Kef 105 II

erniejade

Anyone ever heard them? There is a set locally I am thinking about looking at. The price is a little high at $750 but, I will see they they will work on that a little bit.

http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrfull&1295319413&/KEF-Model-105-Series-ii---Trad

Here is a link to a set on audiogon for 650.

Now from what I have read, these are not a "kube" unit and the woofers have a small issue with being to heavy and they call it sag unless the woofer is rotated once in a while. From what i have read the weight of the woofer causes it to settle in funny and over time causes the coil to rub unless you rotate it. Outside of that, I am having a hard time finding a review saying it sucks or too much negative on them.

I am not getting rid of my SDA's but i always look for something different and usually wind up re-selling for what i got them for. like that vandersteen 3a's I got last time.

They are rubber surrounds and the guy said they are as close to mint as he can see.

Any opinions on them? or specific things to look for outside of coil rubs ( i will bring some bass heavy stuff to test them out on ) .

dorokusai

The price is too high and is one of my favorite vintage brands and model. I've never heard of the sag issue.

erniejade

http://hificollector.blogspot.com/2009/04/speakers-kef-1052.html

Mentions the sag

Nak-Mad18th September 2009, 06:50 PM
Slightly off topic.. but one thing with the 105's IME, the bass units are quite heavy and tend to sag under their own weight over time leading to chaffing or grating sounds when given a good work out as the voice coil scraped on the magnet.... the 'fix' was to take the bass unit out and turn 120 deg

Out of the box of dirty tricks I know.. but have had to do this on a couple of pairs 105's...;)


I have found a few places talking about this.

Ok so 750 is too high, how much is fair to offer him. he does run a retail shop so think prices with tax!!!

dorokusai

Thanks for the link Ernie. I'll have to read up on it but have never had an issue with pole woofer's in regards to KEF.

He probably has $400 in them, if that....PM me offline.

lakesailor

The 105/2's were my least favorite of the Kef reference series in those days. Save your money and find a nice set of of 104/2's instead. The 104/2 is easily one of the best Kef's ever made. They really got that one right.

univera

Can't vouch for the Kef's you reference, but I have to second the kudos for the 104/2's. They were my first reference speakers, purchased from a pawn shop way back. Rocked my college roomates crappy Kenwood and Sony stuff out of the house. Bought them on looks and was hooked on sound ever since. I ran each in mono on a pair of bridgeable, 80's era Rotels.

I found out a long time ago that there wasn't alot of knowledge about Kef's on the Polk forum. Doro was one of the few. I am a huge, vintage Kef fan as the sound is clean and laid back, or at least have the sense of what I feel is laid back. Not bright. They hit me the same way the Polks do-warm and super smooth.

The 104's are absoulutely amazing. The bass response is amazing as they each have a pair of downfiring subs that "cancel" backwaves (as I understand it) for super tight response. The mids and tweets are in a seperate, external enclosure. You can find them online fairly reguarly for a great price.

If you look, make sure the speakers themselves are solid as my pair is currently in moth balls as all the surrounds came apart over the years. Regnar/Dalquest was a company who was re-coning years ago when I inquired, but can't say for sure now.

erniejade

Well i am passing on them for now. He won't go below 700 on them. I will keep looking

Thanks for the help everyone!!

mhardy6647

They are wonderful loudspeakers; on my life list still.
(although I don't disagree about the 104s; also amazing loudspeakers - the original Polk "Monitor Series" were meant to mimic the fine British "monitors" of that era at a bargain price)

erniejade

bringing this back. Thinking of the 1st series of the 105 now. I found a set local. From what I am reading the bass on the original 105 is a little bit better then the II and the build of the mid and tweeter mounting is better. Has anyone heard the original 105's compared to the series II?

dorokusai

I haven't but have read the same stuff. I'm not sure of my actual opinion on all of it since I can't directly judge but it sounds a bit off to me. Get whatever you can get a deal on.

erniejade

thanks!! Yes it is like 1/2 price of the person asking for the II but 1 hour longer drive to go get them. The seller was very knowledgeable of the speakers and has owned them for some time. Kind of makes me feel better then getting them from a pawn shop asking too much.

dorokusai

Pawn shop. They're worthless unless you work with the owners and have some side deals hammered out.