Sometimes things are not what they seem...

A few years back, one of the guys here seemed particularly glum. His mood didn't change for several days, so I decided that (being the caring face of capitalism) I should take him to one side to find out what was getting him down. He explained that he was very depressed, because he was about to finish with his girlfriend. I was sympathetic and said that sometimes these things need to be faced - it would be best to get it all out in the open. He thanked me for my advice but said I couldn't possibly understand his situation, because it was a lot more complicated than that. He then produced from his pocket a dog-eared photo - it showed him and three rather attractive ladies all dressed as a the sort of police women you wouldn't mind being stopped by. Each 'PC lovely' was handcuffed to our salesman and held a truncheon in a manner that can only be described as 'suggestive'.

"We were going to a fancy dress party" he said by way of explanation.

"Right" I answered, with a slight sense of confusion, "which one of them is your girlfriend?"

"That's exactly my point" he said, looking even more wretched, "they all are..."

"That's a bit dangerous isn't it" I said, "what if one of them finds out about the others?"

"They all know about each other" he said, "that's the arrangement. We do everything together."

"EVERYTHING?" I said as the penny started to drop, "that wouldn't happen to include all of you sleeping together would it?"

"Oh yeah " he said, "that's the best bit. Problem is, I'm not really that keen on the one on the left, so I need to tell her that it's over between us without annoying the other two...I'm finding the whole thing very difficult."

At that point, I felt all my sympathy for our guy evaporate in a massive green cloud. I decided that the youth of today have far too much time on their hands and, although I'd never really considered it before, bringing back national service would actually have its attractions. After a slight pause, during which time I couldn't help my mind going into free fall and imagining just what form those 'bedroom duties' might take with three enthusiastic police women, I finally found my tongue,

"I can tell you exactly what to do" I said to him.

"What's that?", he said, looking hopeful.

"Bugger off, and don't come back to me until you've got a real problem."

So what is the moral of the story that has no morals? Well I suppose the point is that sometimes things are not what they appear to be, and that delving deeper reveals the true situation.

That's exactly the case with KEF's 5005.2s, because first impressions are that KEF have simply stuck "Mk2" after the 5005s and hiked the price up accordingly. However, nothing could be further from the truth, because the only similarity between the Mk1 and Mk2 5005s is their cabinets, everything else has changed - even the grilles are a different colour! The biggest change is undoubtedly that the big wooden box subwoofer of the Mk1 5005 has been replaced by the superb sleek design found in KEF's hugely successful 3005 system. This sub is smaller, much better looking and (surprisingly) more powerful than its predecessor. This is down to the onboard 250 watt digital amp and twin 10 inch driver setup. Digital amplifiers are much less bulky than their analogue counterparts, so nearly all of the sub's inner enclosure benefits the drivers, rather than being 'wasted' on housing electronics. I find the sub particularly interesting, because it looks fantastic, can be sited either vertically or horizontally, takes up virtually no space at all, yet sounds absolutely phenomenal. It manages to produce the most seamless bass I've ever heard on any sub / sat package. In the demonstration room, this sub simply doesn't exist - it is as if you are listening to a couple of big floorstanders. Quite astonishing - something you won't believe until you've experienced it for yourself!

Moving on to the satellites; although the cabinets are identical, the internal drive units are completely different from those found in the Mk1 5005s. They are in fact the exact same drivers that KEF use in their £1850 6000ACE system. Consequently, the dispersion characteristics are greatly improved and the Mk2 satellites can handle much more power than the original design.

The sum of the parts is that when you fire this system up, it performs really well, with a sound that it much bigger than you would expect from such a svelte package. We've been really impressed and so has everybody who's heard it. However, I'm guessing that the real reason that this system will sell in huge quantity is only partially to do with its sound quality. The simple fact of the matter is that when you look at every other speaker package on the market, nothing (and I mean nothing) gets even close in the looks stakes. This is true if you use the 5005s on their floor stands, but it is even more relevant if you are running a plasma or LCD on the wall, because these are, without a doubt the most plasma-friendly speakers there has ever been. Each speaker is about the size of a child's pencil case, they are only 3.5 inches wide, the silver finish looks great and the high gloss black finish matches in perfectly with the black fascia of most modern plasma / LCDs, even the new speaker grilles are exactly the right shade of black - what more could you want!

Let's face it, your living room is for living in - and I doubt that there is a speaker on this planet that you would be happier to share your home with than KEF's lovely new 5005.2!