New KEF Blade Meta in Multiple Colors and Two Sizes
KEF has announced their new Blade Meta speakers. Building on the foundation of the original Blade speaker, these new speakers offer their new Metamaterial introduced with the KEF LS50 Meta as well as a host of upgrades. Most notably, the Blade Meta comes in many colors and two sizes. Let’s take a closer look!
Look at All the Colors!
KEF has decided that the Blade Meta line needs to have color, and they delivered! The Blade Meta line comes in four standard finishes (Piano Black / Grey, Arctic White / Champagne, Charcoal Grey / Bronze,
Frosted Blue / Blue) and four special order finishes (Piano Black/ Copper, Frosted Blue/Bronze, Charcoal Grey/Red, Racing Red/Grey). If those aren’t enough for you, KEF will offer custom finishes beginning in June of 2022.
Models
As we indicated, the Blade Meta line comes in two sizes. The standard Blade ONE Meta is for larger spaces and the Blade TWO Meta is smaller. They both share the exact same Uni-Q driver array on the front so you aren’t getting anything different. The only driver difference is that the side-firing woofers are smaller on the KEF Blade TWO Meta. The Blade TWO Meta is also a little smaller, a little less efficient, and can’t play quite as low in room.
It should be noted that the -3dB point on the spec sheet (below) shows the smaller Blade TWO Meta playing lower (33Hz versus 35Hz). But in room, the larger speaker will benefit from room gain and be able to dip lower than the smaller speaker. It is also clear that each of these speakers received personalized tuning. When you buy the Blade TWO Meta, you aren’t just getting a lesser version of the Blade ONE Meta. You are getting a unique speaker!
Performance
As you’d expect with a Blade offering from KEF, they’ve redesigned nearly everything from the ground up. The front-facing Uni-Q driver has been redesigned and their new Metamaterial has been integrated. This Metamaterial is designed to eliminate any reflections coming off the back of the tweeter. The four side-firing woofers are braced against each other to eliminate resonances. The cabinet, crossover, and all aspects of the speaker have been engineered to provide the very best sound possible.
The raw numbers tell the tale. Both the speakers are a three-way design with a front-mounted Uni-Q array (tangerine waveguide tweeter nestled in a 5″ midrange woofer). Both have two side-firing woofers on each side. The Blade ONE Meta has 9″ woofers while the Blade TWO Meta has 6.5″ woofers. The Blade ONE Meta is rated down to 35Hz and the Blade TWO Meta to 33Hz.
Both speakers are rated 4-ohm nominal with dips down to (and past in the case of the Blade ONE Meta) 3-ohms. With fairly average sensitivity ratings, these are definitely speakers you want to pair with an amplifier.
Size and Pricing
The KEF Blade Meta speakers are not small. The Blade ONE Meta clocks in at 127lbs and over five feet tall with the Blade TWO Meta at almost 78lbs and five inches shorter (around four feet, nine inches). As you might expect for speakers of this caliber, they aren’t cheap. The Blade One Meta retails for $35,000 a pair and the Blade Two Meta will set you back $28,000 a pair.
Our Take
The KEF Blade series has always been a price-is-no-object speaker. That hasn’t changed. What is great is that KEF trickles down these advancements to their other speakers over time. We like that there are two different sizes of the Blade speaker. This should allow more people to afford them. If you have to have the best of the best, you should be looking at the Blade Meta speakers.
For more information, visit KEF.com.
