expiredgaamn114 | Staff posted Mar 29, 2026 09:48 AM
Item 1 of 7
Item 1 of 7
expiredgaamn114 | Staff posted Mar 29, 2026 09:48 AM
KEF Q1 Meta Bookshelf Speakers (Pair; Walnut) $399.99 + Free Shipping
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank briankeith
People only buy traditional horizontal center channel speakers because of marketing and because it's the norm, but it's actually the wrong speaker to buy in almost all cases.
People only buy traditional horizontal center channel speakers because of marketing and because it's the norm, but it's actually the wrong speaker to buy in almost all cases.
This is all of course nerd talk haha. In the case of these metas, you are 100% right!
I have 3 recliners as my seats, which are always reclined during viewing, so I have my TV mounted as high as possible on a mobile TV cart, angled down for on-axis viewing from the reclined positions.
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If you would have trouble fitting the R3 under your TV or on your entertainment center cabinet, consider raising the TV with 3rd party adjustable height TV legs that mount to the TV's VESA holes, but if you watch from a couch, be careful not to make your TV too high. The center, or bottom 1/3 line of the TV should be at eye level when sitting normally. If your entertainment center cabinet is too high already to avoid this as an issue, just grab a center speaker stand that is compatible with a bookshelf speaker. Make sure the R3's tweeter is angled at your ears, and not at your knees.
R6 is still a fantastic speaker though, and any comb filtering/lobing issues you'd get from it (inherent to almost all traditional horizontal center speaker designs) would be minimal in off-axis seating positions, especially with its 3-way design and woofer crossover frequency of 500Hz. If you can't find any buyer for the extra R3 and don't want to keep the spare, the R6 will save you $300 at MSRP. That said, I see a pair of used R3s on Amazon for $2000 right now, so that'd be my choice, whether or not you can find a buyer for the extra one.
I'm very envious of your system though, and would absolutely love to hear it in person.
But otherwise this is good advice.
KEF have great center channel speaker designs, with the Q6 and R6 crossing their woofers at 560Hz and 500Hz respectively, but anything around and below those frequencies will still have the issue of comb filtering. It's unavoidable due to the identical opposing woofers, but a 3-way design that brings the crossover around 500Hz will minimize the comb filtering affecting critical dialogue intelligibility frequencies around 1000Hz. The more dialogue frequencies that are sent to the dual speakers of a traditional horizontal center speaker, the higher chance you run into poor dialogue intelligibility in off-axis seating.
Almost all 3-way center channel designs only bandage the comb filtering issue, but they don't solve it. Bookshelf or tower speakers with vertically aligned drivers are the only way to eliminate comb filtering.
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KEF have great center channel speaker designs, with the Q6 and R6 crossing their woofers at 560Hz and 500Hz respectively, but anything around and below those frequencies will still have the issue of comb filtering. It's unavoidable due to the identical opposing woofers, but a 3-way design that brings the crossover around 500Hz will minimize the comb filtering affecting critical dialogue intelligibility frequencies around 1000Hz. The more dialogue frequencies that are sent to the dual speakers of a traditional horizontal center speaker, the higher chance you run into poor dialogue intelligibility in off-axis seating.
Almost all 3-way center channel designs only bandage the comb filtering issue, but they don't solve it. Bookshelf or tower speakers with vertically aligned drivers are the only way to eliminate comb filtering.
Thus no issue and behavior like a Q1 on it's side like you suggested.
AKA their centers are fine.
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