Having just purchased an AV surround processor & surround speakers, I decided a center speaker was required to obtain the full effect.
Looking at my budget, I could not really spend more than about £90, having just forked out for an AV amp, various cheap center speakers were considered, ... Read review
Advantages: Solid, Value For Money, Excellent Clarity Disadvantages: Colour ( but that is only my opinion! )
...performance & build quality. The KEF COD 80 caught my eye, as it was a special deal on the Richer Sounds web site at £69.99, observations elsewhere showed this model to be £130+.
I ordered one hastily, but expected to wait about 10 days for delivery, but I was surprised to find it arriving within 2 days.
(I suppose Richer Sounds must have a warehouse full to sell them so cheaply).
The only colour they had was ... ...feet’ to prevent chaffing.
KEF CODA-80's are magnetically shielded to prevent your TV screen from turning a funny colour!
I noticed the inputs to this were bi-wireable, my amp did not support this, but was not a problem because a solid connecting bars were supplied with binding posts.
Having just purchased an AV surround processor & surround speakers, I decided a center speaker was required to obtain the full effect.
Looking at my budget, I could not really spend more than about £90, having just forked out for an AV amp, various cheap center speakers were considered, and rejected due to poor performance & build quality. The KEF COD 80 caught my eye, as it was a special deal on the Richer Sounds web site at £69.99, observations elsewhere showed this model to be £130+.
I ordered one hastily, but expected to wait about 10 days for delivery, but I was surprised to find it arriving within 2 days. (I suppose Richer Sounds must have a warehouse full to sell them so cheaply).
The only colour they had was the ‘Light Maple’ type – but this did not bother me as I generally don’t buy stuff to match the sideboard, but this colour will match most furniture from Ikea! I have found out that the CODA 80 is also available in ‘Black Ash’ and ‘Dark Apple’.
Upon opening the packaging, I was delighted with the overall build quality; the case was beautifully finished with rock solid feel. A removable cloth grill was fitted to the front, easily pops off (fitted by some neat plastic bushes) to reveal the elegant cones.
What I really liked were the binding posts, these were as solid as wheel nuts (of stainless steel appearance), none of this plastic nonsense.
Positioning and connecting the speaker was a piece of cake, as it fitted snuggly on top of my set, I affixed the supplied ‘stick on rubber feet’ to prevent chaffing. KEF CODA-80's are magnetically shielded to prevent your TV screen from turning a funny colour! I noticed the inputs to this were bi-wireable, my amp did not support this, but was not a problem because a solid connecting bars were supplied with binding posts.
Drive units: HF: 25 mm (1”) Neo Alu dome + Ferrofluid tweeterLF: 2 x 100 mm (4”) coated pulp cone,copper cap and faraday ring
Frequency response: 50 Hz - 27 kHz LF Corner -6 dB 44 Hz
Crossover frequency: 2.5 kHz
Amplifier requirements: 10 - 100 W
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m): 91 dB
Maximum output: 110 dB
Impedance: 8 Ohms
Magnetic shielding: Yes
Weight: 4.8 kg (10.5 lbs)
Dimensions (H x W x D): 140 x 365 x 230 mm5.5 x 14.4 x 9.1 in.
CODA 80 is 2-way bass reflex, features 25mm (1”) metal dome tweeter, flanked by a pair of powerful 100mm (4”) bass/midrange drivers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The upshot of this is that when using the speaker, it is engineered to give a smooth warm sound, focusing on clear dialogue from the movie/program being watched.
To check this out I though I would test with a 5.1 processed DVD, I chose ‘Black Hawk Down’ (after setting the speaker levels on my amp).
I found the dialogue to be clear and audible, even above choppers crashing, Humvees humming and people getting legs blown off through the other 4 speakers & sub-woofer! “If you fire that thing near my head again, I swear I will go deaf”; says one of the characters, with the CODA 80 you hearing will not be impaired to what the actors are saying.
Tried with other films and TV programs using PRO LOGIC and found to be quite satisfactory.
The only slight problem I found was that occasional glitches during transitions, but I put this down to a slight mis-match between my old Mission main speakers and the CODA 80. I am sure if I were to upgrade these to KEF CODA 70 or CODA 90’s the problem would vanish!
OVERALL: Quality Speaker, BRITISH BUILT, Excellent VFM – but shop around.
