Review: KEF 3000 Series Home Theater System

If you’re looking for a home theater system that is affordable, sexy and sounds fantastic, look no further than the KEF 3000 Series Home Theater System. The system features a set four satellite speakers, a center channel speaker and a subwoofer. Each of the speakers is backed up by KEF’s Uni-Q driver, which boosts the mids and lows to output a better overall audio experience. The system also features a strong center channel speaker and a powerful subwoofer, the two most important components of a speaker system.

When you order the complete system, each speaker will come in its own box and have its own cover. The speakers are well packed, and feel expensive when you pick them up. The grilles are connected to the speakers with magnets, so you can easily remove them and put them back on depending on what fits your setup better. You can also order optional stands for the front and rear satellite speakers, which hide the wires and match the speakers, giving the home theater system a very classy feel. No need to worry about parts if you’re planning on mounting the speakers, KEF provides you with everything you’ll need to get the speakers mounted onto your wall.

You can only connect the speakers to an A/V receiver with bare speaker cables, but once you’ve gotten everything connected, it doesn’t take much to get the system sounding spectacular. Dialog in movies, TV and games is crystal clear, and the sound only gets better when you raise the level. The KEF 3000 features KEF’s sealed suspension system, which eliminates noise between the tweeter and woofer, and gives you clean dialogs and little-to-no distortion, even at high output levels. The center channel and subwoofer are the two components that really show of this feature. The 250-watt subwoofer delivers clean low-end frequencies without cracking or making them sound like it is coming from one direction. There are also a couple switches on the bottom of the subwoofer that let you adjust the sound and phase. The subwoofer is designed so that you can lay it flat or stand it up, depending on your preference. The center channel speaker also features two 3-inch bass drivers, which allow you to output higher levels without any distortion. From games, music, TV and movies, the center channel will almost always give you a full-sounding audio experience.

Make sure you have a strong A/V receiver to support the KEF 3000 Series Home Theater System. I tried both a low-end (Insignia) and a mid-range (Pioneer VSX) A/V receivers, and there was a vast difference. A low-end receiver will make the satellite speakers sound like just another set of speakers, while a mid-range receiver will show you what these speakers are capable of. So if you’ve got a high-end A/V receiver then you’re golden. Like most speaker sets, the KEF 3000 speakers require a little bit of tweaking once they are plugged in. It doesn’t take too long, most of your time will be spent matching the center channel to the subwoofer, as the subwoofer can get overwhelmingly loud.

The KEF 3000 system sells for $1500, making it affordable for just about everyone who’s looking to put together a mid-range to high-end home theater system. The speakers aren’t going to save you if you’ve got a bad receiver, but for everyone else in the market for some new speakers, be sure to give the KEF 3000 Series a listen. The KEF 3000 Series 5.1 satellite system sounds completely unique, has a great design and an affordable price, making it a viable addition to any home theater setup.

KEF 3000 Series Home Theater System Review [product page]