Kii Three - my impressions and pro reviews

[ragwo]

Thanks a lot to Kii Audio for a pleasant surprise! I contacted Kii because I wanted to order a new rubber band for the encoder knob on my Kii Control. The old one disintegrated and snapped off. Free of charge they sent me a new rubber band and a Kii cup. Now I can enjoy a proper cup of coffee while enjoying the speakers and the view. Bliss! 

[hattrick15]

5 hours ago, ragwo said:

Thanks a lot to Kii Audio for a pleasant surprise! I contacted Kii because I wanted to order a new rubber band for the encoder knob on my Kii Control. The old one disintegrated and snapped off. Free of charge they sent me a new rubber band and a Kii cup. Now I can enjoy a proper cup of coffee while enjoying the speakers and the view. Bliss! 

Where is that view?  Looks like a great place to listen to some great music.

[sdolezalek]

13 minutes ago, hattrick15 said:

Where is that view?  Looks like a great place to listen to some great music.

Looks like Bergen, Norway to me. 

[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.

[firedog]

1 hour ago, Craig1512 said:

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.

I heard you have to buy the BXT to get them....

[Blade1001]

3 minutes ago, firedog said:

I heard you have to buy the BXT to get them....

 

Then it becomes questionable which is the mug! 😂

[ragwo]

@hattrick15

It's a small town called Bodø, up north in Norway. Really fortunate with the view, not so much with the climate. Another good reason to stay indoors and listen to music while enjoying a good cup of coffee! 

 

@sdolezalek Right country, but about 1kkm north of Bergen. 

[ragwo]

Obviously not taken today, but it shows the beautiful scenery surrounding Bodø. The town on the other hand, is quite ugly. 

[Pomerol]

On 5/7/2021 at 8:51 PM, fpalm69 said:

Anyone with BXT's tried isoacoustics Gaia?  They recommend either the Gaia II or III for the 112 Lb. speaker.  Cost doubles as you go from the II to the III.  Any comments on using these with the Kii Three/BXT?

I hope to try them sometime this upcoming week.  I have both.

[Quad 405]

I see that Streaky has used the Gaia 1s with his BXTs.

 

 

[Kelly]

Here's a bit of a different Kii topic, how to do the absolutely least ideal installation possible...

 

So I've had my Kii's since 2017. I initially had them on stands in the room in a very audiophile manner. That same year I had my first child, and this year I had my second. We live in a small house and I don't have a dedicated audio room that I can keep the kids out of. Furthermore, I'd rather have them in the main family room anyway, where we can use them. Obviously, a stand-mounted mega heavy monitor like the Kii's is a toddler death trap, and it has no protection against flying nerf balls etc. 

 

After a lot of thinking, I finally decided a console was the right choice. I emailed the people at Kii and they said that a side table type installation would certainly work very well and sound excellent, So, I wanted them to be usable in a hidden protected position, but still be easily usable in a more ideal orientation. Furthermore, my wife was very adament they could be completely hidden. Anyway, I build this console with the Kiis in the outside "cabinet" with lifts and cutout in the counter for them to rise out of. The following is the result, the "cabinets" on the end have grills instead of inset shaker panels.

 

Down position with Kii control mounted on wall, hidden behind the TV (funny enough, the Apple remote still works perfectly, even with the TV on.)

 

Up with Kii Control down from behind TV:

 

 

Cabinet open to show lift:  The lift has over a 100 lb capacity, I have each speaker with 4 isopods underneath it, separating it from the lift platform.

 

 

So, how does it sound?  Well, in the down position, there is still nearly the minimum dimensions to the sides and more than enough to the back of the speaker for the cardioid projection to work. It actually still sounds shockingly good even in the down position. Bass is not nearly as controlled obviously, and it is low to the ground, but it still sounds way better than I thought it would. In the up position, it sounds great. I haven't A/B'd it with free stands, but it satisfies me. 

 

Again, obviously there is a lot not ideal about this setup, but it sounds fantastic, and the Kii's can be in a down, child protected position, (the cabinets lock.) I did run cables through my wall to get up to where the Control comes out, but other than that everything is in the console. 

[Pomerol]

9 hours ago, Kelly said:

Here's a bit of a different Kii topic, how to do the absolutely least ideal installation possible...

 

So I've had my Kii's since 2017. I initially had them on stands in the room in a very audiophile manner. That same year I had my first child, and this year I had my second. We live in a small house and I don't have a dedicated audio room that I can keep the kids out of. Furthermore, I'd rather have them in the main family room anyway, where we can use them. Obviously, a stand-mounted mega heavy monitor like the Kii's is a toddler death trap, and it has no protection against flying nerf balls etc. 

 

After a lot of thinking, I finally decided a console was the right choice. I emailed the people at Kii and they said that a side table type installation would certainly work very well and sound excellent, So, I wanted them to be usable in a hidden protected position, but still be easily usable in a more ideal orientation. Furthermore, my wife was very adament they could be completely hidden. Anyway, I build this console with the Kiis in the outside "cabinet" with lifts and cutout in the counter for them to rise out of. The following is the result, the "cabinets" on the end have grills instead of inset shaker panels.

 

Down position with Kii control mounted on wall, hidden behind the TV (funny enough, the Apple remote still works perfectly, even with the TV on.)

 

Up with Kii Control down from behind TV:

 

 

Cabinet open to show lift:  The lift has over a 100 lb capacity, I have each speaker with 4 isopods underneath it, separating it from the lift platform.

 

 

So, how does it sound?  Well, in the down position, there is still nearly the minimum dimensions to the sides and more than enough to the back of the speaker for the cardioid projection to work. It actually still sounds shockingly good even in the down position. Bass is not nearly as controlled obviously, and it is low to the ground, but it still sounds way better than I thought it would. In the up position, it sounds great. I haven't A/B'd it with free stands, but it satisfies me. 

 

Again, obviously there is a lot not ideal about this setup, but it sounds fantastic, and the Kii's can be in a down, child protected position, (the cabinets lock.) I did run cables through my wall to get up to where the Control comes out, but other than that everything is in the console. 

What a great solution.  I love it.  Thanks for sharing.

[Beren]

After two and a half years of good service one of the tweeters of my Kii Threes stopped working at the end of June. The repair needed about two months, due to the moving of Kii's entire production from NL to Germany - they first had to built up the infrastructure for repairs and measuring again. Nonetheless I'm utterly speechless on how well everything worked out, from the collecting of the speakers by UPS to changing the defected parts and delivering them back to my home, all done as a warranty case and free of any cost for me. Fantastic customer service, Kii! Now they are back and playing as smooth as ever. In these two months I had forgotten HOW damn good these speakers really are.

[Emlin]

20 minutes ago, Beren said:

After two and a half years of good service one of the tweeters of my Kii Threes stopped working at the end of June. The repair needed about two months, due to the moving of Kii's entire production from NL to Germany - they first had to built up the infrastructure for repairs and measuring again. Nonetheless I'm utterly speechless on how well everything worked out, from the collecting of the speakers by UPS to changing the defected parts and delivering them back to my home, all done as a warranty case and free of any cost for me. Fantastic customer service, Kii! Now they are back and playing as smooth as ever. In these two months I had forgotten HOW damn good these speakers really are.

Good to hear. Any idea why the tweeter failed? 

[Beren]

No idea to be honest. I asked about which parts they repaired: they replaced amps (I think the one for the tweeter, probably the main defect) and a baffle, built in a new DSP and a new bottom cover - all this possibly on both speakers but I don't know. At least they needed both speakers for correct measuring after the repair.

[Kelly]

Yikes. I bought mine in 2017 and so should be approaching the end of my warranty period. I hate to think how much that will cost after the warranty is over… I notice that mine both give a little click when turning off and on. I’m completely used to it now but it was unsettling at first. It seemed harsher than I would have expected from such an otherwise refined product.

 

I had an issue with my Kii control a few years back when it stopped responding to IR remote. I ended up shipping it to Grace Design who was doing the tech support then in the US. The tech there ended up having to resolder something to the board.  

[firedog]

3 hours ago, Kelly said:

Yikes. I bought mine in 2017 and so should be approaching the end of my warranty period. I hate to think how much that will cost after the warranty is over… I notice that mine both give a little click when turning off and on. I’m completely used to it now but it was unsettling at first. It seemed harsher than I would have expected from such an otherwise refined product.

 

I had an issue with my Kii control a few years back when it stopped responding to IR remote. I ended up shipping it to Grace Design who was doing the tech support then in the US. The tech there ended up having to resolder something to the board.  

One of mine totally burnt out on the inside (as Schiitt described it), so Schiit replaced them both so I'd have a matching pair. 

But as with electronics in general, usually if it survives the first few months it survives for a long time.

It would be interesting to know what the expected life of the system is. 

[ntpaledo]

On 5/7/2021 at 11:07 AM, ntpaledo said:

Seller said they contacted Kii and Kii is sending them a replacement LED module for them to install on my speakers. The weird thing is when the speakers are off, both lights light up red, so I know there's power going through the LED module. I noted that to the seller and they said it's weird behavior and that they would replace the LED module and see what's going on. This will happen in 2 weeks. Will keep you posted

 

Update, 6! months later the replacement LED panel arrived and the technicians came over today to replace the module. Very interesting process, didn't know the inside of the Kii looked like this. All is working fine now

 

 

 

 

 

[Cadguy]

Can the LED lights on the Kii 3 be turned off?

[simonp]

yes you can, it can be set. for me they turn off when the speakers are on.

[Dave71]

Hi,

 

I've just purchased a pair of Kii 3, I'm want to use them with my Yamaha RX-A3060 receiver, which has front pre-outs for my home cinema.

 

I've connected an RCA to XLR cable to each speaker, but can't get any output. The Kii control is set to analogue.

 

Anyone else had the same issue or know a way of getting this to work?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[simonp]

I beleve there is also a small switch on the back of the speaker. Analog/digital xlr

[Dave71]

Thanks @simonp, I've tested them connected to my Chord Hugo TT DAC, I was able to get sound, but nothing from the receiver. I've tested the pre-outs with an amp in the past, it worked fine.

[Emlin]

5 minutes ago, Dave71 said:

Thanks @simonp, I've tested them connected to my Chord Hugo TT DAC, I was able to get sound, but nothing from the receiver. I've tested the pre-outs with an amp in the past, it worked fine.

Things fail over time. Looks like the problem lies with the pre. 

[Dave71]

I've just tested all the pre-outs with another amp, all working fine. #puzzled