KEF KHT3005

Hamish · 19 Apr 2008 at 16:59

Hi guys, I'm buying my first home cinema and have settled on the 46" Samsung LE46A656 LCD TV, Onkyo TX SR606 amp and KEF KHT3005 speakers...

However there seems to be 2 types of KHT3005s:
Theres the "Normal" ones retailing for about £600, then theres the "SE" version which retails at £1000 at most places but can be found for about £750.

I don't know much about these but it seems the SEs have a slightly better subwoofer and slightly tweaked tweeters, my question is has anyone actually used these side by side as £600 is already pushing my budget and although all the enthusiasts over at AV forums say the extra is worth it I was wondering if anyone here who lives in the real world can tell me if the SE is worth £150 extra and the hassle of having to hunt around to get them for £750 and probably collect them too...

cheers

craptakular · 19 Apr 2008 at 17:34

My old man has the 3500, it is a fantastic sound, avforums nearly had me spend a grand on a top notch plasma this week!!!!!!

I settled for 37px80 @ £609

bare in mind that the KEF speakers will need to be wall mounted or the stands are a massive £130 a PAIR!!!!!!!!!

My uncle owns an engineerring company and he made us stands, fudge paying £130 for offical kef ones. That may affect your purcahse.

craptakular · 19 Apr 2008 at 17:37

By the looks ** telly, amp and the 2500 will be a fantastic system. Good choice

Beansprout · 19 Apr 2008 at 18:50

SVS 5.1 satellite package / Quad Lites / KEF 3500s, in order of preference.

Listening to the 3500s right now and they're pretty darn good, but the others are supposed to be better - though a bit more expensive iirc, but still less than the SEs.

I wouldn't ever spend £1k on a satellite system, I'd get proper speakers - or at least a decent centre speaker. It's perhaps worth getting a better centre speaker with the rest of the speakers as satellites

kidloco · 19 Apr 2008 at 20:14

I bought a set of the KHT3005 myself the other week, I only got the sats as I have a decent sub. Got them for half the price of the SE versions as well.

The SE versions are supposed to be a fair bit better, but twice the price as good, I dont think so.

If you are going to be spending around a grand, defo take a look at the SVS and Quad packages, both are supierior in soudn quality to the KEFs but they dont look as nice, depends which is more important to you.

Hamish · 19 Apr 2008 at 20:29

kidloco said:
I bought a set of the KHT3005 myself the other week, I only got the sats as I have a decent sub. Got them for half the price of the SE versions as well.

The SE versions are supposed to be a fair bit better, but twice the price as good, I dont think so.

If you are going to be spending around a grand, defo take a look at the SVS and Quad packages, both are supierior in soudn quality to the KEFs but they dont look as nice, depends which is more important to you.

Yeah I know what you mean, I'm sure if i sat down in a room and put the standard and the SE the SE might be slightly better but I'm sure i'll be happy with either.

Looks are quite important, Quad Lites are probably a better speaker and give better sound but I really think they will look boxy and out of place on the wall next to my TV.

I think I'll probably go the the standard ones as they are available for £600 pretty much everywhere whereas the best price for the 3005SE is £760 and that's collection from Birmingham :/ Otherwise you've got to ring round all the dealers and try to knock them down which is a pain.

Oxy: Can't say I've ever looked at stands, £130 sounds extortinate! I was going to wall mount the rears and just stand the fronts on my AV unit (Memphis from Habitat) with the view to eventually wall mounting them along with my TV

craptakular · 19 Apr 2008 at 22:03

Hamish said:
Yeah I know what you mean, I'm sure if i sat down in a room and put the standard and the SE the SE might be slightly better but I'm sure i'll be happy with either.

Looks are quite important, Quad Lites are probably a better speaker and give better sound but I really think they will look boxy and out of place on the wall next to my TV.

I think I'll probably go the the standard ones as they are available for £600 pretty much everywhere whereas the best price for the 3005SE is £760 and that's collection from Birmingham :/ Otherwise you've got to ring round all the dealers and try to knock them down which is a pain.

Oxy: Can't say I've ever looked at stands, £130 sounds extortinate! I was going to wall mount the rears and just stand the fronts on my AV unit (Memphis from Habitat) with the view to eventually wall mounting them along with my TV

Unless im mistaken you can wall mount or buy there mega expensive stands. As I say we didnt do that as its a total rip, we got stands made for free