As someone who uses 2 of these in a condo surround setup, this is where these things can be a perfect option like Erin said, in about a small to medium room... You'll definitely want two for a larger open space where you're near 2500-3000 cu ft. Couple important notes: This is going to be a much more popular option outside of the US, as you guys have way more options to choose from. This is also going to be something more where cabinet size (and aesthetics) is of upmost importance for the room, but can still do decent at volumes up to around -10 to -15 on your AVR. At MSRP, it is something that might be hard to recommend, but remember, this isn't an internet direct company like most other options that people will compare to... You can get discounts at your local dealers, and refurbished units online for much cheaper.

I own the KF92. It's the only sub I"ve ever owned so not much to compare it to, but holy balls. I watched a movie one night and my neighbor (I have a standalone house) texted me to say she heard rumbling. Paired with R3s it sounds fantastic. It's expensive but I wanted a slick compact sub in my living room that would deliver major thud. Highly recommend it.

Thanks Erin. I enjoy your reviews!

Awesome review man, working on trying to implement subs myself in two chan. Glad to have stumbled in here.

He was trying to show off the sub, but my eyes were on the TMNT arcade. That was beautiful.

All your points are so valid i highly recommend, disconnecting your speakers and walking around to subdue or remove all the rattles. You never know when there is a lobster pot in pantry that you haven't used in years rattling its soul away.

Good review as always. Nice🙏🏾

Hi Erin. Something you mentioned in this video made me think would be a great video is a how-to on integrating a subwoofer to the mains. Thanks !

I love your channel, thanks

You articulated what I wanted to say about KEF vs. Monoprice very well.

Another great review, thank you for taking the time Erin. This subwoofer doesn’t seem to have as compelling a use case as the KC62. Something like the Arendal 1961 1s or SVS SB1000 Pro isn’t massively bigger and they have 15dB and 10dB more output at 20Hz. The KC62 is at least mind bogglingly small to counter the anaemic sub bass output at higher volume levels

Given my size constraints (as I live in a condo) I decided to go with two of these subs. Overall I've been very happy with the sound quality and low frequency extension. Now keep in mind that I don't push my system beyond 90db so I'm definitely not over driving them. In a perfect world I would have loved to have gone with the Rhythmik sealed 12" F12SE, but the additional 2" all around was just not an option and would have overwhelmed my living space.

Erin, thank you for a thorough helpful review. One thing I learned right off the top was about group delay response and how a steeply sloped region can make it difficult to have seamless integration with your main speakers at those frequencies. This becomes a very critical measurement for me and may be the reason I have had difficulty integrating subwoofers with my current main speakers. My current speakers do play quite low and dictate a crossover of 40 Hz or so, so again group delay curves seem invaluable. Thank you. A few things I would like to see is if you could measure the cabinet resonance. It does little good setting a low crossover point if the speaker enclosures are going to have audible energy up into the midbass regions and muck up the midrange clarity. Another thing would be room response at the lowest crossover points. On paper a low pass crossover slope should be 24db/octave yet measures in-room as if the crossover is not nearly as steep. Again my goal is to avoid muddying the midrange which many subwoofers unfortunately do. I am super critical about my sound quality ! Thank you for your reviews and thoughts. PS any chance you could review the ELAC Varro RS500-SB? This one looks super interesting and checks all the boxes on paper.

This was a very healthy, robust review.

I would love a KC62 but both my Kef R400 subs made a high pitch squealing noise when in standby mode and I had similar problems with a set of Kef LSX speakers. Now I only buy passive Kef speakers and other brands for subs.

Thanks for your videos. I wish you’d time stamp a section where you officially give your review product a thumbs up or thumbs down, so to speak. I have tried to watch several videos, but I end up fast forwarding, looking for whether it’s amazing, decent, or crappy. I would watch all of your videos if you did that - just my measly two cents. Thanks again.

Great review. I hope one day you get a chance to review a Rythmik sub, maybe their E15HP2, which is a sealed 15”.

Kef need to explain how they charge $2000 for this in America but £2,500 in UK...

it looks nice. am happy competition such as the tonewinner d6000 is giving us cheaper options for more output

I have 2 SVS PB-16 Ultras front L and R. wonder if two of these KF92s behind seating position would be beneficial?

Another great review. My music doesn't have content under 40 Hz. These subs (two would be even better) would work great for me. Thanks Erin.

Hey Erin, great reviews. I love the mix between data and your opinion. Got a question: My kitchen, dining table and living space in one room, 9.8 x 3.8 meters. The living space is on one end and occupies 4 x 3.8 m. I would consider that room to be small and I only need a smaller sub, is that correct? I'm sitting 3m away and that's where I need the bass. Another question if you got the time to answer: Is the R3 Meta the right choice in that room where one side of the living space is "open"? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks in advance Philipp

Hello Erin, very nice review. For subwoofers where size matters more than price (like the KF92), I think one of the best choices is the Sigberg Audio 10D. It is only a bit larger than the KF92 but it has a lot more output. Of course, it does cost $1k more, but that probably isn't going to be a huge deal for people shopping in this segment, and it looks to double the output while only costing 50% more. It uses a Hypex nCore amp with a 10-band parametric EQ and is made in Norway.

Man oh man all of these videos on compact subs are coming out at the right time. I’m saving for Black Friday/Cyber Monday come November. I’m stuck between getting a SVS SB-1000 Pro or the SVS 3000 Micro. I’m willing to spend up to $1k, no more and if I can pay less for more boom all the better. I’ve looked at REL HT-1005/1205 and RSL Speedwoofer but just can’t decide if they are competitors. I have a 13’x12’ room. I use a desktop setup with Kilpsch the Sevens. I want a sub to take over the low frequencies because I recently heard the Sevens at a friends house who has an SVS SB-2000 Pro hooked up and they really just had me jaw dropped for a solid half-hour listening to some of our favorite music.

Thank you for the review. KEF Subs look incredible and perform amazing for their size. I have (2) pairs of the cheapest KEF bookshelf speakers (Q100 & Q150). Bought each pair when they were heavily discounted on Amazon. They sound amazing and you cannot tell they have metal tweeters. They do not have the annoying sibilance metal tweeters typically have. When we moved one of the Q100 drivers somehow had its voice coil smash against the metal cone and ruined it. I contacted KEF and they SENT ME A BRAND NEW DRIVER for me to install free of charge!!!! KEF KNOWS how to do customer service. When our budget allows I will definitely add KEF Speakers to swap out some of our other speakers. As far as subs go, I prefer building large vented enclosures tuned as low as possible and run Crown XLS amps. My main setup is an XLS2000 with a Rolls line level signal converter MB15B Pro Match RCA to XLR line level driver, which allows me to add some line level gain to compensate for Crowns pro audio high input requiring XLS2000 amp. We run (2) subwoofer boxes that are 4.6cu foot vented enclosures made out of MDF. We used fiberglass on the inside to make the wood non porous and help with rigidity. Added minor bracing. The cabinets are tuned to 21hz. We sanded, used bondo, sanded some more, used hole filler, sanded some more, used primer repeatedly, sanded some more, then spray painted high gloss black. From far away they look amazing. Close up you could pick out all the flaws. But the moral of the story is, if you are willing to perform hundreds of hours of manual labor you can have some deep loud bass without spending $2k but it will never be as cool as KEF and will take up 10cu foot of floor space. Cost approximately: (2) 12" Infinity Reference 1262W $60X2=$120 (like 8 years ago & 300 to 400 RMS power handling each) (2) 4.6cu foot MDF boxes including bondo, fiberglass, primer, pain $100X2=$200 (1) Crown XLS2000 was like $375 from Crazy Eddies (like 8 years ago) (1) Rolls MB15 $60 to $80 cant remember but currently they are $89 on Amazon Total= around $800 If you model the 12 Infinity Reference 1262W in any of the freeware box modeling programs like Winisd you get a near ruler flat response to 21 hz in a 4.6cu foot vented box. I recently swapped out (1) of the 12 Infinity Reference 1262W with an Alpine Type R from Crutchfield which models similar with slightly more output and slightly deeper in frequency with triple the power handling but at almost 5X the price though ($275 on closeout). Sounds amazing. The Infinity 12" still works and has no issues, I just had the itch to do some swapping and see if we could get even more output. Only reason I went with the Infinity Reference all them years ago is because the Infinity voice coil is not aluminum, its a form of high temperature plastic that doesn't warp when overheated. I competed in DB drag for a few years back in 2000 and metal formers always warped when overheated. The Alpine Type R is an aluminum former so I do worry it could overheat with the XLS2000 on extended bass scenes in some movies. So far it has been flawless.

Can you ask for the reference 8b subwoofer. Pretty please with sugar on top

Good to hear you talking about group delay especially rate of change around the crossover region 👍 Have you got any Arendal subs lined up for review?

Can you do one for the new KC92? I'm curious if it's any better.

Please review the Audio pro 5.1 active speakers

Please review a tv1813 or tv2112. There are no pro meausrments of it so this would be a BIG hit video for sure

Would be nice if you can do the RSL speedwooder next, and do a shoot out of all the smaller (10" and under) subs.

As always, thanks for a good review. Any chance you'd be able to test the Kali Audio WS-12? Your one the few places for proper measurements, and the Kali sub has been hard to find anything on.

nice little sub

I have an audioengine S8, and if my ears are anything to go by, my 350$ 8 inch goes ALMOST as low as the 10 inch 2k KEF, it hits 24 hz, and arguable 23 (but it's really garbled). Kind of insane that there aren't really better frequency responses unless you double the size or at least 5x the price. imo, it's definitely worth taking a look at, for testing and for budget audiophiles. And if it's as good as I think it is, then it'll put pressure on people's preferred manufacturers to improve their offerings frequency response.

I want to integrate a Kef Kube 10 subwoofer to a Lyngdorf TDAI 1120 with Roomperfect and Neat Acoustics Motive SX2 speakers. Kef does not give specs about the dsp delay time. Set the delay time to 0,5 ms according to a test with Kef KC62 subw. Anybody have some specs for the Kube 10?

How is kf 92 compare with reference 8b? I have never seen a review of reference 8b.

Thanks for another great review, Erin! I have 1 KC62. In your opinion would I be better off getting a second KC62 or replacing with a single KF92?

I was wondering is RBM subwoofers were going to catch on and improve, but I haven’t seen it happening!

Please review other SVS subwoofers

Great video! One question: Does a room with high (possibly vaulted) ceilings, say 17 ft (9+8) but a "smaller" floor area, say 300 sq ft, count as a room with 5100 cu ft volume or smaller equivalent room for the purpose described?

I habe the kf92 and the kef kube 12b. Honesty the kube 12b is a monster! Its not much bigger but it outperformfs my kf92 at max volume arround 6db in the 10-40hz region. I hope that you can check t too:)

Did you review subwoofer from Rythmik? I would cut my leg for your opinion on servo subwoofer!

Nice review, not many youtuber review this kef kf92. Also not many youtuber review JL subs. This KF92 probably similar size to JL D110 or E110. Would be nice if you can do some comparisons.

Yes, setting up pro systems phase is very important , 0-180 would result mostly in crappy sound.

Excellent review! I love that you brought up group delay and phase! That price is so crazy to me. I have always built my own subwoofers for that reason because then I don’t have to buy a $4k subwoofer or whatever. I have built small systems for my parents and in laws. For them I will buy used 12-15” subs to integrate with the speakers since usually a nice one will cost $100-200

I liked your video and I decided to place an order for one. It’s going into a smaller office at around 12’ x 12’. Would you call this more of a musical sub versus a home theater sub? I didn’t hear you mention it and I’m not sure if that plays a role in your data or not. I do hear people talk about texture when they talk about the Rel sub and sometimes the KEF.

Was this sub replaced by the KC92?

Kef just released the new version, KC62. Curious at your opinion 🤓😁

It seems like it's an isobaric design I don't think I heard him mention that but I don't see how else it would work with 2 woofers.

I got 18" for 4x4mx2.65m room and I wouldn't go with anything smaller. 20hz and below -10db from reference level is something amazing. Im planning to add another sub for better frequency response

Sparechange was super enthusiast about these. he checked if the bigger subs he have where switched off. so how is that possible

Hey Erin thanks for all the information. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions regarding the K62 or the mini sub from SVS Is there a way to hook up one of this subs to the center channel only and do you is worth it? I know the later will be subjective but I still would like to hear your opinion. I currently have two SVS- sb 3000 in a 17x12 room. Hope to hear from you. This could be a good separate video up for discussion too. Thanks for everything you do for the crazies here in the audio community.

Keep going kef! I hope they expand their subwoofers and start making some big boy subs for their thx select, ultra and dominus certification line.

Reducing my room distortion in my shared use space is my biggest problem. Spending $10K on subs would not be money well spent, yet.

With commercial subs the unfortunate thing you end up having to deal with is driver "safety"...which means some type of limiter/compressor or high pass subsonic filter which works against the sub in it's quest for "usable" bass below 20 Hz...and I'm not talking about 10%, but less than 1% THD. No getting around this. You can add multiple subs but then the price becomes really prohibitive for most. The KF92 will shine best in rooms of perhaps 13 x 13 or less, where room gain will start above 40 Hz. As the room gets larger the room gain is attenuated, so It's not really a home theater solution except in the "smallest" rooms...and even then, on the limits, the response curve will be aggressively truncated...as shown here. No other way to protect the driver from over-excursion and damage. For music, otoh, it should serve quite well, but the cost is on the excessive side as a solution. I would say that one of the issues some might have with this subwoofer is the LF extension claim. Judging by what was divulged here that claim is "wildly" optimistic.

Hi erin.your videos are great.i will sub to you

This subwoofer or 2 SVS SB3000 for a medium size room that opens to the kitchen?

Thanks Erin.🙂 This one, I don't know... it doesn't have the cute form factor of either the KC62 or 3000 Micro... At that price (2399€ in EU, pretty uncommon when a KEF product is actually cheaper in US...) and size, it is simply not competitive against SVS, Monolith or XTZ.

in my country the 92 cost 33% more than the 62, it is not clear in the video what performance difference there is. compareign from the 62 review it looks like 6 db more output, that is a lot below 50hz at least. two times the physical punch i guess. for higher frequencies where loudness matter it is closer to 50% louder. that is why i think the 92 is much higher value subwoofer, on par with the competition. i am not comparing to ported speakers or passive radiator, do not think people cross shop that.

is this the GameChanger ive been waiting for????

It’s a pretty expensive piece. I have the 12” Kube, waaay cheaper. It sounds good and has a great value.

Hi, Erin. Nice review. I'm kind of surprised by the performance envelope of this unit. For $2k, I was expecting something that would better things like the SVS SB 2000 Pro, and match the performance of the SB 3000 in a smaller, better engineered package. Instead we've been given something for that price which does not even come up to the performance of the SB 1000 which is one quarter of its price. Personally, I don't think the size difference between this unite and an SB 2000 or a Rythmik L12 is really all that great. I own two SB 2000's which I pair with my LS 50 Metas in a small room, and I don't regret spending the money (which is less than either KEF offering) or allocating the extra couple of feet of floor space. And given the amazing DSP programs like Dirac DLBC, setting up a sub like this for optimal performance (including High/Low pass crossovers, PEQ, phase, timing) is a snap. Given that, it's just far better IMHO to have a real subwoofer, properly crossed over and DSP'd, so you can have a true full range system. To me, the Kef's look more like cannily engineered and designed woofers than true subs.

Excellent review. One note to make here. 0 and 180° in polarity.. there is no "in between" option possible. When placing the sub somewhere in front of the listener, set it to 0°. When it is behind the listener put it to 180° and it will be kind of perceived as being in front. Bit comparible to reversing stereo 180° when you are sitting with your back against two loudspeakers. Fortunately a sub behind a listener is a little bit more common than the latter.

Again Kef with the silly 11hz -3db spec when the measurements show low 20's...come on guys!

If I live in US, would prefer DSP equipped JL Audio Fathoms. Second REL. Hope you review one of them.

Nice TMNT cabinet btw! :)

Can you talk about group delay and how that can make people think that some subs are fast and some are slow?

I think it is time to re-reviews some Rythmik subs now that you have a more standard test setup. Your F12g review was very detailed but I think a lot of people will appreciate the simpler graphs.

I'll echo some other comments that you should know what you are getting when you purchase a sub like this. You are significantly sacrificing output, distortion performance, and value to get that smaller and lighter cabinet...you can easily buy aesthetically pleasing subs for much less than this that will blow the KF92 out of the water from an output and distortion performance perspective, and some of the choices really aren't much bigger (Rythmik F12SE, for example). If one really is limited to only this size of sub, I guess that's (literally) the price you pay, but I would make all efforts to make a slightly larger sub work.

I was hoping for better honestly. But having an internal high pass should not be under valued.

How do they get away with advertising an F3 of 11hz? Maybe they measured it it in a clown car to get that number. At least it looks nice.

Even keeping in mind the size of this subwoofer, I don't see ever wanting to buy it. It's too small. It's paying extra for a smaller subwoofer. If I need something small, DIY is where I'm going. You could make a force cancelled sealed dual 12 subwoofer for 550 dollars that will put out 12-16 more db than this. It wouldn't be quite as small, but the people I see buying this subwoofer tend to have tower speakers as well. If you have room for floor standers, you have room for a properly sized subwoofer. I just don't think this is a big enough subwoofer.

If I bought this subwoof with as much $$$$ as it costs I’d hope by the time I got home my family and my pet dog would slap immediately the shit outta me to put some sense into my head

my windows vibrate, i no longer use subs that go below 30hz anymore

is it my imagination or did you, years ago, review one of the Rythmiks? maybe i’m confusing you with somebody. i’m old and forgetful

Ridiculous that they would claim 11 Hz when it barely goes to 20.

Its criminal that subwoofer for 2000 dolars dont have knob for linear phase shift. That applies for smaller KEF 62 as well.

i just cannot image choosing this over an SVS SB1000 Pro...about 1/3 the price and equivalent or better performance.

Well that thing sure is purdy lookin..... But I just don't see $2k worth of anything sitting there. When you can get an 18" with 1500 watts on the side and still have a night out on the town with money left over the next morning, I mean, C'mon. Big speakers move big air, little speakers, well. Doubling up baby drivers do not double up the performance, only the cost. I don't know why so many keep doing this. Cheers 🍻

You don't have to go up to 15 to get better performance. Just 1 inch. Similar form factor

Did you say $2000 lol . I guess some people have more $$$$ than sense.

That's not alot of output.... Looks like SVS 3000 Micro smashes this for less than half the price

I would rather have 2 $1,000 subs than 1 $2,000 sub.

Specs do not tell you how a sub will sound, a good sub both home and pro will have a well made and heavy braced box with a cast basket driver.

Cool thanks 👎🏽