In 1970, KEF received the first of two prestigious Queen’s Awards for Export Achievement. Three years later, KEF became the first loudspeaker manufacturer in the world to implement computer-assisted ‘total system design’. New types of digital testing equipment gave KEF’s engineers access to relevant crossover and drive unit data at a glance, assisting them enormously in the development of a highly advanced generation of audio equipment.

This pioneering use of computer-generated data enabled KEF’s engineers to match pairs of speakers to within one half of a decibel, so that they became the audio-technology equivalent of identical twins. Exact pair matching results in perfect stereo and these revolutionary speaker systems became renowned for their superior acoustic accuracy. Models in the range included the Corelli, Calinda, and Cantata as well as the widely celebrated Model 104 – the first domestic unit to match the standards of a broadcast monitor loudspeaker. Remarkable for its outstanding acoustic precision and wonderfully clean bass performance, despite its relatively small size, the Model 104 ‘swept reviewers, distributors, retailers and customers off their feet’ when it was launched in 1973. As a classic high-output yet high-sensitivity system using an innovative three driver arrangement and synthetic, laminated diaphragms, the Model 104 was also the first product from KEF’s world-famous Reference Series.

Three years later, the design methodology was refined into a new approach to loudspeaker development – computer assisted  ‘total system design’ - with the release of the Corelli, Calinda and Cantata, and a year later, in 1977, came one of the most radical and sophisticated loudspeakers ever made, the Reference Model 105. With separate enclosures for the bass and mid/high sections to allow time-alignment and even sound dispersion over the entire audio range, fourth order Linkwitz-Riley acoustic crossovers and a striking form following its engineering function, it set new standards for domestic loudspeakers.

This pioneering use of computer-generated data extended into production where, with the introduction of the Reference 105/2, 105/4, 103/2 and 101 in 1979, it enabled KEF’s engineers to match pairs of speakers to within one half of a decibel, so that they became the audio-technology equivalent of identical twins. Exact pair matching results in perfect stereo and these revolutionary speaker systems became renowned for their superior acoustic accuracy.

At the Edinburgh Festival in 1980, in a performance of Belioz’ Te Deum in the Usher Hall conducted by Claudio Abbado, 36 KEF Reference 105/2s were used to reproduce the sound from the organ of St. Mary’s Cathedral, one mile away, being relayed via an FM radio link set up by the BBC. The concert was a notable success and another innovative BBC/KEF collaboration.