KEF KHT3005SE review

KEF has been laying its egg-shaped speakers all over the place recently. A couple of months back we were treated to a basket of its KEF Picoforte iPod docks, and now the same speakers are ready to bring your movie soundtracks to life in the form of the KHT3005SEs.

The SE is an update of 2006’s KHT3005, which impressed us back then. It has the same looks and smooth elegance, but brings a wealth of changes to ramp up the performance.

Getting the horn

The biggest is the addition of a ‘crown-horn’ optimiser over the tweeters. A what, you say? Without descending into hi-fi geekery, this essentially means a smoother response and greater sensitivity at very high frequencies. Perfect for Mariah Carey videos then.

Elsewhere the subwoofer has had tweaks to its equalisation and the satellites and centre speakers feature modified crossovers.

Improved timing and rhythm

But do these extras boost performance? They sure do. For a surround sound system, KEF’s Special Edition package is impressively agile and articulate, with notably improved timing and rhythmic ability.

You also get far more adjustment control over set-up than earlier speakers, helping smooth integration between the component parts.

Its predecessor was a solid product, but the KHT3005SE is a genuine star. There’s tangible excitement from the SE, and it’s a similar story where music reproduction is concerned.

Apparently KEF hates it when you call their speaker ‘eggs’. But whether you refer to it by nickname or model number, this is a tasty and peerless surround sound package.