KEF KC62 Subwoofer Review of the FACTS // TRUE FREQUENCY RESPONSE of this Micro-Subwoofer

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kef kc62. kef say it has a  frequency response down to 11hz hi guys you've arrived at man discovers tech  welcome to the channel i do product reviews   and if you haven't seen my channel so far i  pride myself on honesty above all else and that's   why i'm making this video a few of my subscribers  have recently asked my opinion of the kef kc62   mini subwoofer that features unicore technology  if you haven't seen the kc62 yet here it is. so what's the point of this subwoofer well  reading from the kef website they say the kc62   is the ultra compact subwoofer that maximizes  bass from minimum space the cabinet volume   is 63% smaller than the kf92 so basically they're  trying to make a big sound biggest possible from a   small box so there you go kef say they've made  a new technology patent pending called unicore   and what it does it allows them to fit basically  more speaker inside a smaller enclosure the kc62   has two 6.5 inch drivers that is puny and what  more inches than that but they are acting as one   driver because of this unicore technology rather  than each driver having two separate magnets both   drivers are integrated into a single magnet system  which is quite clever to be fair and that allows   you to get decent amount of bass whilst shrinking  the cabinet by a third fine sounds good but here   is where i get a little bit mad so basically  my subscribers are asking me does this really   go down to 11hz should i buy it these are the same  subscribers that are asking me which subwoofer   should i buy for movies right so personally i feel  that the marketing smoke screen as you might say   that kef has put out has kind of tricked a  lot of people and if you don't believe me   i'm going to read this from kef's very own website  i'm going to read it for you now and powerful bass   is no longer solely the domain of big shouldered  massive subwoofers kc62 is david to their goliath   an ultra compact subwoofer capable of delivering  accurate deep bass for an immersive music movie   and gaming experience at complete odds  with its modest dimensions and just as   david beat goliath so kc62's performance  renders these these subwoofer behemoths obsolete what is that all about seriously that tells me  if i'm reading that that says to me that this   subwoofer is david to goliath david beat goliath  in the bible not that i'm a biblical person or   anything i'm not a religious person but even i  know david beat goliath in the bible so the kc62   they're saying with that i'm not making  it up i'm reading it from their website   the kc 62 the kc 62's performance renders  these subwoofer behemoths obsolete another thing they say is it has five presets  right and they say it has the same performance   everywhere right kc62 slips effortlessly  into any environment or listening room   with the five preset room placement equalization  feature ensuring the same performance no matter   where you decide to place it in free space next to  the wall in a corner nestled within a cabinet or   using the dedicated apartment mode another thing  they say the p-flex driver surround has a unique   pleated design inspired by origami the japanese  art of paper folding engineered to better resist   the acoustic pressure in the cabinet to  allow the driver to move more precisely   compared to traditional surround designs the  result is deeper bass extension and a more   accurate and detailed bass reproduction what does  that even mean like seriously guys what what does   that even mean this is just more examples of  pulling the wall over people's eyes you know   what what is the thing about the origami inspired  by origami seriously you know it sounds cool but   there's no substance to it honestly it feels  like you don't get any solid data out of them   anyway to answer you guys question right people  who i'm making this video for you've asked me does   this subwoofer go down to 11hz so let's get this  straight then what is 11hz. 11hz it's a note okay   it's a frequency just like any instrument has  a frequency i'm speaking to you now frequency   okay it's a very low frequency it's defined as  infrasound it's below what the human ear can   even hear so it's kind of a pointless frequency  in all honesty but that sounds good right this   thing can play lower than what we're even able to  hear right does that mean anything no it doesn't   it's a bit of marketing and i'm going to tell  you why you see i'm going to sing to you now as you can see my voice box is rolling off   right it's rolling off the deeper i go  when i sing i know it's not very good but   the harder it is for my voice box to output those  lower frequencies okay i can't output those lower   frequencies with a lot of volume and it's the  same thing with the subwoofer the lower you go   the more power you need or bigger enclosure bigger  driver you need these things to be able to output   those lower frequencies with volume okay that's  what we need now thx set their in room reference   uh sound pressure levels okay we're gonna measure  in decibels their reference is 85 decibels okay   and that's the average in room they also say all  speakers within the system should be able to play   peaks at least 20 decibels higher than that  85 right and why do we need peaks because when   you listen to a piece of music when you listen to  movies you're not listening at one volume there's   peaks and troughs in there in terms of the volume  and this is what gives us dynamic range if you   have no dynamic range it sounds rubbish movies  sound rubbish music sounds rubbish everything   sounds rubbish you need very loud very quiet very  loud very quiet that's what you're going to get in   movies okay if you want a subwoofer to play music  and especially movies with authority you're going   to need a big box big cone quality driver quality  amplification these are the broadly accepted   foundations you can't really overcome  that i don't believe you can overcome that   now kef say that this thing goes down to  11 hertz but they're not telling us at what   volume right at what volume does this subwoofer  output that 11 hertz or even 20 hertz let's say   i can't find anything that they've made that tells  us about the volume right the frequency response   with the actual volume that tells us exactly how  this thing works it says i think on the website   it says 105 decibels is the maximum volume right  that the output that the subwoofer can output but   at what frequency maybe it does this at 100 hertz  or 80 hertz that's not really that low what about   sub bass frequencies 20 hertz 30 hertz what can  it really output those frequencies at tell us how   many decibels they won't tell us because it's not  going to be very good otherwise you would wouldn't   you you would simple as that now you guys might  be thinking how can you make a review of the kc62   if you haven't even heard it now i'm going to give  you three reasons why i can do that first of all   it's not really a review it's just some friendly  advice because people ask me my subscribers ask me   you know what do you think of this subwoofer give  me advice right this is the advice that i'm giving   to you and it's acquired from my 15 plus years of  knowledge and spending money and being an idiot   for 15 years or more right kef have not  published any data any real data if you   look at their website right have a look for  like i said earlier on frequency response   with a decibel level have a look look at  kef's white paper pdf document and you'll   see it's a bit cloak and dagger again there's  not really concrete data there for us to see   is this subwoofer good for me it's kind  of like it all the figures look good but   there's certain things that have been concealed  the other reason why i think i can give you this   advice without even seeing the subwoofer is  because i've been looking on the forums this   guy from avsforum he asked kef for more specifics  about the frequency extension of the kef uh kc62   and they said to him in a private message it hits  20 hertz at roughly 80 decibels under anechoic   conditions which is already fairly loud okay so  two things now you're saying it's fairly loud   earlier on you were saying that david's laid  goliath and now you're saying it's fairly loud   seriously guys don't fall  for it okay don't fall for it   i'm reading it here i have not made this up this  is this comes from someone who's emailed kef they   have got back to him and said they're now saying  he can do 20 her at 80 decibels who's listening to   a movie at 80 decibels i've already told you  thx want you to be able to have a subwoofer   that plays over 100 decibels right 100 decibels  in your room down to 20 hertz so there you go   right and decibels decibels are very you know  what a hundred compared to 80 decibels there's   a lot more okay i think it's every six decibels  the volume doubles perceived volume so 80 decibels   is quiet for a sub the third reason why i can  make a video without even seeing the subwoofer   is because this guy made a video without  seeing the subwoofer and so did this guy   if they can make a review about the kc62  then why can't i i didn't see the kc62   in their videos and the second guy a lot of us  know who he is we know he's quite a famous guy   he pretended watch his video he pretended  like he reviewed it watch it and you'll   see for yourself seriously i'm not sure if he's  actually pretended or not because it sounds to   me when you watch his video it's like he he has  seen the subwoofer he has heard this subwoofer   if you look at it you read the description  everything but he's got no picture of it   he keeps showing pictures like stock photos from  kef's website why didn't you take a photo yourself   that just doesn't sound right to me i don't my  opinion is he probably hasn't seen it and you know   what makes me think seriously what has hifi come  to it you know it used to be an industry where   there was evidence i think about you know this one  versus this one you know and i think it's got to a   point now where these speakers they're not really  getting that much better every single five years   or ten years and it's turning into an industry  now with a lot of wishy-washy facts you know what's what's with all the lying  seriously i don't know what it is   what's with all the lying what's with all the  cloak and dagger action what's with all the   storytelling you know what's with all the  storytelling i understand you want to sell   more units you want to create value but it's just  got out of control honestly is it hi-fi or lie-fi one thing i can tell you guys if you subscribe to  this channel i'm always gonna give you my honest   opinion about the products i review here i don't  care if people send me free stuff i don't care   if companies want me to review their stuff  if you expect me to lie for you don't send   me your products i'd rather buy it myself and  say what i want to say about it okay so that's   just one thing about me let's also look at some  comments from the forums about this subwoofer   80 decibels at 20 hertz is lower output than  every single subwoofer listed on database.com  

the 120 dayton sub 1000 will do 80 decibels at  20 hertz dayton better raise their prices pretty   impressive for a shoebox size subwoofer  heard they go down to 11 hertz at -3 db   with 75 less total harmonic  distortion short at 40 decibels sure sure at 40 decibels in a space vacuum is that a typo or magic goes down to 11 hertz kef  are a bunch of jokesters with that 11 hertz spec   not sure why kef would resort to those alibaba  specs it's not like they need to compete with   kinta or other very optimistic companies on  wish.com yes when i specced out my wife i   made sure she was compatible with large subwoofers  that probably explains why we've been together for   almost three decades we know what her name is and  it is inappropriate and frankly sexist to speak   in those terms i'm not having it in this chamber  that is the end of the matter so is it good value   for money now it depends what you're looking  for can a normal subwoofer not fit in your room   if the answer is no it can't then yes the kc62  is probably a good option if not one of the   best options for you but you can also get a sun  fire subwoofer if you want good performance in   a small box they've been making small subwoofers  for very very long time probably longer than kef   so i'm sure they know what they're doing  as well do you have a medium to large size   room and you want a decent performance for  music and especially movies in this case i   think the kc62 is not for you i don't think  it's very good value it costs 1400 quid for   400 pounds don't know what it is in the us exactly  you can buy the svs sb 3000 which is a 13 and a   half 14 inch sealed uh subwoofer i believe it  has seven or 800 watts class d bigger box okay   that's about 1200 quid 1300 quid in the uk so  cheaper than the kef and it's also much cheaper   in the usa because that's i believe where they're  made that i would prefer over this kef in the usa   you have your lucky guys you have the dr hsu  subwoofers people call it hsu those subwoofers   will be way better i'm 100 sure because they  receive nothing but good reviews from people   who are home theater enthusiasts and uh hi-fi  enthusiasts in the uk in europe if you want a   very good value director manufacturer subwoofer  which will beat this kef check out xdz have a look   at their 12.17 edge range 700 watts bigger box 12  inch you know ported for me that's more of a real   subwoofer for movies and it's a lot cheaper than  this kef as well but will the kef be better for   music now the reason why people ask this question  is because music you don't tend to listen to it as   a higher volume like you do with with movies  and yes there is lower demand from a subwoofer   for music but not all music for example music  with heavy bass lines hip-hop music for example   and also even acoustic music like church organs  for example the lowest note on a church pipe   organ is apparently 16 hertz so some music is  still very demanding from a subwoofer but yeah   i guess if we're going to compare music to movies  i would imagine the kc62 will be better for music   than it is for movies i wouldn't consider it  for movies at all unless you're completely   desperate or you don't want to buy something  from the likes of bose or you know something   sonos or something like that so guys i don't  like making reviews where i run honestly i don't   it makes me feel negative you know i like to give  honest reviews and sometimes it includes negative   uh feedback but at the same time that's kind of  why i run the channel i don't run the channel   to expose companies i'm not not one of those  people like an anarchist or something i'm trying   to bring down the corporations or whatever no  it's not about that it's about i just want to   tell the truth i want to i want to tell people  what i think what is the point of me making a   channel and just lying and lying and lying and  just saying i'm not saying what i really think   to me that takes the fun and enjoyment out of  doing this i'd rather not so yeah my final words   about kef as a company because a lot of you  are probably thinking this guy just doesn't   like kef that's not true traditionally  i've really liked kef products my second   set of speakers and my third set of speakers this  is when i was like uh in the early days right   sorry and uh my second set of speakers was kef iq7  and my third set of speakers was was iq5 and the   reason for that was i made the traditional mistake  of over buying the biggest uh bigger flaw standard   for the space that i was in and i needed the iq5  and this was back in 2007 2008 sort of time and at   that time i was very much in love with the brand  i thought they made excellent product but over   the years i felt a little bit more detached it is  true i felt a little bit more detached from kef as   a brand and the reason for that is i feel they're  moving into another space that i don't really like   consider the products like the kef r series the  ls50s which are decent speakers but just look at   the styling for a start it makes me think are they  making these products to appeal to audio files or   they're making them to appeal to your home decor  you know secondly look at the products like the   kc62 which we're talking about now have a look at  the mu3 or the mu3 whatever they're called they're   the in-ear buds are they making these earbuds  and this subwoofer they're making it to compete   with the audiophile brands or are they making  them to compete with the likes of bose and sonos   who are they competing with here honestly i don't  know but as somebody who's very much into hifi   very much into home cinema this brand is  becoming less appealing to me over time   that's all i'm saying how about we discuss it  what do you think of kef as a brand and where   they are going do you agree that they're slightly  less of an audiophile brand now than what they   used to be from decades ago or do you disagree  and you think they are actually going the opposite   they're becoming more of an audiophile brand leave  your comments down below let me know i want to   discuss this with you guys right that's enough  for today hope this review slash information   slash advice was useful to you i'll see you  next time if you haven't subscribed subscribe join my tribe or i smash you

2021-02-13

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