Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[atletico]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

Not sure I understand. I don't use a preamp. Just digital input to Kii Control. No software volume control. All volume control is in the Kii Control.

Same here,  I use my digital Auralic Aries G2 fixed full level output - usb out to Kii Control. After following this tread about the rather silly subject of playing music at levels that could damage your ears, I did a test in my living room yesterday evening.

 

I have used the Kii Three for 16 months, booth for dedicated hi-fi listening and in my home studio, and yesterday maybe for the first time I turned the Kii Control at  around 85 from a digital source ( Aries G2)  on some really bass- heavy music. No red lights flashing  but after some minutes I turned the music down because  not disturbing my neighbors in the house close to mine. It was also simply far to loud in my room..and yes the advanced setting on the limiter was activated ("yes").

 

Playing my vinyl with the turntable phono preamp using the The Kii Three my settings are at max. 85-87 on the Kii Control because of -10 -12dB signal output compared to my digital sources. For 16 months I have never seen the limiter red lights flashing and I also want to keep my ears in good condition as long as possible.

[atletico]

 

After a week with to much focus on levels and limiter flashing  in this tread,  her is just a little recommendation for music I'm now enjoying on my Kii Three's. The Norwegian harpist Sidsel Walstad new exiting album playing electric and acoustic harp together with two drummers sounds real good in my living room. Give it a try and have a nice weekend!

 https://listen.tidal.com/album/95485055

[atletico]

24 minutes ago, 2marco said:

@atletico

did you succeed in fixing AriesG2’s usb ( with galvanic isolation ) to Kii’s usb ?

And if yes, how?

thanks

Marco

 

 

My first Aries G2 would never work using the usb galvanic isolated usb out to Kii Control. The other usb port on Aries G2 ment for external HDD  however worked perfect connected to the Kii Control. I got a new Aries G2 from my dealer ( who also are the main dealer for Kii Three). My second Aries G2 has worked from day one without any usb problems using the dedicated galvanic isolated usb to the Kii Control.

[atletico]

6 hours ago, bobfa said:

I am looking very closely at a pair of Kii Threes.  I was interested to see how folks are hooking their turntables up?  

 

Also any comments from long term owners?

My Kii Three speakers are now two years old. I'm very happy and impressed with the sound in my living room from my quite simple setup ( compared to my earlier bigger and more expensive systems). My Clearaudio Concept turntable with Audio-Technica AT33PTG/II pick up with  Rega Fono MC Phono Stage connected with a special made rca/XLR cable direct into the back of each of the Kii's  sounds really nice and are beeing used for "late night with a good wine listening". That leaves me with 3 digital inputs on my Kii Control and one analog input on the back of the speakers. All 4 sources with a possible individual setup,  controlled  from the Kii Control. 

 

The dedicated people behind Kii Audio have given me a superb support and have also performed some software upgrades using internet and teamviewer from my pc connected with usb to Kii Control in my living room. Highly recommended !

[atletico]

The placement according to the back wall and side walls  will influence the overall presentation from the Kii Three's. This is my experience after listening to these superb speakers in my living room for two years now. 

Yes,  the DSP settings can do much especially for the lower frequency beneath 50-60 Hz but I find the overall sound performance are even better with more air around the speakers. 

@bobfa I will recommend testing this beautiful Kii There/BXT setup with some different placement, especially from the back wall and also the toe-in towards your listening position.

Congratulation with a superb setup! 

[atletico]

The two woofers on  the back of my Kii Three's are aprox. 60 cm / 23 inches out from the wall. Boundary setting are now 0. 

I have made an angled stainless stand for my Kii Control. The dB settings are visible from my listening position.

 

[atletico]

The distance between the speakers, the amount of toe in  and the distance to the listing position together with the overall condition of the listening room will all have a impact how the final result from the Kii Three will be.( as all other speakers I have had in my listening room) 

I have 220 cm between the speakers with a toe in  towards my listening position at 275 cm from the speakers. The speakers are about 60 cm out from the back wall. The amount of toe in has varied, but  if I draw a line from the tweeters it will point aprox. 50 cm beside  each side of my ears. This sounds quite superb in my listening environment also compared to my former setups at twice the price...

 

The built in DSP and the EQ settings are very helpful tools and together with the cardioid dispersion is really what makes the Kii Three speakers sound so good when placed in different listening environment.  So it's just to test and experiment for the last final result according to your own sound preferences.

[atletico]

From my earlier post what I experienced improved my set up with the Kii Three:

"- Using better power cables with much better (Furutech) connectors also will have a positive impact on the overall soundstage.

- My original Kii stands are nice but the top-plate with the gasket will have a full connection  to the speakers. This causes the speaker stand to vibrate and also make unwanted resonances to my wooden floor and again had a bad impact on my turntable.

Solution: Fill the stands with sand and I have also used four extra rubber dampers on the top-plates  to lift the speakers aprox. 2-3 mm over the gasket. This also have improved the low frequency  and made the overall sound more "airy" and even a more  3D soundstage."

 

I've also resent had a very nice demo listening the BXT modules with some of my reference music in my dealers listing room.

I must only say this takes the Kii's to another level with the way the overall soundstage was presented and  revealing the details in the faster low frequency respons was outstanding.

 

The BXT modules however are expensive and my Kii Three's still sound fantastic in my living room, so I'm  not sure if I'm quite ready to spend so much money on a complete active system that also will be vulnerable to any small errors inside the speakers... We are now talking about  a total of around 35 000 euro. But I must say again The BXT are still on my list...

[atletico]

I sometimes use my Kii Three's  as a test monitor for my own and my musician friends home-studio work before the finale mixing process. It's also a big help to use the KEF LSX in this process. Then I get two differnt approaches to the music. The KEF LSX will be allow to stay in my living room together with the Kii Three's who has taken care of all my "serious" listening to my favourite music now for more than two years.  I'm still very happy with my Kii Three speakers but the BXT are still on my wishing list (Yes,  I have done a long listing test to the full BXT system 😀👍) 

 

 

[atletico]

15 hours ago, Blade1001 said:

 

What did the addition of the BXT module add to the performance of the Kii’s?

I think TheStupidOne ( who probally did his listenig experience with the same BXT set-up as myself ) has pointed very well out the differences and some of the main advatages of adding the BXT to the Kii Three.

 

I will also add the overall presentage of the sounstage impressed me a lot, better 3D and placement of the instruments when listenig to my well known reference music...and the system also performed superb when playing at a lower level.

[atletico]

I downloaded the V1.09 Kii updater on my MacBook pro. It says it connected to both speakers with usb but it crashes at once I push "update" button in the KII Updater application. Can't do any upgrade.. 

[atletico]

4 minutes ago, Rubysea said:

@atletico, on wich FW version currently is your Kii Control? I did a few updates recently on a Mac and all went fine (maybe I was already at a (much?) higher version). What happens if you press the other button "send system report to Kii Audio"?

My Kii Control has version 0.3.

Havn't tried the "send system report". My MacBook have the OS Mojave 10.14.6. I have also tried my Windows 10 pc and it also will not start the update after the Kii application recognise the two speakers. 

[atletico]

4 hours ago, Rubysea said:

Currently FW updates seem to be possible again (for how long?)

Also again a newer version of the Update tool is available (v.1.1.0) and @atletico, it might fix your update problem? Probably worth trying again...

This new version of the Update tool really did the trick . The Kii Control and my 3 year old Kii Three's now have the latest software and sound better than ever and also some dB louder on my Kii Control ref. volum levels in my living room..

This was however the first pair Kii Three speakers to arrive in Norway late 2016, serial no. 0416 and 0417 ( now says "0" in Kii Control )

[atletico]

Updating my 3 year old Kii Threes and the Kii Contol with the latest sowftware also did something to the performance.

 

The overall soundstage has been "tightened up" a bit, resulting in even better/faster dynamics and better separation of the instruments and voices in the mix.

 

I had a really good time playing some of my favorite music tracks both from vinyl and the Aries G2  yesterday evening. My turntable have never sounded better! This was an unexpected Christmas gift from Kii Audio

[atletico]

2 hours ago, Rubysea said:

Great news. So it will be interesting to hear if updating generally goes well or if numerous attempts will show problems. I hope not.

Good luck for everyone!

Updated  Kii Control and the Kii Threes to latest/final final version KC v2.3, Speaker PIC v3.8, Speaker DSP  v4.8. This took me only 6-7 minutes from my MacBook Pro. No issues at all ...Playing one of my favourite track now and the Kii Three's sounds so good  .... maybe better than ever..?

[atletico]

On 1/2/2021 at 10:27 AM, a_kraut said:

Hello everybody,

I`m just waiting for my Kii to be delivered in February. I bought Diva II stands from Liedtke here in germany, because I wanted white glossy stands. They are very similar to the Kii stands. But the Kii stands have rubber pads on the top plate for decoupling.

Does anybody know what kind of material that is exactly or where I can get the original ones?

I read the discussion about the cables in this thread. Nevertheless the question: Is here any Kii owner, who noticed improvements in sound from other ethernet and power cables? And please no policy debate and only Kii owners.

Thank you!

Hi,

From my 2017 posting after some months with my new Kii Threes. Going into 2021, my Kii Threes still sound (even better/ with newer software) in my living room!                                                                                                                        The brand new KEF LS50 wireless II are mainly used for A/B testing my own recordings, tv sound, and "radio/background music"

 

"My 2017 impression "short"  summary:

 

-The Kii Control is a necessary component for getting the best result from these active speakers. My $10K preamp with a built-in full digital board,  connected analog  out directly to each speaker sounded very good. But my digital sources through the simple Kii Control sounded better !...My preamp will be sold. Also all the settings will be much easier with the Kii Control.

 

- Using better power cables with much better (Furutech) connectors also will have a positiv impact on the overall soundstage.

 

- My original Kii stands are nice but the top-plate with the gasket will have a full connection  to the speakers. This causes the speaker stand to vibrate and make unwanted resonance to the floor. ( impact on my turntable)

Solution: Fill the stands with sand and I have also used four extra rubber dampers on the top-plates  to lift the speakers aprox. 2-3 mm over the gasket. This also have improved the low frequency  and made the overall sound more "airy" and  a more  3D soundstage.

 

My homemade stainless steel stand has an angle of aprox. 17 degrees and  a rubber coating on top for the Kii Control to stay safe. The Apple remote works very well from my listening position. A touch on the Apple remote  will "wake up" the speakers from stand by and you can switch between the sources, adjust the volum and mute the volum ( you can set up the mute db grade in the settings in Kii Control)

 

The Kii Three speakers have now replaced my 3 times more expensive set up and I'm very impressed with the overall sound these speaker now present in my living room."