Subwoofers

There's also a switch for five preset EQ options – Room, Wall, Corner, Cabinet and Apartment. The first four are self-explanatory, while the latter is designed to avoid upsetting the neighbours and 'reduces the level of very low frequencies.' You won't want to use that one.

Get Down, Get Funky
I set up the KC62 with, at first, a pair of Q Acoustics 3010i bookshelf speakers in a 2.1 setup, and it immediately made them sound like two full-size loudspeakers. The scale of everything expanded. Funk Blaster, a frankly bonkers electronic funk/hip-hop track from KOAN Sound (Tidal Master), oozed from the system with chunky, chewy bass that sounded tonally even across the range, while kick drums pounded with a purposeful thump. It's a get-off-your-sofa-and-boogie performance that doesn't seem right coming from such a diddy box.

KEF claims an 11Hz low-frequency reach for the KC62 (which, incidentally, is the same claimed of its twin 9in – but non-UniCore – KF92 model). I'm sure it managed to provoke such frequencies in its lab, but in the real world, in your real living room, don't expect this woofer to blow out your windows.

What it does do very, very well, is range low enough to absolutely convey the huge thuds, bangs, rumbles and whirrs of your favourite movie soundmixes, with a superb feeling of tautness and control, while remaining invisible itself. You could by all means place the KC62 within eyesight, as it looks gorgeous, but there's no indication that it's in the room apart from the flapping of your trousers. Some bigger, ostensibly beefier subs have a habit of making their presence felt in more ways than one; you begin to hear the cabinet itself, or drivers lolling around after exertion. Yet this KEF, no doubt thanks to its onboard DSP and Smart Distortion Control Technology (which measures current information from the voice coils to pre-limit distortion), plus rock-solid cabinet and natty 'Origami' driver surrounds, is church-mouse quiet.

So it goes low, but does it go loud? Certainly to the level that I can imagine anyone wanting to run it. It's a compact sub intended for small to medium-sized environment. KEF's spec claim is of a maximum 105dB SPL. If you want more than that, you'll need to go bigger.

In my 4m x 5m living room, with Iron Man (Disney+) providing the evening's entertainment, the KC62 became the star of the show in a 5.1.2 Atmos setup. Before Tony Stark first appears in his D.I.Y. Tin Man costume, all the bad guys can see is a dark cave entrance – but they can hear ominous footfalls. Each is accompanied by a bassy whump that evokes the tension in the scene, and as they get louder and louder, the KC62 happily obliges. It sounds pure and unruffled, big and weighty. The ensuing firefight and flame-thrower display then lays on elements higher up the bass range; rapid machine-gun fire, exploding munitions, the roar of his suit's thrusters. The bass is all thrillingly on point; lean and without any excess fat. You could almost call it superheroic.

The Little Engine That Could
So: aside from grumbling about the sleepy nature of its standby mode, my time with the KEF KC62 was continually joyous. It has the lush looks and refined build quality I've come to expect from the brand, and a performance that makes a mockery of its dimensions. It's a riot with movies and assured with music, and undoubtedly very clever.

At the same time, it's not exactly affordable, and those with plenty of floor space and no aversion to bigger, boxier woofers may well prefer to look elsewhere.

There's no escaping the fact the KC62 has been designed to fit a brief. But it does so brilliantly n

HCC Verdict

KEF KC62

Price: £1,400
uk.kef.com

We say: KEF's mini woofer looks as cool as a cucumber and sounds it too. Bass is deep and plenty loud enough, and always totally controlled. A thing of beauty, priced accordingly.

Overall: 5/5

Specifications

DRIVERS: 2 x 6.5in woofers with P-Flex surround ENCLOSURE: Sealed, with force-cancelling driver configuration ONBOARD POWER (CLAIMED): 2 x 500W (RMS) Class D amps FREQUENCY RESPONSE (CLAIMED): 11Hz-290Hz REMOTE CONTROL: No DIMENSIONS: 246(h) x 256(w) x 248(d)mm WEIGHT: 14kg

FEATURES: Stereo/LFE line-level input; speaker-level input; line-level output; room/wall/corner/cabinet/apartment preset EQs; crossover and phase control; compatible with KEF KW1 wireless transmitter; UniCore overlapping voice coil/single magnet technology; Smart Distortion Control technology; aluminium cabinet