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There are plenty of speakers this is true of of all sizes and shapes, so it's more a point of note, than criticism. The T2 subwoofer looks kind of like some of the practice amps made for guitar players. It's only 7 inches wide and about 15 inches on either side. What few controls you get are hidden on the bottom, along with a single RCA input and the jack for the power cord. One switch lets you boost bass by +6 or +12 dB; another lets you flip the phase 180 degrees. The sealed-box design, slim chassis and bottom-mounted controls and input make it easy to snug the T2 very close to a wall, improving both its output and its appearance.
5 of the 22 reviewers have substantial overlapping product review history. This is within an acceptable range and it does not appear to be significantly affecting the overall rating for this product. They may be slim, but the T301 and T301c boast heavyweight build quality. Their faultless construction offers a rigidity and robustness that should stand them in good stead for life in the living room. The front panel of these 600mm-high speakers is almost entirely covered in a cloth grille with glimpses of black aluminium down the sides and gloss-black at the bottom.
Review: KEF T305 speaker system Page 3
Assembly is pretty logical and I was up and running with all five speakers in about half an hour flat. It immediately struck me that mounted on the dedicated stands, the T301s are rather tall, standing in at a combined height of 140cm. This places the tweeter at a lofty 110cm above the floor whereas my, not exactly low, sofas place my ear at 90cm above the floor. Clearly the T101s would knock 17cm off that total height, but would still place the tweeter at the same level. To my mind, this is rather high - The stand could be a comfortable 15cm shorter to suit the average seated ear level, but there are upsides.
Not that it's an easy-listening system (although I'm sure your Perry Como CDs would sound great through it), it just sounds good with a wide variety of material and never calls attention to itself. The centre speaker consistently projects dialogue with remarkable clarity, but with a hint of depth that makes speech seem life-like. But KEF is out to change all that with its T Series speakers, the main selling point of which is their super-slim design. Primarily designed for wall mounting they measure just 35mm deep, bringing you the sort of killer home cinema sonics that KEF is famous for without looking out of place alongside your TV. I have been a fan of KEF speakers for a long time, but I wondered if a speaker this thin could really deliver the sound I wanted for my newly constructed home theater.
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As far positioning goes, the front and rear speakers sounded best toed in to point at the listening position, placed about 15cm out from the wall. Given that the T301s only add another 3.5cm of depth to that, the overall projection into the room is very little indeed. As the T 305 system followed some man sized floorstanders, the nett visual impression was of an empty room by comparison. If they were white, they would have been all but invisible. The centre stood on the top shelf of my rack with the prop stand set to tilt the T301c back.
No issues though, just the materials bending and flexing. The final piece of the system is the new T-2 subwoofer. Following the lead of the satellites, the T2 is a less than micro 37cm on a side, but is only 18cm deep. Further more, all cable connections, which means a two pin reversible mains lead and a single RCA phono connection, are housed in a recess on the base of the cabinet. 18cm deep in this case, means 18cm - Not 18cm plus cables.
Klipsch Reference R-625FA 5.1 Home Theater Pack, Black Textured Wood Grain Vinyl
There are optional floor stands available at £225/pair. If I were to try and encapsulate the T-Series sound, the words seamless and neutral would be in there somewhere. Okay, it's pretty much a given that five identical loudspeakers, positioned optimally, should give you a sonic sphere of surround sound, that flows around the room with a smooth tonal match.
I thank the KEF engineers for developing this system. Another contributing factor to this ability, is the lack of cabinet colouration. The composite enclosure is very inert, because of the materials used, but also because of the lack of cabinet panel area to actually resonate. Either way, the nett result is that you really only hear the drivers, which delivers precision, out-of-the-box imaging.
Further more, because they're not required to do bass of any real sort, all of that radiating area can get on with playing loud and delivering surprisingly savage mid range dynamics. And I mean 'surprising', not just with reference to the 'lifestyle' speaker genre, but the larger world of speakers in general. Having watched 'Terminator - Salvation' a few nights previous on a much, much larger speaker package it was extremely satisfying to hear the gun shots delivered with a real crack and metallic impacts with a crisp, dynamic edge. They passed the falling bullet casing test with flying colours too. The brassy ring projecting cleanly and clearly, but not in an excessively emphasized manner - the lack of over-engineered frequency response makes the T305s a comfortable movie listen over long periods as a result. But don't confuse that with sounding dull - if the effect calls for a edgy sound, you get it and if it calls for a dry rustle in the leaves of trees, you get that too.
It’s heavier than you’d expect for the size, which is reassuring, but putting the controls on the bottom was a slight design misstep as it means you have to lift it up whenever you want to make any adjustments. We didn't detect any reviews that used language indicating they were incentivized. Beware of crroks who advertise quality product brands like MCINTOSH ...
In ultimate terms, the only area that I felt was only adequate was the T 2 subwoofer. It's nimble, it's clean, a fine match for the system in general, but it could dig deeper with movies. It is fair to note, that it's performance limitations, are a result of it's compact form factor that is entirely consistent with the rest of the T 305 system. It is a discrete and visually appropriate accompaniment to the package as a whole.
I was also worried that the speakers wouldn't be as loud or provide a full sound, but I was wrong. The main appeal of the T series is the depth, and I'd planned on wall-mounting them until it came time to do it and my 70 year old plaster walls stared me down. But the rear channels are on tables and the fronts placed out of the way so it'll work for now. The center channel is robust enough to adequately cover the wide space between the two front channels.
That said, I don't regret getting the 305 in the least. I actually got another set of 2 to run 7.1 but selling the house within the next year and I'd really rather go into drywall than plaster...sounds great as-is anyway. Sure, the T301s, like any £250 speaker, have their own set of compromises, but as an even handed reproducer of all programme types, there's very little to complain about and much to like. They aren't a spotlight on mid range expression, but they are very consistent in their even handed presentation and have a remarkable dynamic capability. That makes them an easy listen, with movies or music, at all volume levels.
