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Centre Speakers - KEF Speakers

A centre speaker is often regarded as most important speaker in a home cinema 5.1 speaker set-up as the centre channel is often used for speech and direct front centre action, handling the vast majority of this vital task. For this reason, we recommend selecting a centre speaker that integrates well with at least your other front speakers. Ideally, select the same brand and same level of speakers for the front and centre channels (for example if you use KEF R-series speakers on the fronts, we'd recommend using a KEF R-series centre speaker). We also sell pre-selected 5.1 speaker packages.


KEF is a British speaker manufacturer developing industry-leading products for over 50 years. KEF has received a host of awards and stellar reviews and currently offers a wide range of hi-fi speakers and AV speakers. 

The flagship KEF Blade and smaller KEF Blade 2 speakers are renowned for their excellence and superb reproduction, and their advanced pioneering technologies and Uni-Q Driver Array designs have filtered down into lots of KEF’s consumer-end products, such as the KEF LS50 wireless speakers.

In 1961, KEF was founded by Raymond Cooke OBE an ex-BBC Electrical Engineer and headquartered the company near Maidstone, Kent. The company was set on the banks of the River Medway in the premises of a former metal working company, Kent Engineering & Foundry. Overtime by experimenting with new technologies and materials, Cooke aimed to produce superior acoustic quality with recordings reproduced to the exact nature of the original performance. 

KEF became the first company to utilise the stability of Bextrene as a cone material, which has since been incorporated in many drivers for many leading audiophile speakers. Another major breakthrough a few years later, KEF became the first to design and test loudspeakers with computer modelling leading the industry in the digital analysis of speakers. Their revolutionary work resulted in KEF being able to match speaker pairs to within half a dB for flawless audio reproduction. 

KEF eventually went on to produce their signature technology, the Uni-Q point source driver array in the next decade using NASA-developed magnets that were ten times more powerful than conventional ones. KEF stayed ahead of the game in the nineties with the advent of 5.1 home cinema recording by creating the first dedicated centre speaker in the UK, the Model 100 benefiting from Uni-Q. 

Through the years, they have been developing impressive expertise in the use of advanced acoustical, magnetic and mechanical modelling techniques such as Finite Element Analysis resulting in an accuracy that was not previously achievable. Kept under wraps since the 1980s, KEF revealed their ACE technology in 2005 demonstrating the advantages of activated carbon inside a compact speaker enclosure and its effect on internal volume and bass extension.

Now five decades from the company’s inception, KEF's scientific innovation and hands-on experimentation cements their ultimate audiophile reputation and allows them to continue to lead in developing products ahead of the market. We stock the complete KEF range, from the multimedia range (that includes active speakers, headphones and earphones) to the Q series range, LS50 range, both the wired and wireless LS50, R series range, KEF Reference range and KEF Blade, along with custom install speakers and 5.1 speaker packages for a home theatre experience.

Centre speakers typically use two main drivers as well and a tweeter. As suggested, in order to tonally match this with the rest of your equipment and deliver optimum stereo integration and imaging, it is highly recommended that the centre speaker is purchased to match the rest of your equipment. Using the same type of driver and tweeter across the whole of the front (and ideally rear) of your Surround Sound Speaker System is ideal, as it ensures that coherency and integration is maintained throughout your AV system. While we cite choosing speakers from the same range as being ideal, the reasoning is, for example, that pairing front channel speakers using dome tweeters with a centre speaker that uses a ribbon tweeter would be less than ideal, as there would be two differing presentations of high end frequencies, which could result in a confused and incoherent soundstage and imaging.

Thankfully, most manufacturers design their centre speakers to tonally and aesthetically match their other speakers, meaning that pairing with your AV kit is a breeze. If your existing kit is older or discontinued, our dedicated and knowledgeable team is always happy to assist with advice or demonstrations to help find the ideal centre speaker to integrate seamlessly with your equipment. We also offer free UK delivery, so you can be setup and ready to go in no time.

One factor to consider when purchasing is the height of the speaker, as typically it will be positioned beneath a TV, so ensuring it is not too large and blocking your TV is essential. Much like typical hi-fi and AV speakers, a centre speaker will usually perform better on a dedicated speaker stand. While they may be suitable for use, most speaker stands come in pairs. However, we also offer a range of centre speaker stands, which are available singly, and are designed to accommodate the wider footprint, and also tend to be of a lower height in order to position the speaker beneath a TV.

A dedicated speaker stand will position your speaker at the ideal listening height for optimum stereo imaging and integration. It will also assist in preventing unwanted resonance from affecting the sound your speaker produces. Many stands are fillable, which will add stability to the stand, as well as improving bass depth and authority.

Manufacturers are aware that an AV speaker system can be as much a piece of furniture as it is a functional piece of equipment and, with this in mind, many centre speakers are designed and built to the highest standard from a range of real woods and veneers. We stock a wide range of centre speakers, ranging from entry level models to high end, with a choice of styles and finishes to suit every taste and requirement. Some models are designed to be exceptionally slim, making them much easier to accommodate and position than their full-sized counterparts.

Centre Speakers - KEF Speakers

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