[Sound Battle] Polk Audio Reserve R200 vs KEF R3 Bookshelf Speakers with Arcam SA10 Integrated Ampli
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- Опубліковано 5 лип 2024
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Amps - • Amplifier Sound Demo
Speakers - • Hi Fi Speakers Sound Demo
Bluetooth Speakers - • Bluetooth Speaker
Timecodes
0:00 - intro
1:11 - All the way up / Electronic / by Hadar Sopher
1:51 - Bedroom / Soul & RnB, Pop / by Raquel Castro, The Wildcardz
2:34 - Boost Your Power / Rock / by CustomMelody
3:32 - Chemtrails / Cinematic / by Semo
4:23 - Get Ready / Cinematic, Rock, Pop / by Midnight Noise
5:13 - Higher Love / Electronic, Pop / by Ben Fox
6:29 - Is Leroy On It / Jazz, Acoustic, Retro / by Southside Aces
7:27 - Pull Me Closer / Electronic, Pop, Hip Hop / by WEARETHEGOOD,
8:40 - Punkd / Cinematic, Electronic / by Out of Flux
9:41 - Seasons / Cinematic, Classical / by ANBR
10:51 - Star Night / Acoustic, Rock, Pop / Wonderland
11:41 - Time Traveling / Soul & RnB / Sarah Kang feat. Anthony Lazaro
13:15 - Crash and burn / Death Metal / Kissing Candice
14:40 - Magic Show / Death Metal / Kissing Candice
15:37 - Fields / Acoustic Guitar / Livio Bartolo
![[Sound Battle] Polk Audio Reserve R200 vs ELAC Uni-Fi 2.0 UB52 Bookshelf Speakers w/Arcam SA10 Amp](/img/n.gif)
The Polks are impressive.
9:18 do I hear a voice coil rattling of the kefs ? Every time the bass rolled
Nice to 'hear' you back, E. Quite a challenging demo you got here. I feel it's fair to say (and I know for a fact) the R3's don't sound this way. It's been suggested the microphone setup is incorrect, but vertical dispersion is quite good for the R3, so that's not it.
However, I hear some trades of the R3, which I remember well, when I heard them for real. Top-end is kinda sweet, not spacious or direct like the LS50's, however, that can be a good thing. It focuses on snares, but lacking the body of the instrument and because of the sweet highs, a bit less definition. This also affects midrange somewhat. Bass is tight, but feels somewhat disconnected. Some tracks I really liked though, where the R200 feels a bit shouty and harsh (and I know they don't) 😄
If possible, please demo the R3's with another amp, perhaps the Audiolab 6000a?
Thanks E, for your time and effort! ♥️
Whoa wasn't ready for the heavy hitters to go at it . I would have gotten these if I could have afforded them. But I'm happy my polks hang with these in a few areas and actually not harsh like these could
Polk Audio Reserve R200
I really like the fact that the old Polk ringing midrange emphasis is now gone from the Reserve series. That turbine technology really helps eliminate that resonance. I had my heart set on a pair of Kef R3 until I listened to them at Magnolia. They were terrible in that listening room. Reviewers must be paid to recommend them. I do really like my Kef LS-50's though. Electronics do make a huge difference as well.
Kef/R3 fanboys running to every excuse possible 😂. Love these comments about opening up the cabinet and playing with components...just what I was wanting to do with my $1700 investment😂
Oh totally 100%, if I'm going to pay that amount of money for something I want it to be good, and I don't want to have to fool with it to make it good, that seems ridiculous to me. Imagine buying a high-end Mercedes and then having to change the seats out or modify the pedals or put a new engine in it just to make it good, that's ridiculous
Polks win for me. I had the R3 for about a week and had to get them out of my house.
Agree. Had them for a year, no dynamics and boxy sound.
I really appreciate the work you do because you give us a chance to get an idea about the speakers ... Recently my beloved Rega amplifier io was destroyed by a site that takes measurements, saying it is poor and suffers from distortion. I was about to buy the Rega Kyte speakers but the measurements on the amplifier stopped me, so I would like to be able to hear them in some of your comparisons, thanks again.
Would love to see comparisons of Elac Debut Reference DBR62 to Diamond 12.2/Polk R200/LS50 Meta if you ever get the chance of getting a pair.
Welcome back.Wait for the comparison of The R3 with the other Kef like the original Ls50&the meta.
What’s the light show in the background? I’m hypnotized.
Would love to hear the R200's against Triangle Br03.
Thanks so much!!
Друг, спасибо тебе за обзоры. Большое дело делаешь🤘
Great one E, so glad you're back. This one is really very interesting. As Mr Guttenberg says, these R3s (like the much more expensive but fabulous Ref 1s) are space machines when driven well. Not sure about their suitability for near field use, as here, but some do seem to use them like this. For me, in this listening set up, the R3s sound rather odd and R200s for the win. Must get me a listen to R200s in real life.
I demoed the L200 on Cambridge cxa81 and it was bad match for the tweeter on that speaker. Swapped out to a denon pma and it was good but not my thing, the laid back recessed sound. Bass was amazing for bookshelf I was checking that their sub was off. They had the R200 there I wish I gave those a listen. Same driver but different tweeter I think?
@@erics.4113 I've since listened to the R200s, albeit only briefly and they are probably the driest sounding speaker I've ever heard with not a hint of warmth anywhere. Even with careful amp matching I'm not sure I could live with them for very long. I listened to them with a Nuprime STA9 Class D (ultra dry) and ith a Cambridge Evo 150 , which was quite a bit better but still on the dry side, Didn't listen to them long enough to really assess them but apart from the dryness I thought they were pretty good. And even though there's definitely something not right with these R3s, tonally they're much more to my taste.
Instead of external jumpers on the two pairs of binding posts on the back of the R3s, there are 2 controls in between the the two sets of binding posts to engage or disengage the internal jumpers connecting the two set of binding posts together, and it could be that you don't have those set right and only the mid and tweeter are playing and not the woofer, which would explain the distortion on those heavy bass drum hits, and also why the midrange is missing, because the woofer reproduces the lower midrange where the real body of midrange sounds are. You'd better check that to make sure the two sets of binding posts are connected internally by those controls if the speakers are single wired. If so, those two controls need to be turned fully clockwise to engage the internal jumpers. To bi-wire then those controls should be turned fully counter clockwise to disengage the internal jumpers
That's the fun part. I have B&W S2 AE's and when I listen to it on video and then play the same song only in the original, on video I would never say it was B&W playing. Live there is so much more detail, deeper bass that I wonder if such videos make sense. Each speaker has its own characteristics and whether it's B&W or POLK they both probably sound great in this price range but we can't hear that from some video recorded with a microphone.
Polk R200 mid-highs and highs are brighter, sharper, clearer, than KEF R3, however, because of this the R200 also lacks body and fullness in the mid-high and high range compared to the R3. It really depends on your music taste IMO. Having said that, I've listened to the R3 at Best Buy and I was immediately underwhelmed by it.
The kef r3 are about $2000 and best buy has them?
@@scottlowell493 Best Buy in Irvine, CA has (or had) them. Average home price around here is a million. I would say $2000 for a pair of speakers is note something out of reach for people here. However, the R3 I last saw were on clearance, they were around $1500 as I recall.
Polk Audio Reserve R200!
Well you can't really here from headphones. But the polks are much better sounding. I have the L600's
They are fantastic.
Hoping for good things from the UB52s, E. Andrew Jones reckons a good 3 way should beat a good 2 way.
Polk
I borrowed the R3 to try out, while I liked the sound, the treble just seemed for want of a better word, FAT . I think maybe this is the sound stage been so full ...
Polk have made a really good speaker in the R 200 . However the mission qx2 would get my money .
Polk sounds open, punchy, not so fare as kef, but better. Because of HF horn placement kef never be my choice :(
Polk R200 👍♥️
KEFs sound horrible here. Are they wired out of phase of something? Polk sounds good but hard to compare when the KEFs sound so weird.
Gotta say I like the Polks better in about half of them. KEF does have the advantage of being a 3 way. You can hear it in some of the recordings in the second half. Still, an impressive showing for Polk considering the KEFs cost 2.5x more.
KEF maybe recorded too near the mic. Maybe better to have speakers farther apart and record 3-5 ft from them and have the back have sound insulation material to prevent wall reflection ....
Wow! This is the most expensive speaker you've had yet. But, the midrange on the R3 sounds very recessed. I think maybe the mic was too low and needs to be raised higher to be on the midrange/tweeter axis. However, if that's just how the R3 really sounds, I think it's tonal balance is quite flawed and I don't like it very much at all, at least not with this amp. I think I'd much rather have the Meta, the EVO 4.2, the R200, the Q350, or the 12.2, or any number of other speakers that cost as much as the R3 does. I'd like to hear it with a warmer amp with more mids, like the NAD 316, but from what I've heard so far, I'm not impressed, as the mids sound far more recessed than the MA Bronze, or even the Klipsch RP600M or B&W 606. The horns on the jazz tune sound atrocious, and the most imbalanced and unnatural I've heard from any speaker
Thanks for the comparison. I too am shocked at the lack of midrange on the R3. Maybe it was indeed the mic position. I’d like to see an LS50 Meta versus R3 some time in the future!
🤔🎧🎶🎶🎶🎶R200 ✌🏻👍👍👍👍👍👍✌🏻🙂🇵🇱
Welcome back, E Project!
First of all, what was that damn sound the R3's are making on the track 'Punkd' that you can't hear at all on the R200's that sounds like crack addicted frogs???
Aside from that, these KEF'S sound like KEF'S, but they're not as focused or integrated sounding as the Metas, and nowhere near the best sounding speakers at their price point. They're interesting sounding, but seem to have a gap where the coaxial drivers cross over to the woofer. Overall I prefer the Polks, and I think the Q350's, and the grand or so I''d keep in my pocket. The R3's are very nice looking though.
That is horrible! It sounds like the woofer is farting on that song with every bass drum hit
that is the sound created by the woofer reaching its mechanical limit
@@quananginh9446 Or it's the midrange trying to reproduce those bass notes because the internal jumpers aren't set right and only the midrange and tweeter are operating and the woofer isn't
Something is reaching it's limit for sure.
I'm pretty certain the woofers are active.
There's more deep bass present than the midrange could ever reproduce, even if it's low frequency filter were bypassed.
To me it sounds like the midranges are damaged, and they're producing horrible distortion at particular resonant frequency's with certain unusual harmonics. Could possibly be the woofers too, but I'm sure they're engaged.
These R3's aren't new, are they E Project?
Actualy, I think it probably is the woofers that are breaking up. They've been damaged..by crack smoking frogs. 🐸
Punk'd sounds very strange on the R3s.
whats wrong with kef on punked track?
something was blown or broken inside kef, either crossover got knocked lose, or blown tweeters.
The problem with judging speakers from a UA-cam video is of course that UA-cam audio is compressed (typically 128 Kbps AAC). Also factor in the hardware used to listen to the video. So I wouldn't judge your purchasing decisions by listening to recordings on youtube.
I think most everyone would agree with that. They're fine for getting a pretty good idea what you would want to audition, and generaly at ruling out what you don't need to though.
UA-cam won't provide the utmost fidelity in reproducing the recording, but it's more than good enough to reveal the distinct tonal signatures of different loudspeakers in a comparison.
As much as the Polk sound recess in the mid, the KEF sound seemed too explicit in the same region. Maybe the truth is the middle. A suggestion if I may: Replace Chemtrails with pink noise. It will help capture the sonic signature of the different speakers more than any piece of music. Thanks!
Polk is nowhere near recessed in mids in person. Their midrange is some of the smoothest and accurate produced of speakers in this price range.
@@GS_Trophy Maybe the amp is responsible for that. What do you think?
I can’t speak for the R200. I know they share the same tweeter. Not sure on the mid driver. The cabinet is also cheaper and I’m sure they use a different crossover. I have the L800 and L200s. Placement and room reflections play a big role in sound. Good amps also help. But compared to KEF, these polks win in every aspect. Highs, mids and lows. Especially the SDA functions. Also, UA-cam is terrible for comparisons. In person, in your own environment is the key. I’ve have 100k worth of speakers in my living room at a time demoing and testing. These polks are some of the best I’ve heard. Even with SDA off.
I’ve had 100k worth of speakers in my room to test. Not have. Autocorrect got me.
@@GS_Trophy You lucky devil!
R3 is more my taste in hiFI. But but the R200 have something special
Wow, R200s playing consistently strong while the KEF only occasionally shines. Death metal revealed some congestion in the KEF, then some resonances can clearly be heard in the guitar track after.
Also sound like there are some setup issues here but at minimum the polls more consistent response is appealing.
Polks tweeter is lacking. Returned the l200s I purchased.
I'm shocked by all the comments. My experience is totally different to everyone's elses, apparently. The R3 have an ethereal, emotional feel whereas the R200s, while being incredibly clear, seem thin to me. But I can also hear the weird sound around 9:00 others are mentioning on the R3s - maybe there is something wrong with these particular R3s?
Im listening to these on my magnepans 1.7i paired with the AHB2. The Kefs actually sound a bit thin to me in this comparison, whereas the polk a bit warmer and thicker. Polks definitely have more emphasis on the lower midrange. I actually own two R400 now, which is basically the big brother to the r200. I feel like they do soundstage REALLY well, but lack in the high frequency detail. Its kinda funny, but through this demo of kef vs polk, i feel like the R3 sound like what i would expect a klipsch speaker to sound like. I will agree that the R3 sounds a bit more airy in this comparison, making the polks sound a bit too boring in the highs. Holy hell do the Polks sound distorted and detail-lacking with the heavy rock track though.
@@Turcoda I guess you meant KEF instead of Polks somewhere in your sentance. But where?
@@eugene9000pro There, I clarified : )
on the punkd track 9:05, the r3 has clearly audible grunt distortion, obviously it should not be so. Something is wrong with r3
damn, Kef R3 sounded like Walmart's Logitech computer speakers, the R200 is lively, more transparent, better mid and high and more detail.
The Kefs sound like the polarity is wrong. That or one or both woofers are damaged.
Eu já ouvi as antigas KEF R300 e parece que essas novas R3 estão piores do que elas. Sou mais as Dynaudio Evoke 10 com um Subwoofer. Ou as Evoke 20 sem Sub.
A mesma coisa vale para as KEF Q350 VS Emit M20 e Q750 VS Emit M30. Sou mais as Dynaudio.
As Q Acousitc 3050i e 3030i também me agradam mais que as KEFS da linha Q.
I've heard the old KEF R300s and it seems to me that these new R3s are worse than them. I'm more Dynaudio Evoke 10 with a subwoofer. Or the Evoke 20 without Sub.
The same goes for the KEF Q350 VS Emit M20 and the Q750 VS Emit M30. I'm more Dynaudio.
The Q Acousitc 3050i and 3030i also appeal to me more than the Q-line KEFS.
Fala Higo! Tenho as Q300 e tô pensando em abandonar a Kef e comprar as novas R200.. será que vou sentir falta do design concêntrico dos falantes?
@@vladrapchan5330 Se vc gosta do som das Q300 o mais sensato é pegar as R300. Nem precisa ser as novas R3.
Qual amplificador que vc usa? Pois as KEF da série R são bem difíceis de serem empurradas. Até as LS50 são enjoadas com amplificação.
Já as caixas da série Q são mais amigáveis.
Eu não gosto tanto da assinatura das KEF. Para mim falta claridade e vivacidade no som. São meio apagadas e abafadas.
Até as Pioneer FS52 que custam beeem menos que as KEF possuem mais claridade e vivacidade. Principalmente na região do mid range.
Se vc não tiver pelo menos um Rotel A11 Tribute, Marantz PM-8006, Cambridge CXA81 eu não pegaria as Kef R e nem as Dynaudio Evoke.
Eu pegaria as Dynaudio Emit M20, Polk Reserve R200 ou KEF Q350. Tem também as JBL Studio 620/630, Triangle Borea 03 que são mais amigáveis do que as KEF R e Dynaudio Evoke.
Se quiser mudar de assinatura também tem as MA Silver 100, Focal Chora 806, Klipsh RP600MII e Dali Oberon 03. Também são mais amigáveis com eletrônica.
@@higobatman Fala Higo! Cara, eu só gosto das KEF quando corrigidas por algum sistema (audissey, DIRAC, etc). Elas cruas realmente não são tão bacanas quanto dizem. O bom delas é que a KEF fez a lição de casa nas coisas que filtro nenhum é capaz de fazer. Apesar disso, obviamente estão longe de ser perfeitas. Percebo na linha Q uma leve distorção quando tocadas acima de 85 Dbs. Provavelmente causada pelo curso do woofer, que tbm é parte da superfície de dispersão do Tweeter, e acaba "quebrando" a dispersão das altas frequências quando se move muito.
Apesar disso, as Q300s tem uma espacialidade que eu acho incrível! E literalmente desaparecem aqui no meu setup. Mas... Acho o design meio datado, e quando junto isso com essa distorção e com certa simbiância que tweeters de metal geralmente tem em altos volumes, dá vontade de fazer um upgrade.
Meu receiver é bem normalzinho. Um Denon de 75w por canal. Longe de ser especial. Mas no momento não pretendo trocá-lo, porque fazer upgrade nas caixas resolveria já de cara a questão decorativa!
Trocar as Q300 pela linha nova Q350 (que já deve estar perto de serem subtituidas) é meio que um passo para o lado, eu sei. Mas elas são mais modernas de bonitas (o duto é pra trás, mas daí é outro problema...haha) e estão na faixa de preço que estou disposto a gastar.
Mas nessa faixa de preço, tem tb as polks da linha Reserve... E é isso que me interessou. Mas como não tenho experiência com outras caixas, fico com medo de ou perder algo que acho (mesmo equivocadamente) só a Kef pode me dar ou, então, estar perdendo algo que outras caixas no mesmo valor poderiam proporcionar, até mesmo superando as kefs. Por isso queria sua opinião.
Sobre a vivacidade das kef. Sim! Percebo isso nelas! Elas são sempre contidas. Tem um certo refinamento que gosto, mas realmente não são muito dinâmicas. Por isso pensei nessas novas Polks...
Enfim, o que vc acha? Haha
Resumindo, Higo: gosto das KEF nem tanto pela tonalidade, mais pelo palco sono, "imaging" e tridimensionalidade que sinto (só uma opinião) que elas entregam. Vc acha que uma Reserve R200 ou R100 (faço meu crossover nas Q300 em 60hz, será que as R100 dão conta?) vai brigar tranquilo com as Q300 nesse quesito? Obrigado pela atenção!
@@vladrapchan5330 Qual é o seu Receiver da Denon? Eu já tive o 1911 antigo que era bem musical.
Receiver com pouca corrente para ouvir em volumes altos como 85 decibéis tem que ficar experto.
Esses 75W dele não deve chegar perto de um integrado com 40W/50W por exemplo. Vide os Denon PMA900NE 800NE ou até mesmo o 600NE.
Se vc puder usar torres por aí recomendo vc testar as Pioneer FS52. Não sei se ainda acha elas para comprar. Eu tenho elas aqui e paguei 2mil reais nelas novas na época. Ainda está para lançarem caixas com melhor custo benefícios do que elas.
Tenho uns vídeos no meu canal delas. Depois da uma olhada.
As Polk R200 também são uma boa opção. Vai ter melhores graves, agudos, mid range e maior clareza do que as KEF.
Mas elas podem soar mais analíticas se comparada as KEF Q300. Talvez vc não goste. Ou talvez goste. Não sei. Como Denon já tem por natureza uma assinatura mais para o lado quente deve dar um bom casamento com as R200.
Também recomendo dar uma olhada nas JBL Studio 620 ou nas maiores 630.
As 620 estão a venda por menos de 2mil reais na Amazon BR.
Se tivesse as 630 iria pegar para fazer um teste. Mas tenho quase certeza que com as menores 620 vou sentir falta de graves que tenho aqui com as FS52.
E como nem uso sub, aí complica. Mas talvez pegue elas só para conhecer mais uma assinatura diferente que ainda não conheço.
Assim como as Polk Reserve R200, essas JBL também devem apresentar um refinamento superior as KEF Q300.
Estava vendo um Review das Studio 630 onde a pessoa elogiou bastante a sua profundidade de palco.
Inclusive achou superior as R200 nesse quesito. Essas que ele também já havia testado.
Mas essas menores 620 devem ser mais concorrentes das Polk Reserve R100. Devem ficar devendo nos graves.
As novas Dynaudio Emit 10 também parecem ser uma excelente opção.
Agora para quem gosta de um som com mais brilho as MA Silver 50 ou 100 devem ser disparadas as melhores opções. Mas nem curto muito esse tipo de som. Bom eram as antigas MA RX2 e RX6 que tinham a assinatura bem mais quente.
Para quem gosta de som mais brilhante também tem as Focal Chora 806 e Dali Oberon 3. Mas também não é a minha praia.
Para compensar eu sair das FS52 só mesmo indo para as Dynaudio Evoke 30 ou MA Gold 200 5G. E para sair do Cambridge 851A só indo para um Marantz Model 30, Arcam SA30, Accuphase E-270, Denon PMA-A110..
O DAC estou com um IFi ZEN DAC do qual gosto bastante. Ligo na USB do PC e nas RCA do 851A.
Ele tem assinatura mais quente e analógica parecido com vinil.
Combina muito bem com a assinatura 100% Neutra do Cambridge 851A.
As Pioneer são um pouco mais mornas. Não tão quente como algumas caixas que já tive por aqui como as Tannoy DC8, B&W705S, MA RX2/RX6, Energy RC10, CB10, Sonus Faber Venere 2.0 e não tão neutras como as MA Silver, KEF IQ30, XQ20. As FS52 ficam bem no meio.
Kef dermo
Согласен)
Kef
IMO, the Polk’s have more ‘body’ than the R3’s.
I'm not an audiophile, but I suspect the KEF R3's 3-way design might require more power than the 50 watts that the SA10 can output.
One thing is made clear in this comparo - the R200 is a fun and very capable speaker. The KEFs are triple the price and you the R200 seems to be the winner here (over youtube). But I'm pretty sure the R3s are excellent when driven and placed properly. The R3s looks, though - they win a lot of points with the spouse.
Compared to the R3, the R200s in black is akin to parking a Harley Davidson next to your TV. Hey hon, what do you think of 'em speakers (sound of beer can poppin' and throwing empty can on the floor)? 😀 Just kidding, they're not bad looking but they do look better in the walnut and discontinued white.
Polk é muito mais transparente.
Polk its better in guitar than the kef 💯
If the internal jumper controls are set correctly and you still are experiencing those distorted sounds on the bass notes and the mids are still that recessed, then you have a defective pair and you should immediately return them for a refund. In other UA-cam videos the R3 doesn't have the massively recessed midrange like we hear here, and they sound very much like the LS50 in those videos
Thanks
R3 is f up. R200 sounds good
No comparison. POLK.
I must say though, it's nothing a little bit of equalization can't fix.
In person, the KEF have a metallic tinge. Fail.
Kef better Imaging lovely
It's a shame the Polk is only 86db, I want higher than 88db,. Tired of all these hard to drive speakers.
Efficiency numbers don't always mean everything,
Poll Audio R 200 sound better and is cheaper
Polk играет лучше это факт!!!
Kef are hollow
I don't mean to be rude but Kef R3 is literally "farting" at 9:00
Or, as I said above, if the jumper controls are set wrong and only the mid and tweeter are operating, it could be the midrange bottoming out trying to reproduce those low bass notes
Polk200 is much cheaper but better sound
I am proud of minister Yeo of korea.. God bless korea.
Love the comparison idea, unfortunately your choice of music isn’t my cup of tea (to stay respectful).
Que feo se escuchan las polk,como todas las que he escuchado y esta no es la excepción, definitivamente kef se lleva de calle a polk
R200 is better.
The Polk's are much more natural and have way better bottom end. As others have said, the KEF,'s sound broken at around 9:00. My assumption is they just can't handle deep bass very well.
That amp not strong enough try the yamaha s801 100watts a big difference on both speakers polk needs min 100 watts
Wrong Amp which is why r200 sound brighter not enough power. At least a 100watts to start