KEF R2 Meta

I'm not an audiophile - this purchase was prompted by both my wife and myself finding dialog harder to understand as we progress toward our wiser years. We primarily watch TV and play PS5 games, but sometimes music. I use a somewhat recently purchased Marantz AV receiver, midgrade among their line of products and my other speakers are from Orb Audio in a 5.1 configuration. This speaker replaces the center channel formerly occupied by Orb.I was immediately impressed by the sound quality. To my ears, sound was much more rich and dialog was much easier to understand. I did use the receivers speaker setup function (Audyssey?) which is supposed to fine-tune the sound for the room. My wife grudgingly agrees the sound quality is superb - I say grudgingly because she misses the tiny size of the Orbs. But she hears the dialog much better and also loves the sound in general. We both hear things from the center, especially while playing Baldurs Gate, that we hadn't picked up on before.The cabinet is very nicely constructed and so far we've left the cover off because the speakers themselves look pretty.Based on this, we intend to purchase two more KEF in-wall speakers for either side of the TV. In-wall is a compromise for us. The layout of the room doesn't allow for floor standing speakers at all, even a more normal sized bookshelf would be problematic. She likes the idea of painting the speaker covers on the in-wall to match.This is nothing against Orb whatsoever. Those speakers are 20+ years old and survived the very loud (and often questionable) musical tastes of a young man.

Having owned more affordable center channels such as the Pioneer C22 and JBL 520C I was a bit skeptical that a center channel would wow me enough to justify the cost. After my wife complained she had issues hearing movies I decided to get this speaker.I’m glad I did. This is likely the last center channel I will ever own. Everything that sounded mushy or quiet before is now clearly audible. Now I just have to contend with a child who may think the drivers are play toy buttons.

This speaker is expensive but totally worth it. Center channel dialogue was too soft and not overly intelligible without raising the volume or using dialogue boost with a speaker from a well known middle of the range brand. That speaker however was 2 way with a tweeter and 2 x 5.25 inch woofers in ported cabinet costing maybe just under ½ the price or the R2.With the R2 dialogue is clear at significantly lower volumes with no use of dialogue enhancement. I attribute this to the addition of a mid-range driver in the R2. The musical details are also exceptional. The cabinet is very heavy and thick. I am very happy I spent the money.