Looking back at the blog post documenting my unboxing of KEF’s Q3 Meta in late 2024, I find it sort of adorable how much I went on about how large those standmount speakers are. Granted, for a two-way design, the Q3 Meta is a hoss. I needed only one glance at the packaging for the company’s three-way Q Concerto Meta (US$1399.99, CA$1799.99, £1099, €1198/pair), though, to be reminded that everything is relative.
The 56mm 3x3 speed cube I often drop into photos purely for scale gives you a sense of what I’m talking about here. Even before cracking the case, you know that the Q Concerto Meta is a big’n. That, despite the fact that the cabinet is the same width (8.3″) and very nearly the same depth (12.4″ vs. 12″) as the Q3. Most of the extra size comes from the additional bass driver tantalizingly teased on the outer carton, which necessitates a taller cabinet, bringing the height of each speaker up to 16.3″.
With the top open, the packaging for the Q Concerto Meta is remarkably similar to that of the Q3, including the design of the expanded polyethylene foam padding, the wrapping on the individual speakers, and the layout of the interior, with the optional port bungs tucked between the cabinets.
Beneath the port bungs, you can also see the accessories box giving some good padding between the cabinets.
And inside the accessories box, you’ll find the expected pack-in literature, rubber feet, and magnetically affixed grilles, which, in this case, are tall enough to require a horizontal center brace for enhanced rigidity and stability.
I didn’t dig into the manual for the updated Q Series last time around, but it’s worth pointing out there that KEF offers a lot of genuinely meaningful setup advice, including guidelines for when and what sort of port bung to use depending on where the speakers are positioned relative to the front and side walls. I wish more speaker manufacturers were this detailed in their literature.
Flip the Q Concerto Meta over, and you can see that it also has threaded holes for use with the company’s S3 Floor Stand (US$799.99/pair). But for my evaluation, I’ll be using the rubber feet and placing the speakers on my own Monoprice 42838 stands.
With the speakers removed from their protective bags, you can see how they look both grilled and un-grilled. As with the Q3, the fit and finish of the grilles is as impressive as everything else about the speaker, especially in the alignment of the brand logo at the top. I’ll admit, the satin black vinyl wrap doesn’t sing to me quite as sweetly as did the walnut finish of the Q3 pair I previously reviewed, but it’s still a sexy speaker, and the only element of the cabinet that seems to collect fingerprints like Pokémon cards is the waveguide around the much smaller mid-woofer of the Uni-Q driver. I swear, I wiped that thing clean twice before taking these photos and still got some smudges. But they’re much less visible without bright lights shining right on them.
Here’s a back-and-front comparison that shows you the position and relative size of the rear-firing bass-reflex port, sans bung. You can also see from this photo the way the satin black finish sort of shimmers a little in the light, in quite a lovely way that makes me miss the walnut finish a little less. Again, though, it’s not something that’s as noticeable in low-light situations.
As I said above, I’ll be reviewing the Q Concerto Meta placed atop my Monoprice 42838 stands, and here you can once again see how much real estate one of the speakers takes up on that stand. There’s not a lot of wiggle room here, needless to say.
For what it’s worth, the Monoprice 42838, at 32″ tall, is significantly taller than the 18″ to 24″ recommended stand height for the Q Concerto Meta. That may or may not be an issue, and I may or may not have to raise the height of my Steelcase Amia seat when doing my critical listening. But we’ll see. This puts the tweeter height at roughly 43″, which is still below my normal ear height in my seat with my Cushion Labs seat cushion in place. Still, I always err on the side of starting with the manufacturer’s recommendations and going from there. So rest assured, that’ll be one of the things I test in my full evaluation.
Look for the results of that testing soon on SoundStage! Access.
. . . Dennis Burger
dennisb@soundstagenetwork.com
