Loudspeaker Enclosures by KEF - Finally Completed

Gold plated speakers connectors- image #1

 Well, I  have finally completed my KEF speaker enclosures project. I purchased my KEF speakers directly from KEF of England and I bought the raw speakers in kit form. The kit included 2 - T27 HF tweeters, 2- B110 Bextrene mid-range drivers, 2- B139 bass drivers and the two crossover units, one set for each speaker all mounted within custom-made walnut veneered cabinets.

The speakers are mounted on steel stands with castors. The stands were added later and are very important so as to get the enclosure off of the floor for more natural sounding bass and more directional mid and upper range sounds.

The KEF Concerto, as they are called, is a classic 3-way ported speaker system. The advantage to a ported box is that it can be louder (about 3db), but this increase in db will only be at certain frequencies, depending on how the port tunes the box.

One speaker in relation to the Hifi cabinet - image #2

The final stage of the project was the installation of  two gold plated speaker connectors located in the back of the enclosure (#1). Not too difficult a task if you have the right tools which would include a jigsaw, cordless drill, an appropriate bit, pliers, utility knife and soldering iron.

Pilot holes - image #3

The before shot shows the 4 pilot holes for the jigsaw (#3). That lumpy looking mess in the middle left of the photo was actually the original two wires coming out of the back of the speakers box. You will agree that this needed remediation.

cutout in back of speaker - image #4

The next shot shows the size of the cutout compared to the speakers itself (#4). One cutout per speaker was required.

Although the speakers, KEF Concertos, are fairly plain looking they do put out a very good natural sound though I would not consider them to be state-of-the-art. In their day they were impressive.

How long did it take to complete my speaker project? 40 years; yes, 40 years this month.

KEF is still in business and are now famous for their Blade line of speakers costing thousands (try $30,000). They make a more affordable line of speakers for the budget conscious but still manage to maintain quality throughout. As a matter of fact I am seriously considering the Q400 sub-woofer as an addition to my system because the only thing I am missing is a deep bass presence. But the price has to come down a bit (where is Lotto 649 when you need it?).

All shots taken with an Olympus E330 with 50mm F2 lens.