KEF Q50 (1993)

A magnetically shielded floorstanding speaker from KEF's Q series. It has a Uni-Q coaxial driver and a 16 cm bass unit in a tall boy cabinet.

Overview

The KEF Q50 is a floorstanding loudspeaker introduced in 1993 as part of KEF's Q series. It is built around KEF's Uni-Q coaxial driver. A 16 cm polypropylene cone woofer and a 1.9 cm soft dome tweeter share one point-source mount, which is meant to align phase and improve imaging. A separate 16 cm cone woofer handles the low end in a bass reflex enclosure. That makes it a 3-way design with only two speaker units. The cabinet is magnetically shielded to reduce interference with CRT displays, and it was finished in ash black. Sensitivity is 90 dB and impedance is 6 Ω. KEF pairs it with amplifiers rated between 10 and 125 watts.

Specifications

Type	3-way, 2-speaker, bass reflex system, tall boy type, magnetic protection design
Low frequency driver	16 cm cone type
Mid/High frequency driver	16 cm Coaxial Type (16 cm Cone + 1.9 cm Dome)
Frequency response	45 Hz to 20 kHz ± 3 dB, 40 Hz -6 dB
Impedance	6 Ω
Sensitivity	90 dB
Amplifier power match	10W ~ 125W
Enclosure volume	UNI-Q Driver Part: 11.3 liters, Woofer: 17.1 liters
Dimensions	Width 190 x Height 800 x Depth 302 mm + Spike (audio-database.com); 301 mm (retrotechaudio.co.uk)
Weight	12.0 kg
Finish	Ash black

Design

The Uni-Q coaxial driver covers the mids and highs. The 1.9 cm soft dome tweeter sits at the acoustic center of the 16 cm polypropylene cone, which keeps the two in phase and gives coherent wavefronts. The tweeter's magnetic circuit uses neodymium iron boron. That allows a compact design with high magnetic energy. A separate 16 cm polypropylene cone woofer handles bass. Both drivers are magnetically shielded so they don't disturb nearby CRT monitors. The enclosure is a tall boy, tuned as a bass reflex system with separate internal volumes for the woofer and the Uni-Q section.

Product Family

The KEF Q50 is part of the Q series tall boy type speaker system. The line is floorstanding speakers from KEF that stress compact width and full-range performance.

Market

The KEF Q50 was priced at ¥55,000 per unit around 1994. A classified listing from January 1997 shows a used pair available for £300, so it was already on the secondhand market by then.