KEF Q11 Meta Floorstanding Speakers Satin Black (Pair)

The KEF Q11 Meta is the largest and most powerful model in the eight-strong Q Series Meta range, the flagship three-way floorstander that sits above the Q7 Meta and supersedes the outgoing Q950. Now in its ninth generation since 1991, the Q Series brings Metamaterial Absorption Technology, the 12th generation Uni-Q driver array and cabinet techniques derived from KEF's Blade and The Reference loudspeakers into a more accessible package. It can be used as a stereo pair or as the front channels of a Q Series home cinema system.

Uni-Q with MAT

At the heart of the Q11 Meta is the 12th generation Uni-Q driver array, in which a 19 mm vented aluminium dome tweeter sits at the acoustic centre of a 100 mm aluminium midrange cone. Both radiate from a single point source, so high and midrange frequencies arrive together across a wide listening area. Behind the tweeter, Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT), a joint development with the Acoustic Metamaterials Group, acts as an acoustic black hole, absorbing 99% of the unwanted sound radiated from the rear of the dome. A conical waveguide couples the tweeter to the absorber, a re-engineered gap damper tames resonances, and a Flexible Decoupling Chassis, first used on Blade and The Reference, stops midrange motor vibration reaching the cabinet.

Cabinet and Bass

The Q Series has moved from a 2.5-way to a full three-way design, so the Uni-Q handles only the high and midrange frequencies while three dedicated 165 mm hybrid aluminium bass drivers take care of the low end. Each uses a shallow, concave aluminium skin over a paper cone for piston-like stiffness, with a 3D FEA-optimised surround for linearity at high excursion. Several smaller drivers rather than one large unit allow a slimmer front baffle, widening horizontal dispersion. Driver and wadding positions are chosen to cancel and suppress standing waves inside the tall cabinet, and the rear-firing 64 mm port is flared at both ends and modelled with computational fluid dynamics to minimise turbulence and chuffing; supplied bungs let you partially or fully block it to suit placement. The result is a frequency response of 44 Hz to 20 kHz (±3 dB), typical in-room bass extension to 26 Hz and 89 dB sensitivity.

Crossover and Shadow Flare

The crossover was developed from more than 1,000 measurements taken in KEF's anechoic chamber in Maidstone, UK, and hands over between the three sections at 480 Hz and 2.7 kHz. It uses second-order electrical filters throughout, with low-loss film capacitors and air-core inductors in the tweeter path and laminated inductors for the midrange and bass. This is also the first Q Series generation to carry Shadow Flare, a precision-profiled surface around the Uni-Q that extends its waveguide effect so the tweeter has no line of sight to the cabinet edges, minimising diffraction and sharpening fine detail.

Finishes and Setup

The Q11 Meta has a contemporary minimalist cabinet with a satin finish and colour-matched driver units, offered here in Satin Black and also available in Satin White and Walnut. Colour-matched magnetic grilles, plinths with rubber feet and port bungs are included; the optional PQ1 Plinth Spike Kit adds adjustable spikes for levelling and isolation. KEF recommends amplification of 15 to 225 W into the 4 Ohm nominal load.