Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[Blade1001]

5 minutes ago, TheStupidOne said:

You shouldn't go for diffusors directly behind your head in this case. Diffusors need some distance to properly create a diffuse sound field, typically above 1-2 meters at least. I have the same kind of placement and have chosen RPG Absorbors. I'd recommend the Broadsorbors 4 inch with a photo print because it's the best on the market.

 

Here's my absorbors on the concrete wall;

 

 

+1 to this - spot on post! Has to be absorbers at that range, and my preference is for RPG also.

[baconbrain]

Interesting discussion and good question @Bernstein given that my listening position is also very near wall. Fyi, there is an article in the current edition of HiFi News which dwells on the basics of room treatment. Kind of made my head spin, but interesting.

[Bernstein]

3 minutes ago, TheStupidOne said:

You shouldn't go for diffusors directly behind your head in this case. Diffusors need some distance to properly create a diffuse sound field, typically above 1-2 meters at least. I have the same kind of placement and have chosen RPG Absorbors. I'd recommend the Broadsorbors 4 inch with a photo print because it's the best on the market.

 

Here's my absorbors on the concrete wall;

 

You are totally right! At least 1m distance. I have 70cm with the additional pillow. 
I have a dealer here for professional studios. I will visit him and discuss the specifics...If I could sit at least 1m away the wall  

PS: Placement of your elements would cause trouble in my household  Printed ones are nice 👍🏿 but I already heavily invested in the shown canvas from maple wood and fine print  

Something around the head area (beneath the canvas) is what I am looking for. 

[Blade1001]

15 minutes ago, Bernstein said:

You are totally right! At least 1m distance. I have 70cm with the additional pillow. 
I have a dealer here for professional studios. I will visit him and discuss the specifics...If I could sit at least 1m away the wall  

PS: Placement of your elements would cause trouble in my household  Printed ones are nice 👍🏿 but I already heavily invested in the shown canvas from maple wood and fine print  

Something around the head area (beneath the canvas) is what I am looking for. 

 

You would ideally need to be more than 1m away from a diffuser for it to worktop properly. You need to be a minimum of one full wavelength from the lowest frequency you want to diffuse. So for 250Hz for example, you would need to be a minimum of 1370mm away, for 125Hz, you'd want to be 2740mm away.  Those are also minimum requirements, so in ideal terms you'd want to add a percentage onto that.

 

An absorber will remove the majority of the reflection completely. A simple 3-4" absorber running along the length of your sofa, and up to the underside of your existing canvases will do it (I assume that would place the top of it above head height?). You can pick an AT fabric that matches either your sofa fabric, or your wall colour, if you want it to blend in as much as possible. They can probably also add a 45 degree chamfer to all sides of the absorber so its a little less obvious also.

[firedog]

I have GIK aborbers directly behind my head in just such a close to the wall setup. They eliminated the echo from the back wall, at least to the level that it isn't noticeable. 

[firedog]

3 hours ago, Bernstein said:

but I already heavily invested in the shown canvas from maple wood and fine print

GIK and some of the other vendors will print your artwork on the acoustic panels. Basically you send them a high quality photo, and they print it on the panel. 

[Bernstein]

3 hours ago, firedog said:

GIK and some of the other vendors will print your artwork on the acoustic panels. Basically you send them a high quality photo, and they print it on the panel. 

I suggested to put some nice absorber (wooden or with fabric) surrounding our canvas to my wife (or at least on ear level). She smiled and threaded me to paint my white KII with black Edding. That’s blackmailing! 😐😐😐

 

I will go to the store this week and look for (very) nice alternatives or temporary ones, which I will store underneath the couch...🤪

PS: There is some black humor in it though 😂😂😂 

[Bernstein]

6 hours ago, Blade1001 said:

 

You would ideally need to be more than 1m away from a diffuser for it to worktop properly. You need to be a minimum of one full wavelength from the lowest frequency you want to diffuse. So for 250Hz for example, you would need to be a minimum of 1370mm away, for 125Hz, you'd want to be 2740mm away.  Those are also minimum requirements, so in ideal terms you'd want to add a percentage onto that.

 

An absorber will remove the majority of the reflection completely. A simple 3-4" absorber running along the length of your sofa, and up to the underside of your existing canvases will do it (I assume that would place the top of it above head height?). You can pick an AT fabric that matches either your sofa fabric, or your wall colour, if you want it to blend in as much as possible. They can probably also add a 45 degree chamfer to all sides of the absorber so its a little less obvious also.

I think that’s the way to go! I will try what I will find. 

[Blade1001]

9 minutes ago, Bernstein said:

I suggested to put some nice absorber (wooden or with fabric) surrounding our canvas to my wife (or at least on ear level). She smiled and threaded me to paint my white KII with black Edding. That’s blackmailing! 😐😐😐

 

I will go to the store this week and look for (very) nice alternatives or temporary ones, which I will store underneath the couch...🤪

PS: There is some black humor in it though 😂😂😂 

 

If you want to try getting permission for something more wife friendly, companies like Artnovion (https://www.artnovion.com/) have some very nice looking designer panels.

 

 

 

 

[Bernstein]

10 minutes ago, Blade1001 said:

 

If you want to try getting permission for something more wife friendly, companies like Artnovion (https://www.artnovion.com/) have some very nice looking designer panels.

 

 

 

 

My dealer here has them in portfolio...but I think it will be something temporary which I attach and remove after listening...

[Blade1001]

2 minutes ago, Bernstein said:

My dealer here has them in portfolio...but I think it will be something temporary which I attach and remove after listening...

 

In that case I guess you could have a panel that you can store behind your sofa, and pull it up and prop it on the solid rear back of your sofa behind the cushions when needed.

 

You could DIY it with a 3-4" rock wool or rigid fibre glass panel, wrapped in polyester webbing (to keep fibres from escaping) and wrapped in an AT fabric of choice.

[Bernstein]

4 minutes ago, Blade1001 said:

 

In that case I guess you could have a panel that you can store behind your sofa, and pull it up and prop it on the solid rear back of your sofa behind the cushions when needed.

 

You could DIY it with a 3-4" rock wool or rigid fibre glass panel, wrapped in polyester webbing (to keep fibres from escaping) and wrapped in an AT fabric of choice.

I love this forum! This is the BEST IDEA!!!

maybe I could do something with a sliding mechanism to slide it out and slide it in after listening. That could work!!! Appearance is then not so important and after listening I could slide it in...practical!!! 
so: who will be built me something like that...hopefully my dealer has an answer to it. Or I can buy a wide Absorber and store it as you proposed behind the sofa. Sliding mechanism is more sexy though...

[input username here]

19 hours ago, Bernstein said:

Newly posted by KII Audio...I think we have a well hidden KII guy watching us  

 

FYI.  I contacted Kii and got this response about the wall mounts, for anyone who is interested.  (Interestingly, as far as I know, I own the very first consumer pair of Kii THREEs imported into the U.S., but I checked and I have only the 4-screw pattern... I guess the very, very early one's were only destined for Europe (or maybe U.S. dealer display.))

 

 

[Blade1001]

12 minutes ago, input username here said:

 

FYI.  I contacted Kii and got this response about the wall mounts, for anyone who is interested.  (Interestingly, as far as I know, I own the very first consumer pair of Kii THREEs imported into the U.S., but I checked and I have only the 4-screw pattern... I guess the very, very early one's were only destined for Europe (or maybe U.S. dealer display.))

 

 

 

When they say 6 screws, do they mean the four larger ones, and the 2 small ones? And this is now an older style?:

 

And are they saying the newer pattern is just four, like this, opposite the centre line of each driver?:

 

 

But from the images of the brackets, they appear to use the main four bolt holes from the 6 bolt layout:

 

 

[baconbrain]

4 hours ago, Bernstein said:

I love this forum! This is the BEST IDEA!!!

maybe I could do something with a sliding mechanism to slide it out and slide it in after listening. That could work!!! Appearance is then not so important and after listening I could slide it in...practical!!! 
so: who will be built me something like that...hopefully my dealer has an answer to it. Or I can buy a wide Absorber and store it as you proposed behind the sofa. Sliding mechanism is more sexy though...

 

Friend of mine had a guy (guru type) come by who walked around his listening room and just clapped his hands. After a bass trap here, and couple of absorbers there, he made some very nonintrusive adjustments to the living / listening space which really made a world of difference. Given that each room is unique and room treatment is a bit complex, perhaps getting an expert opinion from someone who has evaluated your room is an option?  I wouldn’t want to hang something on the wall that the first lady doesn’t like and then it doesn’t even have the desired effect in the end.

[ragwo]

4 hours ago, Blade1001 said:

 

When they say 6 screws, do they mean the four larger ones, and the 2 small ones? And this is now an older style?:

 

And are they saying the newer pattern is just four, like this, opposite the centre line of each driver?:

 

 

But from the images of the brackets, they appear to use the main four bolt holes from the 6 bolt layout:

 

 

 

4 hours ago, input username here said:

 

FYI.  I contacted Kii and got this response about the wall mounts, for anyone who is interested.  (Interestingly, as far as I know, I own the very first consumer pair of Kii THREEs imported into the U.S., but I checked and I have only the 4-screw pattern... I guess the very, very early one's were only destined for Europe (or maybe U.S. dealer display.))

 

 

Thanks a lot for the info even if it's a real bummer for me. I have the six screws version and I'd love to have the opportunity to use wall mounts to avoid damaged speakers caused by curious children.

[input username here]

11 hours ago, Blade1001 said:

 

When they say 6 screws, do they mean the four larger ones, and the 2 small ones? And this is now an older style?:

 

And are they saying the newer pattern is just four, like this, opposite the centre line of each driver?

 

But from the images of the brackets, they appear to use the main four bolt holes from the 6 bolt layout:

 

Hey Blade, you know as much as I do at the moment.  BUT, what I can say is that my speakers definitely do not have that six-hole pattern as in the image above.  They just have four (quote small, like the middle) bolts/screws in the four corners.  I cannot say whether or how the four larger bolts from the old, six-hole pattern line-up with the four-hole pattern with which I am working.

 

I have to say that I am still a little concerned about the rigid connection to the wall... I just put my Kii CONTROL and ultraRendu and LPS1 on a Black Ravioli base and footers and have been really impressed with the improvements (not night and day, mind you--just what was there before, only better).   It would sort of be a step backwards to put the speakers onto a worse situation than they are right now on my Arden desktop stands (esp. since, essentially, the whole audio system sits in the speaker cabinet).  But I do love the form factor... gotta talk to my dealer and find out how much and then make a decision.

 

 

[baconbrain]

11 hours ago, ragwo said:

 

Thanks a lot for the info even if it's a real bummer for me. I have the six screws version and I'd love to have the opportunity to use wall mounts to avoid damaged speakers caused by curious children.

I actually put mine together as a DIY project before I later discovered that Kii had their own. Given that with my design the speaker sits in a low profile tray, it is complety independent of speaker version and is decoupled from the mount with dampening material. Can send you a parts list / specs if you are interested.

[Blade1001]

At the end of the day if the part of the bracket that mates with the speaker is the same as the above images, it shouldn't be overly difficult to drill additional holes to suit any of the bolt layouts.

[firedog]

2 hours ago, Blade1001 said:

At the end of the day if the part of the bracket that mates with the speaker is the same as the above images, it shouldn't be overly difficult to drill additional holes to suit any of the bolt layouts.

I wouldn't do that without consulting Kii first. 

[ragwo]

6 hours ago, baconbrain said:

I actually put mine together as a DIY project before I later discovered that Kii had their own. Given that with my design the speaker sits in a low profile tray, it is complety independent of speaker version and is decoupled from the mount with dampening material. Can send you a parts list / specs if you are interested.

That would be great, thank you very much! 

[baconbrain]

1 minute ago, ragwo said:

That would be great, thank you very much! 

Am currently in Italy. Will provide you with the info per PM upon my return this weekend.

[Cazzesman]

On 9/26/2019 at 11:56 PM, baconbrain said:

Am currently in Italy.

 

Heading there on Tuesday.    Florence for 5 days then Tuscany for 14.   So, so, so can't wait to get there and just chill.   Not sure how much wine and seafood they have in Italy, but I'm thinking it might not be enough.  🙂

 

I will miss my Kii's, but damn I want to chill, regardless of the longing for good tunes. 🙂

 

Regards Cazzesman

[baconbrain]

1 hour ago, Cazzesman said:

 

Heading there on Tuesday.    Florence for 5 days then Tuscany for 14.   So, so, so can't wait to get there and just chill.   Not sure how much wine and seafood they have in Italy, but I'm thinking it might not be enough.  🙂

 

I will miss my Kii's, but damn I want to chill, regardless of the longing for good tunes. 🙂

 

Regards Cazzesman

No worries, I believe they have more than enough. 🙂

 

I am currently on the southern tip of the heel. Excellent weather and fantastic food. Enjoy your trip.

[Bernstein]

Hi guys,

 

I have the KIIs at home since a week and hear sometimes a ping or click noise (once) during warmup or cooldown of the KIIs. I mean I also sometimes experienced this with amps and other devices and I think due to the construction of the KIIs (plastic combined with metal parts with different thermal expansion rate + Metal Parts which also act as heatsinks and get hot) this should be normal and shouldn’t worry me. It happens on both so...

But it does worry me (I am a emotional 😭 guy and sometimes irrational) and sometimes to hear from someone else that this is normal can help to have peace of mind