KEF Factory Tour

We are pleased to share with you the news of our first KEF Factory Tour since the COVID pandemic. The tour took place on Thursday 1st June and our lucky participants were treated to a guided tour, which commenced with a visit to the KEF showroom to view the current product line up, starting from the KEF Q Series models through to the flagship Muon. The showroom visit was a great start to the day and enabled our guests to take a closer look at an assortment of products including the Custom Installation (Ci) product range and the Reference Series.

A hop, skip and a jump across the corridor to the dedicated cinema room for a Dolby Atmos demonstration, using in-wall and in-ceiling speakers setup in a 7.4.2 configuration. The system comprised of the Reference in-wall Ci3160REFM-THX for the front left, centre and right channels, together with two pairs of Ci3160RL-THXs used for rear surround and surround back channels. Ci200RR THX spec in-ceiling speakers were installed overhead as Dolby Atmos height channels. Last but not least, a KF92 was connected via a wireless transmitter up front, with a KC62 positioned behind the seating area to provide an even spread of LFE for the rear channels.

Time for some fresh air, with a walk across the to the engineering department, but first a step back in time to awaken early memories of historical KEF loudspeakers going back to the early sixties. Our guests were shown KEF speakers from yesteryear using ground-breaking technology and materials that were used in various models the years, paving the way for the development of innovative speakers such as the KEF Blade. With dormant memories from teenage years disturbed for many of our guests, we moved on to meet the engineering team, the people responsible for tomorrow’s aspirational loudspeaker designs.

The engineering team provided our guests with an insight into some of the latest technologies employed to raise the audio performance further, although refrained from enlightening us with news of new and coming products that are in development.

KEF is one of the most proactive audio companies in the UK, who are appointing young university graduates with a flair for acoustic engineering and our guests were fortunate to meet a few of the new faces during our factory tour. Such a practice helps secure the future for tomorrow’s technology advances and product design yet to be realised by the engineering team at KEF.

Our next stop on the tour was a visit to the factory, to witness first-hand the crossover components for the Reference Series being hand built in readiness for assembly. It was good to see the attention to detail applied during the process to maintain performance consistency and reliability. You could hear a pin drop as we proceeded through the factory during our tour, as a result of the focus and attention to detail by the expert team. We were fortunate to witness a pair of Blade 2 METAs and Reference 1 METAs being assembled in readiness for despatch to their new owners, providing our guests with an appreciation of the complexity involved with the creation of such world class products.

Our final destination was for a listening session with a pair of KEF Reference 5 METAs. Alex, who is the youngest member of the engineering team played a selection of tracks to give everyone with an understanding of the dynamic and emotional capabilities of the speakers. With the iPad passed from one person to another, enabling everyone to try a track or two they were more familiar with, 3 and a half hours passed within the blink of an eye.

It will come of no surprise to learn that the demand is high and future factory tours are booked in advance. If you’re in the market for a new pair of speakers and would like to learn more about why KEF should be high on your shortlist, please contact a member of our team for more details. Call us on 01622 676703 or email sales@homemedialimited.co.uk today.