Speakers are extremely personal, and, highly specific pieces of equipment, just saying that something is a “good speaker”, or a “great speaker” does not make it the right speaker for that specific application. We at BTA have been a company that generally carried only a single line of speakers for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, it is a great line from an old and trusted company with a rich tradition of making speakers that are truly very “good” or “great” speakers… but, as good or as great as they are, they cannot and will not fit every application.
So, we went on a search.
When I say a search, I mean it, there are hundreds of brands of speakers out there to consider. Here are some things that are very interesting about looking for speakers to sell or own. Most speaker companies do not actually make speakers! I know that entire sentence looks like an oxymoron but, it isn’t, and I’ll tell you why.
If you do some research what you will find out is that many of the speaker brands out there are just brands. They buy drivers (the actual moving parts) and some, then, buy cabinets and crossovers… so what they really do is screw the parts they get from other companies together, and ta-da! Like magic you have a speaker brand.
If you do not make your own parts you are at risk of the real manufacturer delivering an inferior product to you at any time or even delivering parts that do not meet your design specification correctly. That would suck big time.
Now, I’m not sure how much time I should spend trying to explain how many more pitfalls there are in this approach but, for the sake of this blog and time let’s just say that they’re many. After all, their name isn’t the one that’s going to be on the finished product is it?
So first, we eliminated anyone that is just an “assembler” and went straight to someone who manufactures and assembles on their own. Then we went through a checklist; Has the company been around for a while? Do they have a history of making groundbreaking products? Have they moved the needle in speaker performance in the past? What are they best known for?
Finally, we ask the most important question of all, “How do they actually sound?”. This is a personal preference thing really but, as several of us here have been in the industry for a very long time, we have opinions of what constitutes generally great sound.
Note: Great sound does not necessarily mean that I want to own or sell that speaker (Although frankly… I often do want them…)
After spending months looking at and listening to several finalists, enter KEF.
✔ Are they established? They have been in the speaker business since 1961.
✔ Storied past? They have made a number of firsts over the years in groundbreaking and great sounding products.
✔ Diverse selection? They have a large line up of products that can serve a lot of different situations.
✔ Do they stand out? They possess
technologies that set their speakers apart from the mainstream.
✔ They aren’t just an “assembler”. They make their own product.
✔ Do they sound great. They sound magnificent.
So first, we eliminated anyone that is just an “assembler” and went straight to someone who manufactures and assembles on their own. Then we went through a checklist; Has the company been around for a while? Do they have a history of making groundbreaking products? Have they moved the needle in speaker performance in the past? What are they best known for?
Finally, we ask the most important question of all, “How do they actually sound?”. This is a personal preference thing really but, as several of us here have been in the industry for a very long time, we have opinions of what constitutes generally great sound.
Note: Great sound does not necessarily mean that I want to own or sell that speaker (Although frankly… I often do want them…)
After spending months looking at and listening to several finalists, enter KEF.
