Ever see something so cute you just had to have it? This KEF Home Theatre Speaker System is that cute!

Consisting of 5 surprisingly solid feeling ovoids measuring 370mm X 320mm X 320mm with a 150 Watt powered Subwoofer using a long throw, high compliance 8" driver, this system packs a real punch.

The five satellites use KEF's patented Uni-Q technology consisting of a 4" driver with a 1/2" tweeter sitting in the centre. This array allows for improved time alignment as well as a single point source for sound staging.

The audio quality of the package is surprising. I'm not a great fan of small "lifestyle" speakers as they generally put form above function, the KEF's however sound great. On Steely Dan's DTS DVD "Two Against Nature" the vocals are crisp without being tinny or harsh and the drummers rim shots are clean and sharp. The subwoofer is the real surprise, when I first went into our sound lounge for a listening session I told the guy's to turn off the M&K subwoofer and turn on the KEF then found out it was the KEF playing. There can be no greater compliment to a subwoofer than mistaking it for an M&K. The fact that an 8" driver was that tight and loud was amazing.

The system is rated for amplifiers up to 100 Watts per channel and I have no reason to doubt this as we had the sound pressure levels up quite high during our demo. using a Yamaha RXV 730 (75 Watts into 8 Ohms). This is a speaker system that really must be heard to be believed especially at a price of around $2300. A speaker package that looks good and sounds good, what next?

Addendum - Since writing this review, KEF have released a MK2 version - called (drum roll) the KHT 2005.2 System. The looks and pricing remain the same, the tweeters however have been modified to handle greater dynamics and the subwoofer has been upgraded to 250 Watt unit for real SLAM. This makes the whole shebang better value than ever!