KEF KF92 Twin 9" 1000 Watt Powered Subwoofer - Gloss Black

This is part of a 2.1 system (primarily aimed at stereo listening) consisting of NAD M10 V2, Scansonic MB 3.5 and a KEF wireless add-on, hooked up to an LG C9.As soon as I unpacked this bad boy, I did a quick setup and played all my favorite tracks. It was like listening to them for the first time all over again! I was amazed, but when I put on some movies, I was blown away.One of my favorite torture movies is the new Dune (Christopher Nolan). To those who are in the know - Nolan movies have notoriously high dynamic range audio mixing - which brings even very expensive home theater setups to their knees. Your sound stage and imaging better be on point to make dialog legible. You also need to crank it up to handle all of that range. Most home setups (and many theaters) simply can't handle this movie - and this is a well known fact, for which mr Nolan has received alot of flack.This is the first time I could hear all of the dialog without subtitles - while thrashing my couch with exquisite impact.I'm not sure what Mr "frazzles mc fuzzynutts" problem is with the 1 star review. I'll chalk it up to user error and/or inexperience at setting up sound systems (reads like something a Karen would write).This subwoofer is one of the very few that can deliver on all fronts. Great choice for critical listeners who like music as much as they enjoy watching movies. One of these is more than adequate for a medium/large room.With the optional wireless add-on, this also happens to be the easiest suba I ever had to integrate. Buy this thing. You won't regret it. It is not the cheapest thing, but is also far from being the most expensive. Considering the design, performance and quality - I feel that it is worth every penny.Did I mention that it also looks sexy AF?

Updated 01/17/2024:After using the subwoofer for about 5 months now, seeing a placement change for the entire system, adding wood floors, an amplifier upgrade (Arcam SA20) and a streaming DAC (Arcam ST60) added (with Roon ROCK as the primary source) I am still very impressed with the KF92. I routinely chuckle when a subsonic room-shaking bass-drop is produced by the tiny cabinet. Clarity and integration with the SA20 via line outputs is working well. The music sounds clear and powerful. Highly recommended.Original Review:I have been pursuing the dream of perfect bass for music reproduction for years. I was restricting my prior knowledge of subwoofer clarity to sealed 10" JL Audio subwoofers (W3/W6/W7) in my trucks. I started building a 2.1 system up for listening to vinyl initially and expanded into FLAC streaming with Qobuz or local files. For the subwoofer I started with a REL HT/1003 MKII and I have to say I almost stopped there. It was awesome! Great clarity, power and range for my small room.A tiny voice nagged at me that it couldn't reach below 24Hz. I convinced myself for a time that <24Hz wasn't needed for music. A few tests of random FLAC metal tracks through my PA system with dual 18's made me wonder again. I bought the KF92. Now I am convinced that <24Hz adds a dimension that may not be appreciated by all, but it adds an energy that was missing.The KF92 is a formidable engineering masterpiece. The sound quality is unbelievable. The fact that the cabinet itself transmits ZERO vibration through it's walls is intriguing. The force-cancellation is perfect. You feel nothing when you touch the cabinet, even at high volumes.The bass reaches lows that other small subwoofers cannot attain. It is producing noticeably lower frequencies than my REL HT/1003 MKII. I would say after break-in, the sound quality is more precise than the REL also; which is no small feat, as the REL sounds excellent for music.I tried some tracks from the Dune movie soundtrack, as another reviewer mentioned, it is impressive the frequencies and decibels that can be attained with this device.If you can afford this subwoofer, it is a fantastic choice for 2.1 channel music. I am glad I gave it a chance. The engineering of the force-cancellation and dual 500W drivers is really impressive.Gloss black is troublesome for dust and fingerprints, but it does look nice when clean. The build quality and controls are great, easy to setup. I am not using the room tuning at all, or the line outputs.My setup:Pro-Ject Debut Pro Turntable with Pro-Ject S2 preampPeachtree Nova 300 Amplifier (L/R Pre-Out to Subwoofer line-in)Klipsch RP-600MII Mains ~ Full rangeKEF KF92 Subwoofer crossover set to ~70HzHigh quality shielded cables throughout.I almost forgot to mention - the side-firing drivers made a difference in how the main channels sound; I used to require 180 Deg phase on the REL; I am set to 0 Deg with the KEF, and occupying the same position at the front of the room between the mains. The REL was likely cancelling some harmonics on the mains; it might just be luck with my odd room setup but the KEF seems to reinforce and not cancel as many frequencies by firing to the side, or simply having 2 drivers may smooth this out via reflection to the sidewalls.

I need really good bass. Since this does not work it totally fails to deliver adequate low-end response. This might be the last KEF item I ever buy.Edit. KEF took the unit back and repaired what is a common problem. It took some work getting to KEF support and finally getting the sub back. But it was and still is the speaker for me. It’s fast and musical. The 92 is more powerful at high volume. Depending on size of room the 62 might be enough. KEF needs to fix the high level inputs. Always been my preferred method, but this cheap clip causes a short at high volume. KEF knows and just replaces the part for any one who complains. I’ve switched to the wireless as it cuts on long cord out and the sound isn’t impacted. Sorry if my bad review ruffled feathers.

Subwoofers suffer badly from room modes, where the sound cancels itself out or enhances itself at certain wavelengths. It is a property of the room - you can't eliminate them, but you can reduce them. The partial solution is to use multiple subwoofers, fiddling around with room placement and phase to get things right.Much to my surprise, this didn't seem to particularly care exactly where I put it (although phase did matter!) and gave a clean frequency profile almost immediately. I had expected to add a second sub somewhere, but after much experimentation, found that this worked best by itself, placed asymmetrically between 2 walls and the two front speakers and about 22" from the back wall and the phase switch set to 180.Anyone want two perfectly good subs? That I had to do a lot of work optimizing (which is partly why I bought this one). It has exceeded my expectations.