Choosing a well matched and quality set of speakers for a home theatre system can be a daunting, confusing and sometimes demoralizing job, especially if you are trying to find a system that doesn’t require a huge room to locate your system in. If you are looking for a compact, extremely good quality and undeniably amazing sounding 5.1 set up you could do far worse than the KEF KHT3005 SE 5.1 Home Theater Speaker System. The catch? You know how they say “you get what you pay for”? Well these babys ain’t cheap.

Check Amazon for Current Pricing

Looks wise this system is quite pretty and compact, the styling is very “retro future” the orb shaped units reminded me somewhat of something out of the old Jane Fonda movie Barbarella, but with a modern gloss black edge. But just like miss Fondas Barbarella these things may look retro but damn are they sexy. The sound quality on the KEF KHT3005 SE is also top shelf, with what can only be described as a totally natural sound, these compact marvels seem to have a complete lack of distortion or any kind of internal resonance we could detect.

They present a completely cogent and smooth reproduction of the presented audio material when matched with a good quality amplifier (preferably with good bass management facilities). The sound stage presented by these glorious little beasts is excellent easily approaching (and surpassing in some cases) the kind of quality expected from systems costing $500+ more. The KEF KHT3005 SE really has all bases covered sound wise delivering very crisp but not sibilant highs from the HTS3001SE satellite speakers and AU HTC3001SE center channel, solid punchy bass end from the HTB2SE subwoofer, the audio design team should be lauded for their attention to detail. This system delivers solid audio even from compromised audio sources which is no mean feat.

Fittings wise the KEF KHT3005 SE system can be both table and wall mounted but also have the option for both KEF and other brand satellite speaker stands. Thsi system is of course also fully compatible with the KEF universal wireless system. Setup is pretty simple excepting that the satellites require stripped bare wires and will not accept banana plugs. All in all we give a definite thumbs up for this system, maybe not for those on a tight budget but if you can afford these you will not be disappointed, in fact visitors may well be amazed that such power and clarity can come from such small units.

Check Amazon for Current Pricing

Product Details
Product Dimensions: 13 x 24.5 x 39.5 inches ; 69 pounds
Speakers:
1x 10-inch, 250-watt powered HTB2SE subwoofer
1 x AU HTC3001SE center channel
4 x HTS3001SE satellite speakers
Shipping Weight: 68 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
List Price: $1,750 (Check Amazon for Current Pricing)

Design: Satellite – Two-Way Bass reflex, Centre – Three-Way Closed box
Drive Units Satellite – 115mm (4.5in.) Uni-Q array with 19mm (0.75in.) aluminium HF, Centre – 115mm (4.5in.) Uni-Q array with 19mm (0.75in.) aluminium HF, 2 x 75mm (3in.) LF
Crossover Frequencies: Satellite – 2.2kHz, Centre – 500Hz, 2.2kHz
Sensitivity: (2.83V/1m) Satellite – 88dB, Centre – 90dB
Frequency Response: (+/-3dB) Satellite – 70Hz – 55kHz, Centre – 65Hz – 55kHz
Maximum Output: Satellite – 108dB, Centre – 110dB
Input Impedance: 8 Ohms
Magnetic Shielding: Yes
Power Handling: 100W
Weight: Satellite – 2.0kg (4.5lbs), Centre – 2.6kg (5.8lbs)
Dimensions (H x W x D): Satellite – 245 x 125 x 150 mm (9.6 x 4.9 x 5.9 in.), Centre – 130 x 300 x 185 mm (5.1 x 11.8 x 7.3 in.)
Finishes: High gloss black, High gloss silver

Manufacturers Description

The KEF KHT3005 (SE) 5.1 home theater speaker system is an extremely high performance, yet room-friendly home theater system, which raises both the design and performance benchmarks in the category of elegant home theater speaker packages. KEF’s patented “sit anywhere” Uni-Q driver configuration places the tweeter in the acoustic center of the bass/midrange cone. This creates a single focused audio source that disperses the sound image evenly throughout the room so that everyone enjoys the full richness of music or movie soundtracks. The Uni-Q array in the 3000 series has a completely new design which performs better than ever. Instead of having identical center and satellite speakers like other systems, KEF’s created a stunning new dedicated center channel that gives dialogue more weight and clarity delivering cinema-like frontal impact. KEF also added a radical new high performance powered subwoofer. As a system, it certainly puts the ‘live’ into living room.