2006 Speakers

Yep, they're gone: the notorious magazine Sound & Vision had its awards session and the big prize went to some other big one.

British renowned company KEF – for they are the winners – went for the editor's top pick in the audio category and thus have been declared the best speaker system in 2006, with their latest series of gear, the Q series.

Q from "quality", most likely, as they have technically smashed the competition the moment the awards were announced at this year's CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas.

Alec Chanin, head of KEF America, stated that "KEF is honored and extremely proud to have been selected by Sound & Vision magazine as the editor’s top pick for best speaker system in the audio category. We take great pride in the Q Series and go to great lengths to always deliver high quality sound and design."

The new series of speakers from KEF not only sound marvelously clear and crystal-clean at a volume level were few daring ones can represent a major aesthetic asset whether we're to speak about the stands, bookshelf satellites, center units or woofers.

Utmost technology and premium materials have been mixed with KEF engineers extreme devotion to "brew" in a stunning array of hi-quality features, ensuring the best performance and the sleekest looks: aluminium dome tweeters running in perfect harmony with the titanium-coated bass and mid membranes, giving the cones not only extreme strength but also making them look cool.

Following the actual engineering trend regarding the single-axis driver-placement, the KEF team has managed to put up a very interesting and at the same time efficient array, the Q Series Uni-Q Array type which distributes a tweeter in the center of any bass ore mid-range unit: the sonic dispersion is more accurate and uniform this way allowing for a much greater "sweet spot" in front of the speaker. What comes out of this? Simple: by having Q-Series speakers in your rooms, you'll be able to get the best audio in more places than when using usual blasters! Better sound on a larger area!

Finally, you won't need to change everything around when you install the KEF Q-Series in your house: it's all just a matter of choosing between the astonishingly beautiful colors: Black Ash, Dark Apple, Maple and the brand new American Walnut.

While the audio system for your home can be configured from 2 to as many as you want speakers, I can't give you an exact price; yet note that KEF is OK from this point of view – you won't have to sell your soul for them. Indeed a most pleasant surprise from England!

Pictures credited to KEF, as expected.

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