Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[Craig1512]

I’ve had my Kii Three’s for about 6 weeks now and as most have said here, they sound fantastic. I’m using an Aurender N100 with a 1TB SSD installed with my stored CD rips, USB into the Kii Control.

 

My question to forum members here is about using a Turntable with the Kii Three. I have a VPI Prime turntable with Ortofon 2M Black cart and want to go direct to the Kii Three XLR input. I have AudioQuest Yukon XLR cables. I would be really interested to know about how the Kii Three sound with a TT and phono stage and which brand and model phono stage forum members here are using.

 

There appears to be a limited range of phono stage pre amps with XLR output. Looking for advice here on the best phono stage to use.

 

Thanks

Craig

[Craig1512]

11 hours ago, atletico said:

 

I use a Audio-Technica AT33PTG/II Moving Coil Cartridge together with the simple but very nice sounding REGA Phono MC preamp.  http://www.the-ear.net/review-hardware/rega-ania-fono-mc-mc-cartridge-and-phono-stage

I use the REGA with a special made 2 X 2,5 metre phono to XLR cable direct into the back of each Kii Three speaker. All controlled from the Kii Control. Works very nice.

The output signal from this turntable system into Kii Three are about -10dB compared to my digital sources but this is no problem in my living room with a max volum on the Kii Control set at 85 - 87 for playing vinyl is more than loud enough ..

 

 

 

Thanks @atletico I wonder if there is an RCA to XLR adapter, hmmm will need to have a search if this exists. I purchased the AQ XLR cables specifically for connecting a phono stage to the Kii Three.

[Craig1512]

A follow up to my post back on 28 October. The Kii Three distributer here in Australia whom I purchased my Kii Threes suggested the RCM Sensor 2 premium spec model (upgraded furutech RCA inputs, RCA & XLR outputs and IEC power inlet). I’ve had the Sensor 2 for a couple of weeks now, VPI Prime TT, 2M Black cart, XLR into the Kii Threes and sounds amazing. I’ve had many various vinyl front end setups over many years and this VPI Prime, Sensor 2, Kii Three combination is the best I’ve heard my LPs, really enjoying playing through my LP collection and listening to some great music. Highly recommend anyone going vinyl into the Kii Threes to try the RCM Sensor 2 and for Australian Kii Three owners, Rom at Sonic Purity in Melbourne is great to deal with, fantastic advice and customer service. 

 

I’ve got a Benz micro glider SL cart to try and will install at some stage.

[Craig1512]

Hi @bobfa my vyinal setup, VPI Prime TT with Ortofon 2M Black>RCM Sensor 2>XLR AQ Yukon into each Kii Three XLR input switched to analog. Very happy with SQ I get with this setup. My Kii Audio dealer/distributor here in Australia advised the best and Kii Audio recommended connection for a TT is from a phono stage into the XLR inputs on the Kii Threes. In fact this is the demo set up in the store and the dealer owner’s personal vyinal setup at his home. An alternative connection method could be something like the PS Audio phono converter with toslink output into the toslink input on the Kii  controler, this was my original plan but PS Audio had just ceased production of the Phono converter and none were available here in Australia. I guess you could add in an ADC from any other phono stage to the Kii Controler also. Phono stage choice is limited with XLR outputs, but I guess you could use an RCA to XLR adapter if your phone stage is RCA output only. I did try a Goldnote PH-10 phono stage but was unhappy with SQ and returned it. I highly recommend the RCM Sensor 2, gain and load dip switches on back are easy to access and separate PSU and very quiet. I’ve had my Kii Threes on Kii Stands with Kii Controller for 8 months, very, very happy with my Kii Threes, sound absolutely amazing in my large 12m x 5m open plan living, dinning, kitchen room. My digital front end is an Aurender N100 music player/server, USB into the Kii Controller. Just buy them, get the Kii Controller, this is essential in my opinion. 40+ years I have been upgrading and swapping out components and speakers spent huge $ over the years, Kii Threes are end game for me. 

[Craig1512]

I’m struggling to get the boundary settings correct on my Kii Threes. Speakers are on Kii Stands, 18cm from center back of speaker to front wall, RH speaker is 160cm from center to wall and LH speaker is 70cm from center to wall. Walls are Gyprock/plaster board fixed to timber stud frame with fibreglass insulation. Kii boundary settings range from 0 to -12. I’m trying to better dial the bass in and find I have to increase the low shelf to 5.0 to get good bass in my large 9m x 4.6m x 2.7m room. Any suggestions on the correct/best settings in my situation. Should I move the speakers out from the wall slightly more. I really wish Kii had a similar boundary setting to D&D 8c where you set boundary in 10cm increments.

[Craig1512]

Since my last post here, I have spent the past couple of weeks tweeting speaker position, boundary & EQ settings. I agree with @firedog it would be useful if Kii provided more detailed information and instructions on setup for new users. I did try moving the speakers out into the room more to about 60cm, but found SQ was better with them back in the original position of about 20cm from the front wall. Every thing I have read about cardioid dispersion suggests that 20cm from the front wall is ideally the best position. I dont have a dedicated listening position, my setup is in the main open plan family, dinning, kitchen room, its where my family like to gather, chat and listen to music, I usually sit at the dinning table which is around 4.5m from the speakers as I am now, listening to music. For moderate volume listening, for the time being, I have settled with the speakers 20cm from front wall and 2.3m apart, boundary set to 0, low shelf corner 104394, low shelf amount 4.8, high shelf corner 3002.6 and high shelf amount 1.1. I would like to do some further tweaking to see if I can get some improvement and would be helpful if others here could give their speaker positioning, boundary and EQ settings as a guide. Appreciate the great advice and information here, assists with getting the best out these speakers. Thought I would add to the photo gallery here. @bobfa the time lapse vids and photos were great, love the repurposed RCA Victola console, its a beautiful piece of furniture and a cool idea to use a “hifi rack”. I would be interested in reading about your discussion with Chris R at AXPONA, did he happen to mention any future plans, updates in the pipeline at Kii Audio?

[Craig1512]

Agree that mains filtering should be used with the Kii Three, in fact with all audio components if you want clean power. I have the Kii Threes and all my other components running off a PS Audio P5 power regenerator. If the Kii Threes are plugged into the wall I do get some hum & hiss with volume up, ear close to the tweeter, plugged into the P5, dead quiet. My mains voltage fluctuates a lot according to the P5 input voltage reading, gives me comfort to know that the Kii Threes and my other components are getting a stable accurate voltage at 230 volts. I use the stock power cables supplied with the Kii Threes, so not sure if better power cables make a difference, probably not a debate to have on this thread.

[Craig1512]

Umm can this thread go back to on topic please.

[Craig1512]

@ragwo has been too busy trying to get DOS2 working on his Dev phantoms! 😩 Trade them on another paid of kii threes, mate.

[Craig1512]

Been enjoying reading your posts and HT setup journey over on Devialetchat @ragwo I came from a dev 440Pro and B&W 802 D2 to Kii three and never going back. The dev phantoms are an amazing active speaker for the money and I encourage anyone interested in active speaker technology to check out the Devialetchat forum. Again, @ragwo HT set up journey is an interesting one to read for anyone thinking going active HT.

[Craig1512]

And I raise it here, because there is so much potential for kii three HT set as well. Has anyone here tried setting up a 5 channel (LCR LRS and RRS) or more HT using Kii three. 

[Craig1512]

Update went smooth here, using windows 10 on a lenevo ThinkPad. I like the new main menu layout. Bluetooth connectivity is very convenient, my daughters can now connect from their iPhone or iPad and play their Apple Music, which sounds pretty good actually. I haven’t noticed any change or improvement in sound quality or increase in gain as others have reported. Nice update from Kii Audio. 

[Craig1512]

14 hours ago, baconbrain said:

Well somehow the rubber ring on the knob of my Kii Control dried out and started to break apart. (sometimes in the afternoon the sun shines on it ..)

 

So I sent a mail to Kii Support and one day later they said they would send me a replacement. Well the replacement arrived and look what they sent me ...

 

Two rubber rings and some cool promo gear! Big thanks to Riu the Germany Area Kii Sales Manager!!

I wish the rubber ring on my knob would dry out so I can get a t-shirt and coffee mug. Although I think the neighbours would complain if I went out to let the afternoon sun shine on my knob. 

[Craig1512]

Hey @Kal Rubinson, this is a Kii Three thread😳

[Craig1512]

Damn, been after one of those coffee mugs and a Tshirt for ages.  Kii have been promising to send both down under, looks like something has to go wrong with my Kii threes to get a mug and tshirt. Should be a mandatory accessory with every Kii three I reckon.  If Kii audio are reading this, I can go one better than ragwo’s sensational product placement pic with some real aussie bush and ridgy didge gum trees, I’ll even ask the local koala if interested in getting in on the shot.