The benchmark of benchmarks
Since 1973, The Reference has continually set the benchmark for loudspeakers and sound reproduction. Pioneering the use of digital technologies to achieve the highest audio accuracy, every pair can be matched within 0.5dB to the laboratory-maintained reference standard.
Always innovating
Since the first Reference speaker, KEF engineers have continued to innovate using what is possible with The Reference. Ground-breaking in its first incarnation, each subsequent iteration of The Reference has added to the world’s knowledge of the science of acoustics.
Designed, engineered and handcrafted in UK
Since 1961, we have been creating remarkable award-winning loudspeakers at our UK home in Maidstone, Kent. As our flagship HiFi speakers, The Reference is still being designed, engineered, and handcrafted in Maidstone today.

KEF Reference 3 Meta speakers are the latest version of these excellent floorstanders, perhaps the sweet spot in the Reference range - offering greater low frequency extension over Reference 1 Meta, in a more compact size than Reference 5 Meta, making them well suited to most rooms.

In their pursuit of that extra marginal gain in an audio world – KEF have taken their already outstanding Reference 3 Meta floor-standing speakers and elevated them to a new level of performance with the introduction of MAT (Metamaterial Absorption Technology).

The Summit Of Standards
You can trace the lineage of the Reference 3 Meta back to the 1970’s when KEF and their master craftsman created the first in a long line of award-winning floor-standing speakers where quality and design were unleashed to create the ultimate statement and marriage of design and audio technology.

Fast forward to today and the Reference 3 Meta represents the newest generation of the KEF family. All the time retaining what made KEF so revered and adored by audiophiles and those who just want a damn good speaker alike.

A New Metaverse
On the Reference 3 Meta, the drive units are in a 12th generation Uni-Q drive array with the high-frequency 25mm (1”) aluminium dome unit being equipped with Metamaterial absorption technology (MAT) which is a radical departure and change that the speaker world sees once in a generation. MAT delivers a 99% absorption rate from the rear of the drive unit – effectively wiping out distortion in a single stroke giving you the purest listen, you can ever want.

Superb Driving
The drive units alongside the high-frequency driver (in the Uni-Q array) are designed to perfectly work with each other with a 125mm (5”) aluminium cone, which itself delivers a fantastic response across the spectrum, which when paired with a bass unit that itself is a pair of 165mm (6.5”) cones that make the Reference 3 Meta a true champion of sound

Excellent Response
Frequency response on the Reference 3 Meta is outstanding with the short port giving you a response of 38Hz – 45kHz (-6dB) and the longer port giving you a response of 35Hz to 45kHz (-6dB) which ensures a complete coverage from a bookshelf style speaker that has never been seen or felt before.

Power To The Speakers
With all this technology packed into a small speaker cabinet, you would think that these units would require a lot of power from an amplifier, but that is not the case with these speakers as they require 50 – 300W maximum, meaning they will happily work with any amplifier.

Design
Three-way bass reflex

Drive units
Uni-Q driver array:
HF: 25 mm (1 in.) aluminium dome with MAT
MF: 125 mm (5 in.) aluminium cone
Bass units:
LF: 2 x 165 mm (6.5 in.) aluminium cone

Frequency range free field (-6dB)
Short port: 38Hz - 45kHz
Long port: 35Hz - 45kHz

Frequency range typical in room bass response (-6dB)
28Hz

Frequency response (±3dB)
43Hz – 35kHz

Crossover frequency
450 Hz, 2.1 kHz

Amplifier requirements
50 - 300W

Sensitivity (2.83V/1m)
86dB

Harmonic distortion 2nd & 3rd harmonics (90dB, 1m)
<0.5% 40Hz – 100kHz
<0.2% 200Hz – 2kHz
<0.1% 2kHz - 20kHz

Maximum output (peak sound pressure level at 1m with pink noise)
113.5dB

Impedance
4 Ω (min. 3.2 Ω)

Weight
51.3 kg (113.1 lbs.)

Dimensions (H x W x D)(with grille and terminal)
1155 x 205 x 462 mm(45.5 x 8.1 x 18.2 in.)