Ci200QL Rectangle

We used 2 of these in our new system in our basement. I simply lined them up with our couch ( To be honest, this was after over analyzing the crap out of Dolby's suggested layouts, and doing all of my geometry and algebra classes justice (see.. they were right, those classes actually do get used in the real world) by calculating the sin, and angles of all of the speakers in relation to the couch) and cut them in with a utility knife. We used Audioquest 14/4 wire for them, with our Marantz 6013 AVR. When we have a party over, and kick the Marantz into Multi-channel mode, all of the speakers shine!!! They actually shine so good during shows, that while watching survivor, they would do such a good job playing some bird sounds, that we found ourselves in the show.

These are really great in-wall speakers - I was looking at mid/higher end B&W and Martin Logans among others for built-ins. I have these plus the same in the 160mm version in another room (space constraints). They both sound great - basically indistinguishable.

I like a clean, high-detail sound and these deliver -- I like the KEF sound. As a reference, Martin Logans are not my thing (too "soft", not crisp) but B&Ws generally sound good to me with the higher price speakers definitely delivering better sound for me). My other reference is a set of KRK VXT-8 studio monitors. Like other mid/higher-end KEF speakers I've listened to, these are the kinds of speakers where you can hear those little details that get lost on most crummy speakers - a vocalist drawing a quick breath, a brush of the fingers on the strings, a soft little brush back-beat on the drums behind everything else.

The bass on both this 200mm and the 160mm version is also very good - that is immediately apparent. Unlike most in-wall speakers that are designed for use as part of a THX-type AV system with a subwoofer, these seemed to be designed for hi-fi stereo audio and are rated down to 35khz (38khz for the 160s). I am driving them with a JAMO/Klipsch DSP 500, type g/h DSP amp, 125w/channel x 4 with the DSP equalizer at neutral. (That also happens to be a nice piece of hardware....)

All good, nothing bad.