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The tonal balance can be called even with a shot of warmth as driven from a powerful but taut well defined bass. Across its broad midband the R900 is exceptionally neutral. Upwards there’s a lack of brilliance emphasis to make any potential tendency one of long-term civility rather than short-lived effects. General distortion appears very low as the impression is one of excellent across-the-board cleanness.
Let’s talk turkey. On "Nutty" from a Thelonious Monk/Sonny Rollins LP [Prestige 7075 OJC reissue), the trio consists of Monk, Percy Heath and Art Blakey. Halfway through Blakey’s drum solo alters the tempo and how he morphs one motif into the next is high art. The KEF excelled at the percussive work and brilliantly revealed the rhythmic trickery whereby the new beat intrudes on and then shifts the old. Any drummer wishing to sit in will get a front-row seat with the KEF. The tom skins are tautly stretched, the cymbals are as clean as recording and pressing allow, the kick drum is no mere tock tock but exhibits believable attack and decay. The interplay with Percy Heath’s bass is wonderful too, no stumbling or insecurity in sight.


True, my JBL studio monitors render the drum solo a tad more impulsive and with greater forward drive. The KEF isn’t quite as insistent but not slow either. It’s more about a measure of relaxedness. Hello compromises. The R900 appears to trade a tick of transient heat for greater low-down reach. Payback time for this choice is music playing to it. Take Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf in the well-known Deutsche Grammophone production with the English Chamber Orchestra under Barenboim and Loriot as the storyteller. When the orchestra breaks into a tutti, the KEF loaded my space so fully that despite 42 square meters and 3.6m of ceiling I never itched for a subwoofer or ‘more bass’. The KEF is a true fullrange affair. On symphonica my JBL sans sub are not satisfying. They only produce an echo of true orchestral majesty.


The bass tuning of the KEF is musically clever. Rock’s lowest reach—42Hz of an e bass—makes it under full power. With classical small and large ensembles are equally convincing. Unlike the JBL there’s real endeavor to do justice to all music types. Back to Peter and his wolf. This album lends itself well to comment on resolution, articulation and staging. Loriot’s voice had proper nuance to easily ‘see’ his famed minor amusement. The transverse flute portraying the bird showed such becoming dynamic ease but also detail that I could sense its metallic column vibrate. The kettle drum and big drum beats as the narrative’s gun shots showed excellent differentiation. The low bass was really taut, any one-note fears from bass reflex alignments completely misplaced with the R900.

Soundstaging was brilliant too, with a broad and deep stage wherein individual instruments remained tacitly distinct to conform with colleague Ralph Werner’s hifi staging standard model of his KEF Q900 review. Depth layering wasn’t evident merely between the boxes but also with instruments situated far left or right. On John Lee Hooker’s "My dream" from The Healer, the KEF made clear that his guitar amp stood on the floor beside him whilst the studio’s vocal mike was well above it. I’ve rarely enjoyed height information this clearly.
Moving right along, Ethiopian Mulati Astatke cut the double LP Timeless during an L.A. concert on 1.2.2009 whilst post production seems to have skimped. On the "Yèkèrmo Sèw" opener the balance between the diverse instruments is still a bit off. Trevor Ware’s bass and Tony Austin’s drums appear strongly forward in the mix while Mulatu’s vibraphone and the wind section are underlit. Just as recorded, the dry bass with little reverb dominated over the KEF. Even during dense interludes where countless musicians get busy plucking, blowing, hitting and drumming, their instruments never ran into one another but remained distinct. The R900 invaded this complex mix with near monitor qualities to lay bare every little detail