KEF Q150 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Walnut)

10 reviews for KEF Q150 Bookshelf Speakers (Pair, Walnut)

1. 

   5 out of 5

   BirdmonkeyBirdmonkey – April 17, 2020

   I saw these on sale for $300 so I bought them. I thought about getting the LS50’s before but they were just so much money. With these I get to see what KEF speakers sound like for a pretty good price. I was actually surprised at how good these speakers sounded. The sound quality is impressive. They sound very clear. The highs sound perfect. I was kind of skeptical about an all-in-one driver but I guess it works pretty well.What I don’t like about these speakers is the way they look. I think they are really ugly and boxy. I think it would be hard to make an uglier speaker. I also don’t like that they don’t come with any speaker grilles. I tried to buy some grilles for this but I cannot find them in stock anywhere. These speakers are much bigger than I had in mind. They’re too big to be used as desktop computer speakers which is what I bought them for. I ended up using these for my TV stereo system. They’re a good fit for an entertainment system.I’m giving this a good rating because speakers are made for sound; and they sound really good; especially for $300.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   KatunKatun – April 23, 2020

   Many reading this are probably in the same predicament they find themselves in when the Q150 and Q350 frequently go on sale for $300 and $500 respectively. I too found myself on that see-saw of trying to decide which to buy and if the Q350 was worth the extra $200. I scoured the internet for any comparisons or comments and found very little worthwhile info. From the bits I did gather, there seemed to be a general consensus that the Q150 had cleaner treble, but the Q350 sounded bigger, warmer, had better mids, and more bass. That unless on a budget, one should just spring for the Q350. There’s also speculation that the Q150 is inherently superior because it uses the same size driver and similar size enclosure as the LS50. So, which is it?Let me touch on build and dimensions real quick for those unfamiliar. While I personally find the black iteration of both of these among the most beautiful bookshelf speakers out there, the build leaves something to be desired. While the binding posts might be the cheapest I’ve encountered and the cabinet is pretty hollow, I tend to quickly forgive these factors as long as it sounds good. The matte black vinyl looks great and I’m THRILLED it’s not the black ash abomination that finds its way onto so many speakers. The edges are very sharp and clean; a great contrast to the round, centered drivers. There are no grills included, but I would have never used them. Plus, the ones you can buy look cheap and don’t cover the entire face of the speaker. Why KEF didn’t even bother making a grill cutout for the logo of an upcharge grill is beyond me.I’m a huge fan of KEF and their coaxial drivers, and the LS50 still remains my favorite speaker (with subwoofer assistance). I also previously owned the Q150 a few years ago and preferred it in direct comparison to the CCB-8, UB5, and Denton. The Q350 is new for me and I was hoping it would build on what I remembered from the superb Q150. Sadly, it doesn’t. To cut to the chase regarding the value proposition, if the prices were reversed with the Q150 at $500 and Q350 at $300, I’d still purchase the Q150 over the Q350. Unlike the bigger driver and higher price would lead you to believe, the Q350 is not everything the Q150 does but better, nor is it a Q150 with more bass and a bigger sound. It’s a complete side step at best, and in my honest opinion, a flat-out downgrade.I pulled my trusty Studio 570s off mains duty and listened to the Q350 for a few days. While there is always something special to be said about the imaging coaxial drivers provide, these just always sounded way too mellow, too laid-back, and almost muddy. They lack dynamics and never really seem to emerge from their slumber until I seriously crank the volume. At quiet to normal levels, forget it. All the times I was completely uninvolved with the music, I’d instead be constantly urging them to give me MORE. Bring forth the vocals! Bring out the details! Bring up the sparkle! They are indeed very warm, overly so. Almost like KEF experimenting with a Sennheiser or Wharfedale sound. They remind me of the UB5. No glaring faults, but just blah (I still remember liking the UB5 more). The urge to connect a power station and put a trillion watts into them so they can WAKE UP! Vocals definitely suffered because of this. While soft and gentle, they’re simply too muffled. Not so good for quiet, night time, or dialogue-heavy listening. Putting the 570s back in place and BAM, the veil vaporized and the injection of clarity and accompanied shock was like a splash of cold water.I hastily ordered the Q150 after becoming increasingly unhappy with the Q350 and the fact it was no match for the 570s. Hoping I’d at least be able to keep one of the KEFs (almost just for their appearance and coaxial drivers alone), I set the Q150s in the same location, on the same stands, in the same room. 6ft apart with my listening position also 6ft away. To my relief, they were exactly as I remembered them. They had the sparkle the Q350 was completely missing. Vocals, especially female, finally came alive. Everything sounded more realistic and believable. Fine details and imaging seemed more carefully crafted and didn’t get lost in the added midbass and laid-back nature like they did on the Q350. Most surprising was that the bass and extension were comparable, but cleaner and more defined on the Q150. The Q350 has more midbass and smoothness, but of what did it no favors. The soundstage and imaging between the two also sounded pretty indistinguishable and I’d likely fail a blind test. Had I not known of their prices, there is no question I would have thought the Q150 was the more expensive speaker as it has a cleaner, clearer, more balanced sound.But, it’s clear to me that the Q150 and Q350 were cut from the same cloth regarding different aspects aside from their sound profiling. For one, the Q150 is also still difficult to drive and definitely sounds better when turned up. Although, they do not suffer from low power or low level listening as much as the Q350 due to their more forward nature and better treble. Both also require a tempered expectation when it comes to bass. If pushed hard, the bass will start to fall apart and become flabby. If you’re a basshead and like party volumes, I shouldn’t be the one mentioning you need floorstanders and/or a subwoofer. Lastly, I found it interesting that while my ear is actually 4-5 inches higher than tweeter level when they’re on my 28” stands, putting 4 inch yoga blocks underneath them to mimic a 32” stand (and become within an inch of ear level) revealed that they didn’t sound quite as good, becoming thinner and brighter. Goes without saying for any speaker, but definitely experiment with speaker height, width apart, toe-in, and distance from surrounding walls.Ultimately, the Q150 was the clear winner here in both value and sound. Many will buy them simply for the fact they’re $200 cheaper… and that’s the real final nail in the Q350s coffin. With that $200 savings, one could purchase a nice pair of speaker stands and still have cash left over. Not to mention, the Q150 is easier to maneuver, place, and experiment with due to their size and weight reduction. They’d work brilliantly on a desk and I anticipate the smaller driver would sound better nearfield. The Q350 is big enough that placement options other than dedicated stands would be limited. Everything said, I highly recommend the Q150 and think it would fit the bill for most people and in most cases over the Q350. But at the end of the day, it’s all about the music… right? And that $200 you just saved.I’m now inclined to believe that KEF’s fabled 5” driver is indeed the sweet spot.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   JoanrJoanr – May 22, 2020

   A terrific value, especially when purchased on sale. I have these paired with the new Blusound Powernode 2021 amp/streamer and they sound incredible. Initially I had them hooked up to my Yamaha RX-V4A AVR but it just couldn’t do them justice. I was considering upgrading to the Kef LS50 Metas but these sound so sweet hooked up to the Powernode that I think I’ll save myself $1, 600 for the time being. I’m also using a sub with them but they really don’t need one. It’s a matter of preference.I have a small living room, it’s about 20 L x 13 ft W and these fill the entire area plus the kitchen with amazing sound at normal listening levels.You really have to run these about 50 hours or more to open them up and give some space from the wall as advised by Kef.I won’t mention brands but I did return two sets of speakers before deciding to keep these, the uni-q driver works it’s special magic to broaden the soundstage and imaging.With the Powernode the mids are so clear and the highs are smooth never shrill or annoying.I’ve crossed the bass at 80 Hz, but could bring that down to 60 with no problem they could handle the low frequency.Very pleased with these, especially paired with a good quality stereo amplifier.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Patrick Maloney – June 18, 2020

   I have been researching bookshelf speakers for a modest audio setup in my home office. Based on some research and feedback I was about to purchase the KEF Q100s when I discovered they were very recently replaced by the Q150s.I wasn’t able to find much information on the Q150s but I took a leap of faith and purchased a pair. They’re now attached to a PS Audio Sprout and a clearaudio Concept turntable. I’m not an audiophile by any stretch but I’m extremely impressed with these speakers so far. They sound amazingly clear and accurate at any volume. I’ve thrown many types of music at them so far and everything is so rich and vibrant – I was shocked at how great they sounded the first time I used them.In terms of appearance I really like the clean, simplified look over the slightly vintage appearance of the 100s. I went with the black, sans magnetic grilles. Build quality is solid and…heavy.I do hear some very modest boominess in some cases but I’m willing to bet it’s caused by how I have them positioned (lower than recommended and in large cubby shelves). I have not attempted to put these speakers on stands to see if it changes anything but it’s honestly so minor I don’t feel the need to make adjustments. If anything it eliminates any need to introduce a subwoofer.I apologize for the novice review, but if anyone is looking for good looking speakers that sound wonderful and are reasonably priced, the Q150s should be on your list.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Durwood – June 27, 2020

   Looks: these are gorgeous speakers. Your significant other won’t be disappointed with a pair in any room. I love the way the tweeter’s wave guide lines up perfectly with the driver’s protrusion lines. It basically projects sound outward in 9 segments (look at the product pic closely to see what I mean). The cabinet is fascinating to look at and feel. It reminds me of 3d printer plastic as it’s got a wound thread look. It is quite different than most speakers, especially when the light hits it. It will never look shiny aside from the aluminum dome tweeter and woofer frame. I wouldn’t bother with the optional grills as they just look campy with them on. The driver surround gasket feels very light and supple compared to other speaker’s but even it is beautiful.Sound: Very rich sound, especially in the bass region. The only other modern speakers I can compare these to is the Paradigm Atom Monitor SE’s. Those are very good speakers and aren’t veiled at all but compared to these, they almost seem a tad that way. These KEFs are outstanding with clarity and instrument separation. The wave guide really tames the aluminum dome tweeter perfectly. These are not bright sounding speakers yet they are not dull by any sense of the term. I’m using them in an 18′ by 20′ living room with a subwoofer and they effortlessly fill the space with their magnificent soundstage ability. There’s a lot of buzz words like Uni-Q and such with KEF and usually buzz words are just that but I’ve been using these for gaming, tv, movies and critical music listening for a month now and I’m just thrilled to have them. The buzz words actually result in high quality performance in this case.Value: I’m sure you can do way better for the ridiculous $600 price tag on these but I bought them used via amazon warehouse for $353.00 and have no regrets at all. They seem to always be readily available via that route too.I’m running these off an smsl ao200 amp via a Schitt Modi 3+ dac and an ifi zen blue bluetooth receiver. I am pleased as can be. Some have said these start to chuff at high volume but I’ve taken them to the height of comfortable listening levels where I can clearly see the woofers moving and all I can hear is clean and clear music full of clarity, power and refinement. They’d pair best with a revealing amp for sure.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   Igelfeld – August 22, 2020

   When I was looking for speakers for my HT set-up a year ago, I read through all the reviews I could find to see what were the best speakers for my budget of $300 or less. ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 kept coming up as #1 or #2 in the reviews. The reviews, however, invariably mentioned that if one could extend one’s budget more, one should get KEF Q150. That stuck in my head. But KEF Q150s were way over my budget at the time so I ended up with ELACs for front L/R and ELAC Debut 2.0 C5.2 for center, with Fluance AVBP2 bipole speakers rounding up my set-up as side surrounds. They were a bit complicated to set up. I had to tinker with measurements that Yamaha’s YPAO was giving me but I got a good sound out of them. At least, that was what I thought at the time. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it but something was missing. I especially felt it with the surrounds. Few weeks ago when I was doing further research on surrounds and thinking about upgrading to a better bipole/dipole speaker, I came across some pretty strong opinions on using direct speakers for surrounds which got me thinking that I may have been wrong about choosing bipole design to begin with. At that time I noticed that KEF Q150s were on sale at Amazon for 1/2 the price at $300 a pair. I decided to take a chance and got them to try out as surround speakers. I was amazed with the result. My whole system was instantly transformed. Now I am a believer in using direct speakers for surrounds, although partly it may be the Uni-Q design of KEF Q150, and other direct speakers may or may not be as good for this purpose. But KEFs worked amazingly well. They opened ELACs up, too, so I was very pleased. And they looked so sleek, too! I decided to take a further leap and replace my ELAC L/C/R with KEF Q150s. Let me tell you that results were spectacular. YPAO nailed it right away and for the first time I did not have to change anything except setting speakers to small with the crossover at 80 Hz to redirect bass to the subwoofer. The sound was so good that I could not stop watching Dolby Atmos and DTS:X trailers on youtube. This is an amazing little speaker! Way more detailed than ELAC, well balanced and clean, whether played at high volume or low. At the original price what I did would not have been a viable project for me but with the current discount I got a sound system that I could only dream about before. KEF Q150 at $300 vs ELAC Debut 2.0 at $300? There is no contest! You owe it to yourself to get KEFs. They are in a different class than ELAC. Highly recommended.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Slick – August 24, 2020

   When I saw Black Friday prices for the elac debut b 6.2, I put them in my cart. Afterwards I stumbled upon these kef q150 s at holiday pricing. This led to several days of reading reviews, conjecture, and watching numerous YouTube videos in a quest to determine if paying twice as much would net me any benefit. I desperately didn’t want to spend $300 and be disappointed seeing that I was quite sure that the b6.2 speakers would not remain at their $150 Black Friday price. When the q150s arrived and I hook them up, I immediately realized that I had made the right decision. They sound @#$_&-+ amazing, for 300$! As referenced across many kef experiences and reviews, There is a break-in period, where the sounds distorts at different levels. However, they came back around after playing for several hours a day over two to three days.Im listening to them with a HIBY DAP, topping Dac w/Mac running audirvana, and a modded pl120 w/ortofon red. Marantz 1150 integrated w/ SoundCraftsman pro equalizer. I am listening to flac 16/24/32 and DSD 64/128/256 files.The base sound is somewhat user dependent. The speakers are rear force and distance to the wall behind is a determining factor in the lowland sound. The mid-range and highs are excellent.I am not qualified to pass judgment on other speakers in this price range. But, I am frugal and discerning. I was fully prepared to return these if I felt, at any time, underwhelmed.I am ecstatic. These are outstanding speakers,IF YOUR PRICE RANGE IS 300$ AND THESE ARE ON SALE ——BUY THEM NOW——

8. 

   5 out of 5

   NickNick – September 18, 2020

   I bought these in white for Father’s day when they were on sale for $300. I also bought Q Acoustics 3020i’s ($300) and Jamo S803’s ($200) around the same time to audition them and see which pair I wanted to keep.I ended up keeping the Kef q150s (and the Jamos).All three are very good speakers which I think anyone would be pretty happy to have. All three look really good, which actually matters a lot to me- but I think the Kefs are the prettiest.Build quality is similar across the board, I don’t have any issues with any of them. The Jamos are certainly a step down from the other two, but they still look really sharp and nothing was concerning to me. Q Acousitcs may have a slight edge in cabinet construction over the Kefs, but all are pretty good.The Jamo S803’s are great- they have a dynamic signature that bumps up the highs and the mid-lows a bit. This is great for apartment-level listening, as I can have the speakers at a moderate level that won’t bother my neighbors and still find the speakers fun to listen to. I found the Q-Acoustics very flat- to the point of being comparatively boring at the volume levels I prefer. The Jamo’s don’t play as deep as I was hoping- subwoofer absolutely needed. The Kef’s actually got deeper than the other two by quite a bit, which surprised me because the driver is smaller if you don’t count the massive surround. Anyways, the Jamo’s give some energy to the higher bass, but fall off too quickly to satisfy me at least. Also, the Jamos are way less efficient than the other two pairs- they need more power. On the other hand, I have an amp rated to 20 watts per channel RMS that was capable of driving the Jamo’s beyond a comfortable listening level for me in a mid-sized room. They are inefficient, but you don’t need anything special for them to work.The Q Acoustic 3020i’s are also very good. I like the rounded corners. They are bigger than they look because these speakers are very deep. I think I like the proportions of the Kefs the best, but again, all three look nice and sound good. The 3020i’s have a pretty flat sound signature and are certainly a bit more refined than the Jamos. Imaging and sound stage were similar between the two, however. Again, I kept the Jamos and not the Q Acoustics because I simply enjoyed listening to music using the Jamos more than when using the Q Acoustics. The 3020i’s are probably “better” but I personally recommend the Jamos- even if they were the same price, but especially since the Jamos are quite a bit cheaper.I was actually blown away to hear for myself how much better than the other two the Kefs are. In every way. I could truly hear the difference that the Uni Q (concentric) driver makes. The difference was apparent immediately – nothing sounded wrong or bad when I listened to the other speakers, but everything had more depth, space, and clarity coming through the kefs. Plus, to my surprise, these speakers got noticeably deeper than the other two. I still need a subwoofer to suit my own tastes, but these are much closer to the point where you don’t need one, and for many genre’s these would be perfect on their own.Still, I think the imaging is the real standout feature of these speakers that makes me really love them. The speakers start to blend in to the background and it feels like the room is just making music when you play a well-recorded track with these positioned well. My brother in law has LS50’s, and these get impressively near that experience for a fraction of the cost. The LS50s are better in every way, much the same as these Kefs are better than the other two pairs- but the Uni-Q driver is not just hogwash marketing malarkey.At the sale price of around $300 (which these also hit during black Friday and much of the Christmas Season) the decision is easy. But at $550, it isn’t clear cut whether the difference is worth the cost. That is going to be a personal decision. I would probably pick the Jamos for the best value. All three pairs of speakers are very good, but the q150’s were the clear winner in my comparison.Note: I tested these speakers in a living room, but I am going to put one pair on my desk eventually. However, for now I can’t say anything about how the speakers compare near-field.

9. 

   5 out of 5

   hh – September 29, 2020

   My Q150s replaced a pair of BR622s and are driven in conjunction with a sealed 10″ subwoofer. I immediately plugged the bass ports to provide a flatter sound, as the default profile is slightly bass-heavy. Foam plugs have an inner core that can be removed to only partially block if necessary, a nice touch. Sound is so well controlled, especially midrange which is the primary benefactor from their proprietary Q drivers. You’ll be very pleased with their performance for most types of music – classical to vocal to techno, they have a fast, dynamic sound and are very revealing with source material. I drive these using two APA150 amplifiers bridged as mono, and a Topping DX3 DAC/preamp with source from the optical out of an Onkyo CD player – plus previously mentioned subwoofer. For a total of $1500, it kicks some serious butt! Downside is no speaker covers (boo) and none available anymore to purchase.UPDATE: KEF are selling the covers again.

10. 

    5 out of 5

    DRF – January 18, 2021

    I love my Kefs. I purchased these speakers alongside a bunch of others to test next to one another. Including the Q Acoustic 3020i, Polk S20, Polk S15 and the Jamo S803. I can give a quick breakdown of each speaker:Q Acoustic 3020i: Very articulate, would be great for classical music but cold and a little lifeless when compared to Kefs, particularly in the midrange.Polk S20: Actually the closest sounding to the Kef’s in my opinion, lively and really open sound but the speakers are too damn big.Polk S15: Tried these based off how S20 sounded but liked the smaller footprint. These didn’t sound nearly as good as the S20s to my ears, too boxy and muffled.Jamo S803: These look great, but feel cheap and sound a lot like the S15s, they sound small and muffled.Overall the Kef Q150 was the easy winner in these comparisons, loads of detail without being too bright, great midrange and open soundstage. I also got these when they were on sale at $300 bucks so it was a no brainer. If you’re on a budget look at the S20s but know that they are beasts. Even at $500 I would still get these though as they look super minimal in my setup and sound extremely solid, I’m excited to build a system around these speakers.