British audio gear maker KEF today announced the next generation of its midrange R Series loudspeakers, dubbed R Series Meta. Upgraded with the same sound-absorbing metamaterial tech found in several of its high-end speakers, the R Series Meta aims to bring this premium sound to a broader audience with its more affordable price point.
If you’ve ever perused the KEF website and drooled over the company’s unique-looking $35,000 Blade One Meta speakers, its $22,000 Reference 5 Meta towers, or even its $7,000 LS60 Wireless powered speakers, KEF’s R Series Meta could be a much more affordable way to get in on the same Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT) found in those speakers.
The new R Series Meta lineup is powered by KEF’s 12th-generation Uni-Q driver array, which is the company’s proprietary driver technology found on all of the high-end speakers in KEF’s lineup and is recognizable by the unique star shape in the center. And while this 12th-gen of drivers could be found in the previous generation of the R Series (which has been officially be replaced by the Meta, but is still available under “Specials” on the KEF website), they get a significant “Meta” upgrade with the addition of MAT, which uses a round plate that sits behind the driver and is milled with a highly complex maze-like pattern. The plate’s labyrinthine channels absorb and eliminate 99% of unwanted frequencies, mainly in the 620Hz to 40kHz range, from the tweeter, creating what KEF calls “an acoustic black hole.” The result is said to be a purer, more natural sound closer to what the artist intended.
Each speaker in the R Series Meta range features a combination of Uni-Q drivers, including a 1-inch (25mm) vented aluminum dome tweeter with MAT, a 5-inch (125mm) mid-frequency aluminum cone, and low-frequency bass drivers, which come in 6.5- and 5.25-inch sizes (165mm and 130mm) depending on the speaker model.
R Series Meta is a seven-model passive speaker range that can be used in a variety of ways, from a simple stereo pair (in either towers or bookshelf/standmount speakers) for music to being built into a Dolby Atmos surround sound home theater setup with the inclusion of two different-sized center speakers and even a set of surround sound speakers that can be wall-mounted or placed on top of the towers. The Meta lineup is slightly more expensive than the previous R Series and includes the following:
Floorstanding
R11 Meta — $3,250 each
R7 Meta — $2,500 each
R5 Meta — $2,000 each
Bookshelf
R3 Meta — $2,200 a pair
Center
R6 Meta — $2,000 each
R2 Meta — $1,400 each
Surround
R8 Meta — $1,600 a pair
“The demand for high-fidelity sound at home is ever-increasing, whether listening to music or watching films as part of a home cinema setup, and audiophiles expect the very best quality of sound,” said Grace Lo, KEF president and head of Global Marketing, in a press release. “At KEF, we are committed to allowing listeners to experience content exactly as the producer intended it to be heard. The launch of the new R Series with MAT has enhanced the listening experience more than ever before.”
The KEF R Series Meta collection is available starting today and comes in three finishes: Black Gloss, White Gloss, and Walnut, with a special Titanium Gloss finish for the R7 Meta and Indigo Gloss for R3 Meta. Each speaker in the R Series Meta range also comes with magnetically attached and removable microfiber grilles.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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