Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[fas42]

My approach would be completely different ... I would determine which part of the bottom of the speakers was the most rigid, in at least 4 positions, around the corners obviously in this case, completely ignoring any pads come between the speakers and stand. Then I would work the Blu Tack thoroughly, so that it's as sticky as possible, and apply a major wad of the stuff in those 4 positions earlier determined; the pads have to be completely eliminated from doing anything. And then jam the speaker down hard, really hard on the wads of goo, so it squeezes out.

[Emlin]

2 minutes ago, fas42 said:

My approach would be completely different ... I would determine which part of the bottom of the speakers was the most rigid, in at least 4 positions, around the corners obviously in this case, completely ignoring any pads come between the speakers and stand. Then I would work the Blu Tack thoroughly, so that it's as sticky as possible, and apply a major wad of the stuff in those 4 positions earlier determined; the pads have to be completely eliminated from doing anything. And then jam the speaker down hard, really hard on the wads of goo, so it squeezes out.

 

Why do you think that the pads should be eliminated? Is there something wrong with them?

[fas42]

The point of the Blu Tack is to form a certain type of, mechanical, connection between the cabinet and the stand - if the pads are involved they are complicating the link, and may largely counteract the value of using the Blu Tack.

 

This is all open to experimentation - try making Blu Tack the only physical connection, see what it sounds like; then try Blu Tack and pads in combination - have you gained or lost anything by changing to that approach?

[ragwo]

In my case the felt pads you see on the picture isn't in contact with the speakers. I've pressed the speaker quite hard into the Tack It but using bigger and fewer pads sounds like a good idea. 

[Emlin]

4 hours ago, fas42 said:

The point of the Blu Tack is to form a certain type of, mechanical, connection between the cabinet and the stand - if the pads are involved they are complicating the link, and may largely counteract the value of using the Blu Tack.

 

This is all open to experimentation - try making Blu Tack the only physical connection, see what it sounds like; then try Blu Tack and pads in combination - have you gained or lost anything by changing to that approach?

 

Ok, I sort of get that, but what's wrong that you think needs correcting?

[baconbrain]

What makes me a bit skeptical of the Kii Stands is that with the recessed bottom plate of the speaker, the cabinets fits over and around the mounting / resting plate of the stand. It looks great but would seem to create all kinds of possibilities for vibration ...

 

Please note: This is only speculation on my part, as I do not use the Kii furnished stands.

[AMR/iFi audio]

22 hours ago, ragwo said:

Thanks. Honestly, I can't hear any difference. If there's a change it's subtle. At least the speakers are more stable than before, and that gives me peace of mind. I will add sorbothane discs and see if I can hear any difference. 

 

Fair enough, thanks. And yes, peace of mind is worth it, pricey speakers after all.

[tomjtx]

3 hours ago, baconbrain said:

What makes me a bit skeptical of the Kii Stands is that with the recessed bottom plate of the speaker, the cabinets fits over and around the mounting / resting plate of the stand. It looks great but would seem to create all kinds of possibilities for vibration ...

 

Please note: This is only speculation on my part, as I do not use the Kii furnished stands.

The Kii s sit on a damping membrane on the stand to reduce or eliminate vibration

[fas42]

16 hours ago, Emlin said:

 

Ok, I sort of get that, but what's wrong that you think needs correcting?

 

People have different ideas about how the energy of vibration should be handled - arguments about coupling and decoupling ensue. My personal experience is that methods that transfer that energy to much greater mass are the most effective technique to use - IOW, I'm into strongly coupling ; mass loading is the principle being used - as an extreme visual example, consider the speaker being effectively embedded in a huge mound of concrete, tons and tons of it - the closer I can get physically to that situation the better the sound gets, is what I've found ... this is the main reason why those monstrously heavy speakers deliver the type of sound that they do - but why pay big money for the heaviness, .

 

So, rubbery, bouncy pads are miles from providing the mass loading one wants - the downside of stabilising the speaker will be that it becomes more revealing, and subtle, disturbing artifacts in the sound will be more obvious; the wobbling of the speaker which was masking those issues has been largely reduced. So then one can decide to let the speaker go back to vibrating more, to blur those issues; or, use the greater clarity now heard to experiment with tweaking in other areas, for optimising to achieve even better overall sound.

[baconbrain]

5 hours ago, fas42 said:

 

People have different ideas about how the energy of vibration should be handled - arguments about coupling and decoupling ensue. My personal experience is that methods that transfer that energy to much greater mass are the most effective technique to use - IOW, I'm into strongly coupling ; mass loading is the principle being used - as an extreme visual example, consider the speaker being effectively embedded in a huge mound of concrete, tons and tons of it - the closer I can get physically to that situation the better the sound gets, is what I've found ... this is the main reason why those monstrously heavy speakers deliver the type of sound that they do - but why pay big money for the heaviness, .

 

So, rubbery, bouncy pads are miles from providing the mass loading one wants - the downside of stabilising the speaker will be that it becomes more revealing, and subtle, disturbing artifacts in the sound will be more obvious; the wobbling of the speaker which was masking those issues has been largely reduced. So then one can decide to let the speaker go back to vibrating more, to blur those issues; or, use the greater clarity now heard to experiment with tweaking in other areas, for optimising to achieve even better overall sound.

 

Interesting, I like the „concrete“ example. 😉

[Cazzesman]

On the topic of filling the Kii 3 official stands with Sand.......anyone have an amount of sand in 'Kg' that is required to fill each stand?

 

Regards Cazzesman

 

 

[Bernstein]

5 minutes ago, Cazzesman said:

On the topic of filling the Kii 3 official stands with Sand.......anyone have an amount of sand in 'Kg' that is required to fill each stand?

 

Regards Cazzesman

 

 

Good question!!! 

[Cazzesman]

Maths was never my strong suit.   Kii tubes are 10cm in diameter and 65cm long.   That tube Volume is 5.1 litres

 

https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight

 

So this calculator suggests dry sand for 5.1 litres has a weight of 8.2kg x 2 is 16.4 kg of dry sand.    Does that sound right to the Math's boffins?

 

A 20kg bag of dry sand should see me just about right.

 

I guess I will let you know.

 

Regards Cazzesman

[phosphorein]

18 hours ago, tomjtx said:

The Kii s sit on a damping membrane on the stand to reduce or eliminate vibration

 

According to Kii Audio:

 

"The rubber pads have more of a practical use to protect the bottom panels from scratching etc.
The Kii itself doesn´t really need specifically good coupling, as the forces of both sidewoofers (which fire in direction of the short footplate distance) cancel each other out. The rear woofers fire alongside the 40cm distance of the bottom panel, this should provide ample friction to keep them firmly in place, with our without rubber pads." 

 

I raised this question with Tom Jansen since I received a version of the stands lacking the rubber pad. My Kiis are firmly coupled to the stands.

 

[Bernstein]

@baconbrain Your playlist is mentioned on Kii Audio Facebook! 

[baconbrain]

Relaxing a bit today, sitting here watching Bohemian Rhapsody on Blu-Ray, with the Kii's rocking the stage. Awesome!

[AMR/iFi audio]

9 hours ago, baconbrain said:

Relaxing a bit today, sitting here watching Bohemian Rhapsody on Blu-Ray, with the Kii's rocking the stage. Awesome!

 

Can you adopt me for this please? 😉

[Bernstein]

On 5/2/2019 at 5:35 PM, tomjtx said:

 

Here is my Kii controller stand

 

What type of the compass did you use? There are several models from what I see. Could you please add also a sideways picture? Thanks in advance!

[tomjtx]

It's not a compass. It's a foldable iPad stand. Sorry I can't take a pic right now

[Emlin]

2 minutes ago, tomjtx said:

It's not a compass. It's a foldable iPad stand

 

Compass is the model. It's made by Twelve South.

[tomjtx]

4 minutes ago, Emlin said:

 

Compass is the model. It's made by Twelve South.

 

Oh, right.

I bought this so many years ago I forgot the name!

 

[coot]

For those listening via usb:

Have you found that any of the usb add-on noise suppression/removal devices still make a difference?

[Rafael Sampaio]

I tried one device, but didn’t hear any difference, unfortunately. Upgrading my Mac Mini to a good steamer had better results, at least for me.

[firedog]

6 hours ago, coot said:

For those listening via usb:

Have you found that any of the usb add-on noise suppression/removal devices still make a difference?

Tried two, didn't think they helped.

[baconbrain]

56 minutes ago, firedog said:

Tried two, didn't think they helped.

 

Sometimes I wonder how transparent the Kii's really are to upstream changes. My old Devialet seemed to be much more revealing ...,