A Look Inside The KEF Q3 Meta - What changes have been made?

I just purchased a pair of new KEF Q3 Meta speakers and I can't wait to tear them down and compare them to my KEF Q350. In this video I will go over the T/S parameters of the drivers, cabinet construction, and crossover design to see what changes KEF has made. Will the new Q3 Meta be worth the upgrade over the Q350? Let's find out...

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[generationbehindhifi]

If you would like to support the channel, then please consider purchasing your speakers from the below affiliate link. By doing this it helps me create more look inside videos that you all enjoy to watch. Your support is much appreciated! Thank you!

[BobbyBass-xi]

Thanks for another breakdown video. Adds a lot to the usual sound impressions I seen on other channels. Keep up the good work and rock on!

[emmet]

The difference in T/S parameters tells me the woofer is the same driver, as the difference is well within expected tolerance between drivers of the same batch. Also Kef does appear to have good batch quality. My guess is that Kef tried to push the tweeter cross-over a bit too low in the Meta, which could be the reason why you prefer the 350. If you add damping material to the rear of the enclosure you will reduce one of the impedance peaks, the other is likely due to not rounding over the woofer hole internally. Great video! Keep them coming!

[Prometheus]

I always look forward to your tear down videos. Absolutely love them. Keep up the good work.

[boneseyyl]

That's interesting. Makes the Q350 a screaming good buy right now as KEF is practically giving them away to make room for the Meta. Seems to me the substantial price difference isn't really warranted in this case. It also goes along with what I am hearing about the Concerto vs the R3 Meta. A lot of people are preferring the Concerto over the Meta because it sounds a bit more lively and has a different bass response. Again it seems to make the Concerto the better buy, since sound is quite similar and the price difference is substantial there as well.

[johnross]

Interesting comparison. Nice job with the info.

[jamesmorse]

Great look inside. I love to see the hidden parts of products like this. Always good to know what we are paying for.

I was surprised to learn that the damping material was rolled up at the bottom and top of the front baffle. Any idea what benefit this has over lining the top, bottom, back, and sidewalls with the same material? This is what I normally see in other speakers.

[sbr]

Happy New Year! Thank you for this review! Wow, what an eye opener, interesting to see what manufacturers do or dont do behind the scenes. So called upgrading to increase the price. Dont get me wrong, I love my Kef Q150's, but i will think long and hard when i go to "upgrade"- not blindly jumping on the hyped bandwagon.

[doctorwho]

Excellent video! Rare to see a reviewer being honest and unbiased. You deserve more subscribers! Any plans to compare the Q1 meta vs q150, q650c vs q6 meta or q950 vs q11meta?

[yvesboutin]

I really enjoy this teardown/comparison video ! Since the Q350 was pretty well received, it was obvious for the company to just use the same cabinet with a slightly updated crossover and driver. It was wise and safe for the company to not invest more money in R&D, but I am still a little puzzle about the use of polyfill or lack thereof. The 'old wisdom' about cabinet design was to put damping material on one side of the cabinet when the other one facing it was parallel to avoid echoes and resonnances. I certainly would like to see what it does to the frequency response when one is modified compared to one that isn't. Thanks for the video!

[AexoeroV]

Hey, how much the Q3 were breaked in when you comoared it with tje q350? Im asking this because the sound difference you jear might come because the q350 is properly break in. I have an old pair of q350 and i got a new pair recently, man the old one sounded way way better, such a big difference in my opinion, i always heard about breaking in a speaker but i didnt really thought it matters much but now i changed my ooinion because it matters! Probably i need to run the new speakers for 100 hours or maybe more, i dont have the old ones anymore and the new ones don't sound as good after about 25 hours, i dont really know how much till this new ones will be the same and i remembered about your video and came back here to say this, maybe the new q3 is not breaked in and something tells me they need many hours because my old one sounded so much better, i dont inow what's happening with a driver when it runs for a while and why it can sound better but it does.

[JR-hoqm]

Good comparison. Now let’s see what your Hot Roded crossovers do! 👍🏻🔈

[muresantiberiu]

Maybe if you switch the speakers position between them or try to test them in the same spot so they can have the same distances between them you would hear differently. You increase the midbass response on the 2 closest and you get different imaging and sounstage because of positioning changing slightly the frequency response.This inner and outer speaker position test it's not the best, they need to be exactly in the same spot to be more objective.

[fhaquuu]

I love your speaker stands! What are they?

The Q350 are my favorite all time. I sold my LS50 metas long ago and stuck with them. Only gripe I have is they have had QA issues. I’ve had tweeters fail, and the glue on the surrounds separate and KEF replaced drivers every time. I just wish they were made to last. Maybe the W3 rectifies some of that.

Thanks

[ryanchappell]

What about the artifacts from the front of the driver? That tweeter has a large assembly in front of it. Very cool though. I’m sure Kef knows that they are doing.

I love to see inside these speakers and measuring the drivers is a really nice touch.

[RdandTrk]

It's a good morning when there's a new GenerationBehindHIFI video. ☕

[larsmartinhambro]

What is good about KEF meta?
Can you do some load test? Onkyo TX-NR717 or some simular? or need it NAD\Hegel H400?

[tonks]

Hi! With this purchase are you still planning the original Q350 series of videos where you'll upgrade those speakers? I watched the video when you outlined your upgrades and I was looking forward to that video - hopefully, this new purchase doesn't change those plans!

[aciel-tv]

Interesting, i guess i dun have to upgrade my existing q350 haha. Nice 👍

[PhillioDoede]

Great video. I figured they'd be close but didn't expect them to be basically the same thing. Sort of disappointing but on the other hand it means the new Q line should eventually be able to hit the same sale prices as the out going models.

Also I have to wonder if some of the TS differences in the woofer are from the Q350 being broken in compared to the basically brand new Q3?