CEDIA 2012

At the 2012 CEDIA Expo today, KEF introduced a product that should have appeal for a great many real world audiophiles - the new X300A desktop powered speaker system.

Now, anybody who's been to a high-end show lately has likely sat there in stunned silence and dreamed of owning a pair of KEF Blades, and luckily the company's brought the concentric Uni-Q driver at the heart of those speakers to their more affordable products. The $799.99/pair X300A is the latest step in that evolution; a full-featured desktop audio system based around that same driver configuration.

Each channel of the X300A uses a single 5 and 1/4-inch Uni-Q array, but the arrays are biamped, with the low/mid driver and tweeter of the Uni-Q array powered independently. The system also incorporates a 24/96 capable USB DAC for easy interfacing with your desktop gear (giving the whole shebang a whole lotta bang for the buck. There's also a 1/8-inch auxiliary input for your analog needs. Not enough? You can add a Bluetooth receiver dongle.

To ease placement, there's also a configuration switch letting you choose between "desk/wall" and "stand" EQ modes; these function with an included set of port plugs to give you a variety of setup options.

We're looking forward to getting our ears on these later in the show, and we'll let you know more as we get more info.