KEF Q500 or Paradigm Reference Monitor 7?

[isaaca]

I have an old pair of the KEF Q series that I was thinking of replacing with the Q500's. I find the KEF's rather appeasing as they are fairly neutral in nature which accounts for the fairly accurate sound reproduction. The lows are not the greatest but I have my HSU sub to counter that.

So I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these two speakers? I have never actually heard the Paradigm so I am very interested to hear how they compare to the KEF's.

[harley .guy07]

I have an old pair of the KEF Q series that I was thinking of replacing with the Q500's. I find the KEF's rather appeasing as they are fairly neutral in nature which accounts for the fairly accurate sound reproduction. The lows are not the greatest but I have my HSU sub to counter that.

So I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these two speakers? I have never actually heard the Paradigm so I am very interested to hear how they compare to the KEF's.


I used to sell Paradigm and they were really well built. Depending on the series that you are looking at is how they will compare. Paradigm have a history of being rather bright sounding on some of their models. there are some new models coming out that might be different from that sound but I would believe that KEF and Paradigm would be a completely different sounds so I would definitely hear them before committing

[TheHills44060]

My taste is the KEF's. Yes the Paradigms are well built but they absolutely fry my eardrums. With each iteration of the References I keep listening and they keep giving me headaches. That in itself is a deal breaker as well as the fact they are just plain ugly speakers. Now on the contrary I have nothing but good things to say about their subwoofers. The first one I heard was in 1995 and every other model i have heard over the years has been a good performer, go figure?

[Mr Peabody]

In general I also lean to the R500. I've heard several KEF models but one thing that's impressive they do at shows is demonstrate how their drivers basically sound the same from lower priced models up. For example, the showed the LS50 and the Blade 2, the Blade was obviously more extended due to the more drivers but the voicing of the two models were spot on.

I've heard the R300's compared to the LS50's on the same system, the "R" series seemed to have better balance and slightly warmer. With that being said the LS50 was still my preference as it has sort of a "boogie factor" or "fun factor" to it, a bit more jump.

Synergy with your system is the final say but as I stated, in general, the R500 I feel would be the most enjoyable of the two models..