KEF Egg

Anyone else have experience with them?

When they were announced, I figured it was more of a cash grab from KEF to capitalize on their E305 home theatre system by turning it into a 2.0 system with an integrated DAC and amplifier, plus BT. I went to listen to it, and thought they were okay, but didn't think they were anything special. To me, the bass was a bit bloated from too much bass reflex, causing the midrange to sound diffuse and recessed with too much unevenness in the highs (though the upper midrange seemed decently detailed), so the sound signature on the whole seemed geared toward casual listeners with little idea of an ideal hi-fi sound.

But, as I don't have the space for a proper setup, speakers ARE casual listening devices to me, and I thought that occasional listening on them would be okay for me in exchange for the space-saving convenience of not having to purchase a separate DAC and amplifier (my place is very restricted in terms of space). So I bought them (got a nice discount). I almost regretted the purchase, as they sounded even boomier in my small room. However, I got some high-density acoustic dampening foam and plugged up the bass reflex ports, and the bass tightened up significantly (at the expense of some bass extension, which was expected), and the midrange became de-occluded, giving way to somewhat decent imaging and detail.

My guess is that people can build similar systems for a fraction of the price, but I do like their all-in-one convenience and their style. Plus, I just really like Uni-Q drivers (and coaxial drivers in general). Once I plugged up those ports, they sounded a lot better to me.