KEF CI160.2 QR 2-Way Ci Series Flush Mount Round Loudspeaker

Not Your Grandad's Speaker

KEF has developed proprietary technology that allows them to offer something no one else can -- unified high and low frequency waveguides. What this means to listeners is that KEF speakers provide a roomful of audiophile quality sound. Like its little brother the Ci130QR, the Ci Series Ci160QR speaker continues this tradition with its combined tweeter and bass/midrange units. Expect an expansive soundscape and excellent bass extension for the perfect sound stage with the Ci160.2 QR. Powerful, generous in size and outstanding in performance, this speaker is best suited for high quality music and speech reinforcement applications requiring hi-fi performance such as multi-room systems, home theater systems, boardrooms and offices, convention centers, lounges, and more. The fourth generation Uni-Q driver array presents superb off-axis dispersion characteristics from the coincident source driver arrangement with greater positioning flexibility as a result of such a wide sound stage. All that translates into great sound. Period.

It's Anywhere You Want It To Be

Want to groove to tunes while you suds up, or maybe do a little sing-along while you barbeque on the deck? Moisture resistant fittings on the Ci160.2 QR let you set up your speaker in inclement environments such as your bathroom or even outside, under the eaves of your house. The stainless steel bezel and grille are great for those concerned with seamless decor -- you can paint the speaker to specifications or cover it with fabric to maintain aesthetic appeal. The options are endless. Flush mounted in your wall or ceiling, painted or covered, this unit is ready to provide sound from an invisible location. And it's never been easier to install, thanks to KEF's simple and ingenious screw down clamping system. Choose a spot, install it, cover it up (or not) and experience great sound from a quality speaker.

Uni-Q Array Explained

You don't have to be a genius to understand why Ci Series speakers sound so good. After all, they incorporate the Uni-Q technology originally designed for one of the world's finest speaker models, KEF's legendary Reference Series. The Uni-Q concept is based on using aerospace materials to make the tweeter small enough to place at the acoustic center of the bass/midrange cone. With both drive units on exactly the same axis and sharing the same waveguide, they behave as a single point source that projects a more natural sound image over a much larger area than the usual tiny sweet spot. This is because the Uni-Q configuration eliminates the inherent problems of having the separate midrange and high frequency drive units of a conventional speaker. As loudspeaker radiation varies according to frequency, low frequency and high frequency drivers have intrinsically different radiation patterns whose directivity - known as Q - changes at the crossover frequency. Interference (or lobing) between the two units causes a dip in power response around this frequency, with a peak above it due to their differences in directivity. These factors introduce colorations that muddy the sound image. You get no such problems with Uni-Q. Being coincident and perfectly time-aligned, the directivity of both LF and HF units is controlled by the profile of the midrange cone, with no possible path or phase differences between the two, and no lobing interference at the crossover. The Q is unified, in other words - hence the name Uni-Q. So instead of narrowing towards the crossover and then widening again as is the case with separate drive units, the Uni-Q radiation pattern remains stable. Power response is uniform, with smoother variations on and off-axis. The acoustic image is better balanced and more natural sounding across both direct and reverberant fields. Multichannel imaging is noticeably clearer and more accurate, and that, my friends, is a very good thing.

Unbeatable Build Quality -- That's What I'm Talking About!

Intended to be as unobtrusive as possible, the Ci Series Ci160.2QR is a high-fidelity flush-mount loudspeaker utilizing KEF's Uni-Q Array driver technology. The Uni-Q array in the Ci Series incorporates a sophisticated new tweeter with a soft dome that increases the break-up resonance to 34 kHz (as compared to the 25 kHz threshold of a typical standard dome). This gives these stylish round speakers the inherent smooth dispersion characteristics to fill any normal room with an expansive, generous and rich sound stage. The midfrequency voice coil is of copper-coated aluminium ribbon, edge-wound over a polyimide former to increase sensitivity by maximizing the amount of copper in the magnet gap. Chassis are of precision-cast aluminium for greater rigidity, with a vented design to improve power handling. The tall profile cone surrounds are of butyl rubber to allow greater excursion, and therefore higher output. Faraday rings are incorporated into the ultra-low distortion motor, further reducing harmonic distortion by as much as 20dB. With refinements like these, no wonder the sound is so open and natural. No wonder the action on screen suddenly becomes more compelling. No wonder you get so utterly immersed in the listening experience. It's what the KEF Ci Series is all about.