This content provides a candid, non-traditional review of three KEF speaker models (Antigua, Minorca) and the Abyss amplifier, focusing on their value proposition during a sale, especially when paired with the Abyss amp.
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what's up guys welcome back to the
channel Nemo propaganda here now ever
since I reviewed the kabas Morano that
was on sale you guys have been asking me
about the Minorca bookshelf the Antigua
bookshelf and the abyss amp and I'll be
honest I didn't want to do a dedicated
review for each one of these products
you know these things are on sale
there's limited inventory it doesn't
make sense but I'm like you know what I
can grab all three and just do like a
quick hangout session where I just
candidly talk to you guys about him so
this video isn't necessarily a review
this is a video for those of you that
you know you saw the sale price you just
want to know if it's worth it or not
what my thoughts are I'm just here to
kind of help you make a decision either
you know walk away and consider
something else or may maybe this is one
of these is for you right so let's get
into it real quick so uh the Antigua all
the way on the end uh is a three-way
speaker its normal MSRP was about $800
and now it's on sale for about 550 I'll
go ahead and say I think at 800 bucks it
might have not been super competitive
and I can actually understand why they
didn't sell super well these days we do
have a lot of great options around that
price 10 years ago that wasn't really
the case but now we do however at $550
it is a significant value for a couple
of reasons one it's a full-size
bookshelf speaker where most you know $
500ish doll bookshelf speakers tend to
be smaller use a 5 and a/ qu inch driver
this is using a 6 and 1 half inch bass
driver and it does have quite a bit of
Bas it has very strong base actually um
I'll go ahead and say it probably has
more base than most speakers that are
selling for about $500 one of the
reasons I don't like to review
inexpensive speakers as most of them
don't have much Bas and as a result the
mid-range tends to sound a little bit
thin the Antiga doesn't have that
problem it's got a very full confidence
sound in the lower end now it's not the
tightest Bas it's going to have a little
bit more Bloom to it but it is quite
powerful and extends respectably low for
a bookshelf speaker moving up to the
mid-range it's a little bit thicker uh
thanks to its base it's going to give
you a little bit of a fuller sound but
not super thick it's not super warm and
juicy like a d audio D audio evoke might
be for example the mid-range is going to
air more neutral more open more
expansive just a little bit of warmth
moving up to the treble this is an
energetic speaker it is on the forward
side of neutral now here's the
interesting thing and this may be true
with all speakers but I noticed more so
with the Antigua with most speakers you
point them straight out into the room
right you're going to have a little bit
less trouble energy hitting your
eardrums and as you tow them in more and
more the speaker should get brighter and
brighter that that's usually the case
and that was the case with the Antigua
but the contrast was substantial and
that's either a good thing or a bad
thing depending on who you are if you're
the type of person that's like no I
think that's super cool because if I'm
in the mood for something very relaxing
I can just point them straight out into
the room and when you do that the treble
is very
relaxing but if you're in the mood for
something spicier you aim the M your
ears and it becomes a bright energetic
analytical treble region so I thought
that was interesting you I haven't seen
that big of a contrast with tow in uh
versus straight out into the room with
most speakers the Antigua seems to
really you know change based on how much
you to them in and out quite a bit so
again the value ads are simple you're
getting a full-size bookshelf speaker
it's a three-way it's got respect
respectably strong base and can play
relatively loud um around 500 bucks I
can't really think of uh too many
competitors but at the same time I got
to be honest with you guys you guys know
I don't really review a lot of speakers
in and around this price category so
there could be some options I just don't
know about but I think at 550 bucks it's
a decent speaker I think it's a fair
price for it I'm not going to go ahead
and say it was like the Hi-Fi deal of
the year the way the Morana was but I
think at $550 you getting a lot of
speaker for the money but I will say
this it does seem like both of these
speakers were designed around the abyss
amp specifically and the abyss amp
preloads a DSP profile for these
speakers when you connect them and tell
the amp that's the speaker you're using
and it does bring out the best in them
um I tested this these speakers with
regular amps also and they sounded good
with regular amps also but I noticed
these speakers both sounded best with
amps that had more features whether they
be tone controls or just anything that
allows you to dial in the sound in One
Direction or another these speakers take
really well to any kind of eqing in any
direction you really want to go in um
let's talk about how the Minorca is
different the Minorca normally
$1,300 uh on sale for about $650 right
now so it's only $100 more than the
Antigua sound mostly the same except the
monca is a little bit more energetic in
the treble region a little bit warmer
and not warmer a little bit thicker in
the mid-range a little bit more fullness
and the base of the Mona extends quite a
bit deeper uh is a little bit Fuller and
a little bit tighter um otherwise the
two speakers have a similar sound but
the the Minorca is going to also give
you a little bit more sorry treble
separation I didn't mention that more
treble separation in the Minorca
so again use both of these speakers with
different amps as well as with the abyss
amp I liked them with the abyss amp the
most when I loaded the abyss amp's DSP
profile for either speaker so
oh let's talk about the value is it a
deal at $650 so let's talk about the
full price first at
$1,300 uh I'd say ATD at that price
again it's kind of like the Antigua I
could see why they didn't sell a lot of
them you know at $100 less there's the
elac ubr 62 and I think that's more of a
performer there's the SVS Ultra
Evolution bookshelf I think that's going
to outclass the Minorca at you know its
full price of
$1300 but at 6
50 the only competitor I can think of
that's got like you know better maybe
treble quality in mid-range not base
though is the rbh 5i the rbh 5i is about
700 the minorca's uh 650 right um the
rbh 5i is substantially smaller so look
it it does not have the base that the
Monarca has it it cannot compete it
doesn't have the mid-range weight either
it can't it's a much smaller speaker but
if we're just talking about like treble
quality the rbh 5i does have better
treble quality with even more space more
air more separation more refinement
overall but if you want the Fuller sound
the larger sound the thicker more
confident Fuller base it's going to be
the Manara the only other speaker I can
I can think of for about $650 that I
really like is the pul reserve r100
that's a fantastic speaker um the treble
quality of the Minorca is actually
slightly better slightly more more
refined with slightly better separation
moving down to the mid-range both
speakers have a good mid-range the
minorca's mid-range is a little bit
Fuller moving down to the base the monca
again takes the win because again The
the pulk Reserve r100 is like the rbh 5i
it's a great speaker for its price but
it's going to be a smaller speaker
usually guys this the price category
like under $700 you're usually getting
five and a quar inch drivers they just
can't have the base of a 6 and 1 12 inch
driver it is what it is so again the
value ad for either of these speakers is
going to be one you want to get into a
three-way speaker you want something
that's a full-size speaker you want
something that's going to have a lot of
Base you don't want to break the bank
that's what these speakers bring to the
table right you want the one that's got
a little bit of a darker sound that's
going to be the Antigua you want the one
that's got a little bit tighter base a
little bit more air and treble
separation that's going to be the
Minorca it's that simple but what I
really want to talk to you about is this
amp this amp really got me going I
really really like this amp it's small
it's got a good amount of power it's got
a good feature set it's got a subwoofer
output um it's got DSP profiles that you
know you tell it you're using one of the
kabas speakers and it makes them sound
better magically it's got tone controls
balance controls as well as what I like
to call a presence option uh there's
these like four or five different preset
modes right and they really change the
tonality of the speaker whether I
whether I was using a kabas speaker or
something like my ATC scm11 or my bard
s400s you turn this thing up all the way
it makes the speaker bright and
analytical right you turn this thing
down more and it makes the speaker like
a little bit darker a little bit warmer
a little bit darker a little bit warmer
and that was interesting to me because
usually when you're just adjusting
treble for example you can't make a
speaker sound warm necessarily you're
just going to have a speaker that has
less trouble but with the abysses
presence control I don't know what they
actually call it you know at this point
you've probably seen a screenshot of it
on on the screen on screen element if
you will um it it did slightly change
the tonality of any speaker I had
plugged into it and I found that very
enjoyable I was able to get most
speakers to sound pretty darn good my
ATC SCM 111s are really hard to drive
the abyss amp didn't have any problems I
used my S400 Mark 2s and I'll go ahead
and say this I understand why this
category of like smart streaming amps
exist of course has a onboard streamer
it's a onebox solution I understand why
they exist now I really do you know
whether this one or one of the NAD
options I think they have one called
something like the
c700 get like a nice modern screen on
the front you know you could see your
album artwork you have some options to
tune the sound to your liking right um
You have modern features like you know
your subwoofer output and you know this
thing at least when you're using kabas
speakers it'll even highpass them for
you and the darn thing sounds pretty
good like when I went back to my
monoblocks did my monoblocks sound
better yeah you know between like my
mono blocks my my preamp my DAC we're
talking about like $110,000
right it wasn't like that big of a
difference though like it it like it was
a difference right it's sure you know my
$10,000 stack and multibox solution you
know more air more space more layering
in The Sound Stage specifically that was
probably the biggest standout
but for 1,500 bucks to have a onebox
solution if you're in a situation where
for one reason or another you know your
sound system needs to go perhaps in a
shared space you know family room for
example and you and your family you
don't want to deal with a multibox
solution you might really want to
consider the abyss amp because it is a
performer it sounds fantastic it did
everything I wanted and all from this
like little package right um the app
works very well um I use title most of
the time the only thing I wish I wish it
had a tap volume option as well uh it
has a slider volume adjustment there's
no remote your phone is the remote right
um so yeah those of you that use blue
sound um software you know the blue
sound volume adjustment is a slider but
there's also a tap option I wish this
had a tap option also but it's a
performer I I really like this amp a lot
I really did um I like the sound quality
of this amp a little bit more than
something like the bookart i150 I'm not
sure if they still make that amp that
was the amp I liked quite a bit I think
it was $2,000 for Bard customers or
2,500 for non bouard S400 customers so
it was a little bit more expensive um
but and that amp sounded good but that
amp was a little bit little too cold for
my taste whereas the abyss doesn't have
that typical coldness or roughness that
class D generally has um don't get me
wrong you can make it sound like that if
you want that but you can also make it
not sound like that like when I
connected my s400s to the abyss it it
didn't make my S400 sound bad by any
means where whereas like you know most
of the time I could just kind of hear
the the dryness of Class D the abyss
didn't sound dry to me so that that's
what I have to say about these three
products um I'll leave you with this um
the Antigua I prefer that speaker over
the monca even though the monca is
technically better the uh monca is
better because it has the better treble
separation and the tighter base but I
felt like the Antigua even though it was
like the cheaper one and the kaba's
cheapest speaker just something about
its slightly darker sound and even
though its treble separation wasn't as
good there was something about that that
added some naturalness if you will to
the presentation that I did enjoy um
again the Monarca is technically the
better though just so we're clear I just
happen to like the Antigua more but the
amp to me is the real winner and that's
a bummer cuz the amp doesn't have as
steep of a discount on it as the
speakers do but I mean it is about $500
off which is I mean that's no small sum
right so look if you got any questions
holler um sorry this review I didn't go
into as much depth as usual but that's
not what I wanted to do I just wanted to
kind of hang out with you guys give you
my honest take on three products all at
the same time to help you you know make
a decision if this is for you or not so
holler if you got any questions until
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