with full bandwidth at low to upper moderate listening levels. At high volume levels the lowest frequencies are rolled off to prevent drive motor clipping. My bedroom shelf 2.1 system is a Klipsch R41PM flanking the KEF KC62. The supporting shelf is reinforced with structural aluminum angle front and back to minimize sag. The R41PM recreates sound competently by itself, but adding the KC62 widens the soundstage to full double bass, synthesizer, kick drum and earthquake territory. It is indeed a pleasure to wake up to Deadmau5 & Kaskade "I Remember" and other cool tunes. Thank you KEF, you have made an old man very happy.

Has KEF hit another home run? I'd have to say unequivocally yes! This is an incredible subwoofer super compact yet with amazing extension, weight and power. It contains the force-canceling woofer alignment first demonstrated in the proof-of-concept Reference 107s and then in the smaller KEF Reference 104.2s and now seen in the Blades (which we own and love). I suspect they've done an amazing job with getting subsonic extension (rated down to 11 cycles!) through combining extra long excursion voice coils with compensatory boosting of bass signals below the dual woofer resonance points to virtually eliminate the intrinsic driver rolloff. And yes, consistent with the force canceling design, you literally cannot feel any cabinet vibration. Even when it's playing full-tilt boogie.

It is the perfect companion to either the less expensive KEF LSX or the Uber state-of-the-art LS 50s I or II. It fills in the bottom octave and change for the LS50s and the bottom two octaves for the LSX. It's very easy to set up, with the usual volume controls and adjustable frequency cutoffs points, option for phase inversion, and can be driven from either an LTE, from preamp outputs or even from line level speaker outputs.

It's capable of playing amazingly loud for such a tiny piece of equipment, but it's not cheap. You get what you pay for. Even in relationship to the full size Blades, it provides some useful augmentation down into the ultra low sonic and even subsonic range. If you really want to rattle your windows and doors in a very large room, you probably want to get the full size KF92. But if you're looking for something for a medium-sized room, a lanai, or even an intimate listening studio, you really can't do any better at virtually any price. If space is at a premium, this should clearly be on your shortlist. In short, it's the latest evidence that KEF is out in front technologically and simply leading if not lapping the field.

Pros:

1),Incredibly compact but powerful. Takes up almost no discernible space particularly relative to most subwoofers that will go anywhere near this low, but it will blow you away playing 20 to 30 cycle material. It seems impossible that that much low-end can come from that tiny box. There is no subwoofer this size that goes this low period!
2),Not just powerful but quite articulate. You can hear the bass line in the music emerging in a more discernible and articulate fashion. Really puts a great foundation back into music unless you been listening to huge speakers that extend at least down to 25 to 30 cycles.
3),Highly configurable with just about every option you might want.
4),Beautifully finished and obviously premium quality in terms of drivers, electronics, etc. obviously what you would expect from KEF . . . and at this price point.
5),The perfect complement for any satellite system lacking the bottom two octaves.

Cons:

1),It ain't cheap! And it's deceptively heavy! Don't ever try to pick this up with wet or greasy hands because its smooth contours will mean that you just dropped your brand new $1500 subwoofer.
2),Does not include a remote control or even a manual which might be nice again at this price point.
3),It's addicting! With the bottom octave now much more audible, you'll be tempted to play all of your music collection with low-frequency material and loud just to experience its weight and heft! Neighbors will likely not be happy. In an apartment building, that might even be a problem, as bass penetrates walls in a way that higher frequencies do not.