1. INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the Kii SEVEN experience. The Kii SEVEN is our most compact yet groundbreaking speaker system.
It is suitable for lifestyle & home listening but equally tailored for precise music recording, production, and mixing.

The featureset of the speaker system will be expanded over time by automatic firmware updates free of charge.
For the current status of the firmware development please refer to chapter 4.

The content of this support center will be constantly be updated as well over time.

2. PACKAGE CONTENTS

1x Kii SEVEN active loudspeaker
1x mains cable
- 1x CAT6 cable
(OPTIONAL) Kii Control package
- 1x Kii Control unit
- 1x CAT6 cable
- 1x USB cable

3. SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

Dangerous voltage is inside this apparatus. Opening is only allowed by qualified service personnel.
Do not defeat the safety purpose of the safety earth connection. Use the provided three-prong power cord to insure the product is connected to safety earth. If the provided mains cord does not fit your outlet, consult an electrician for replacement of the obsolete outlet.
Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched, particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the apparatus.
Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.
Do not use this apparatus near water. Do not expose the apparatus to dripping or splashing. Do not place objects filled with liquids (flower vases, drink cans, coffee cups, etc) on the apparatus. Do not use this apparatus out of doors.
Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus that produce heat. Avoid exposure to direct sunlight.
Use only with a speakerstand or table designed for use with audio or music equipment. In any installation, make sure that injury or damage will not result from cables pulling on the apparatus and its mounting.
Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as when the power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.
To reduce the risk of fire or electric shock, do not expose this apparatus to rain or moisture.

4. CURRENT FIRMWARE - FUNCTIONALITY STATUS

In the current firmware release of the Kii SEVEN the operation with a Kii Control is recommended.

The featureset of the Kii Control is identical for Kii SEVEN and Kii THREE.

 => Kii CONTROL MENU OVERVIEW

You also use the Kii SEVEN as active monitors connected to your analog or digital volume control or preamp.

Standby functionality will be added in a future firmware update later in 2024 !
In the meanwhile please make use of the integrated mains switch when not in use for longer periods of time

WiFi / Streaming / Bluetooth and DANTE functionality will be released later in 2024 !

As we await final certifications from third-party entities for those firmware feature updates, all Kii SEVENs already ship in their final hardware revision.

We are doing our best to expedite these certifications. Because of the Kii Seven's OTA (Over The Air) cloud update software management architecture, we will enable and deploy these features as they become available at no cost to the end-user.

(Alternatively, interim streaming connectivity is available via our Kii Control/USB interface.)

5. CONNECTING THE Kii CONTROL

The Kii Control is connected to one speaker via the supplied CAT6 cable, plugged into the "KiiLink IN" (top connector) on the backside connector panel of your Kii SEVEN.

The first speaker is then also connected to the second speaker via the other supplied CAT6 cable, from the "KiiLink THRU" (bootom connector) to the "KiiLink IN" (top connector).

The connector panel on the Kii Control offers three digital inputs for your source devices:

1. USB (audio)

2. COAX (S/PDIF format)

3. Toslink / Optical (S/PDIF format)

You can select any of the following three inputs via the buttons on the top panel of the Kii CONTROL:
COAX / OPTICAL / USB

Selecting the XLR button will enable the two XLR connections on the backside of the speaker:

The left XLR input offers analog input via either XLR or 6,3mm TRS.
The right XLR input offers digital input via AES3 (AES/EBU) format.

Which of the two XLR inputs is active can be selected in the Kii Control Menu under:
Main Menu -> Setup Menu -> XLR Input Settings -> Analog / Digital

6. Kii CONTROL MENU

Horizontal navigation in the menu is done with the dedicated (Esc) and (Enter) buttons,

while vertical scrolling through menu items or parameter values is done by turning the knob.

The push/click function of the knob is not used for navigation.

It always offers the MUTE/DIM function at any given time.

Every change is saved automatically; no save or confirmation dialog exists.

Press Enter to activate the menu.
Now use the knob to scroll through the main menu level until the menu item you want to adjust is highlighted.

Press Enter again to move the cursor right to the next level and set the values with the knob.

If the display shows the desired value simply move backwards through the menu with the Esc button. Your setting is now automatically stored.

MENU OVERVIEW

1. TONE CONTROL

2. PRESETS

3. BLUETOOTH

4. PRO MENU (the Pro submenu contains:)

4a) Latency
4b) Polarity
4c) Limiter Indicator (not applicable for Kii SEVEN)
4d) Advanced Filters
4e) Set reading (xy) to 0

5. SETUP MENU (the Setup submenu contains:)

5a) Master Speaker
5b) Boundary EQ
5c) Mute / Dim
5d) XLR Input Settings
5e) Auto Standby (not functional yet for Kii SEVEN, will be released in a future firmware update!)
5f) BXT Settings (not applicable for Kii SEVEN)
5g) IR Remote Settings
5h) LED Brightness
5i) Restore Defaults
5j) About

1. TONE CONTROL

The Tone Control menu vastly expands the possibilities of LF Adjust and HF Adjust settings available on the speaker.

Low shelf and high shelf filter both become fully user configurable by adding control over the corner frequencies for both filter settings. This EQ type is called a Baxandall EQ and offers great flexibility with only 4 parameters:

"Bass (dB)" determines if the filter boosts or cuts the frequency range below the corner frequency.

This corresponds to the LF Adjust on the speaker control panel.

"Treble (dB)" determines if the filter boosts or cuts the frequency range above the corner frequency.

This corresponds to the HF Adjust on the speaker control panel.

 "Bass Freq." determines the frequency below which this filter alters the frequency response of the audio signal.

"Treble Freq." determines the frequency above which this filter alters the frequency response of the audio signal.

In combination these two filters offer vast options to tailor the speakers frequency response to your desire.

If you want to cut a certain part of the midrange spectrum, simply boost the low and high frequencies outside the desired midrange spectrum and adjust the level accordingly, respectively vice versa for boosting it.

The gentle filter slopes will make sure that the resulting frequency response will always stay musical and useful for listening.

The parameter choice is:

Bass (dB)
Treble (dB)
Bass Freq.
Treble Freq.

2. PRESETS

In this menu, you can enable your own presets, which you can toggle through with the dedicated preset button.
As soon as a second preset is defined, the presets will be indicated by color-coded bars appearing in the display's upper area.

To add a preset of your choice, set the Kii CONTROL to the exact state that you want to add as a preset.

Enter the Program Preset menu and go through the available options in order to exclude or include certain parameters:

(Source, Delay/Lip Synch, Volume, Mid/Side/Polarity, Contour) This is a global setting for ALL presets.

If you set one of these parameters to „No“, it is excluded from the preset function and remains manually available from the Kii CONTROL. If all parameters are set to your liking scroll to „Add new preset“ and press ENTER.
Your preset is now successfully saved and will be available, when toggling the preset button.

If you want to remove a preset, simply select it with the preset button, scroll to Remove This Preset and press ENTER. The preset is now permanently erased again. Scroll and choose „Remove All Presets“, if you want to get rid of all existing presets and set them up from scratch.

The parameter choice is:

Remove This Preset

Remove All Presets

Make 2 presets (Add third preset, Add fourth preset, etc.)

+ Source (default: NO)

+ XLR Mode (default: Yes)

+ Delay/Lip Synch (default: Yes)

+ Phase Correction (default: Yes)

+ Volume (default: NO)

+ Mid/Side/Polarity (default: Yes)

+ Tone Control (default: Yes)

3. BLUETOOTH

The Kii Control allows you to stream audio wirelessly to your Kii speakers from any Bluetooth device (mobile phone, tablet, computer etc.). Please note that the distance between Bluetooth device and the Kii Control is limited by the kind of Bluetooth capable device you are using.

To select Bluetooth playback simply select "Kii Control" as an audio output in the Bluetooth settings of your device.

Once the device is connected, the Bluetooth input will automatically be selected for playback.

If you want to disable the possibility of connecting to the Kii Control via Bluetooth simply choose "Off" in Bluetooth menu entry.

The only user selectable option in this menu is the "Bluetooth On/Off" entry, all others display infos transmitted with the Bluetooth playback from your device (Audio, Title, Artist, etc.)

Bluetooth

Bluetooth On/Off

V5.0 R UID:09B9E9

State: Discoverable

Audio: Stopped

Title: ?

Artist: ?

Album: ?

4. PRO MENU

The Pro Menu comprises all functionality which is relevant in a professional studio environment,

If you are unsure what some of these options do and what their exact purpose is, simply leave them in the factory default settings.

4a) Latency

In the latency menu you can choose whether you are able to run the Kii Three in their most exact setting, which offers a full phase correction but introduces roughly 90ms of latency. In an audiophile listening environment this doesn’t impose any practical problems, so the „Exact“ setting is always the preferable and best sounding option.

(Full phase correction means, that the whole frequency spectrum radiated by the speaker does not have any unnatural phase shift, an artefact that is commonly induced by classical analogue crossovers. Clever DSP correction allows us to instead achieve a phase response that is identical to the original signal on the recording. This powerful calculation needs time, therefor latency cannot be avoided in this case.)

 If you use your Kii THREE alongside a TV, beamer or set-top box which is not able to synchronise the picture to audio signal correctly, we offer the „Minimum Latency“ setting. This uses a less exact phase correction in the lower frequencies and therefor drastically reduces the necessary calculation time down to below 1ms. You can now easily adjust your TV, beamer or set-top box for the audio to be in sync with the picture again.

Even better, with „Frame Delay“ (in milliseconds) and „Fine Adjust“ (in microseconds) we offer two more tools to add a very exact delay setting to your audio playback, in case the adjustments in your video devices are limited.

The parameter choice is:

Phase: Exact / Minimum Latency

Frame Delay (ms) (general)

Fine Adjust (us) Settings (per speaker)

4b) Polarity

This setting offers control over either the absolute polarity of the playback (True/Inverse).

If a recording has (accidentally) inversed polarity, this offers the option of swapping polarity within the playback system for a correct acoustical endresult.

You also have the option to only listen to the Mid (L+R = Mono) signal, as well as only to the Side (L-R) content of a stereo signal.

These options are only of use in a PRO studio environment, for example for ciritical analysis during mastering. Swap L-R does not change polarity, but it swaps the channel order of both channels within a stereo signal.

 A faulty, unintended channel swap can happen in various places upstream in the playback chain, sometimes even on the recording itself. This menu option offers a simple remedy for correct playback in this case.

For simple audiophile listening please leave this menu item in its default „True“ setting.

The parameter choice is:

True / Inverse / Mid (L+R) / Side (L-R) / Swap L-R

4c) Limiter Indicator

This is a Kii THREE ONLY feature, which is currently without function when in use with a Kii SEVEN.

4d) Advanced Filters

The Advanced Filters menu is a new feature introduced in firmware version 2.0 of the Kii Control.

Up to eight (8) filters can be programmed either for ALL speakers (Link all with master => YES), or each speaker individually (Link all with master => NO)

The up to eight filters per speakers are a global setting. You can not choose different filters per preset.

The Bypass all setting however acts as a master bypass for all advanced filters at once and can be saved per preset!

The parameter choice is:

Bypass all: Yes / No

Link all with master: Yes / No

Master Filters => submenu for Slave speakers

Filter # 1 (up to 8)

Restore Defaults

Type: Bypass / Low Pass / High Pass / Low Shelf / High Shelf / Notch / PEQ Const. Q / PEQ Prop. Q / Frequency Q / Gain (dB)

While the advanced filters offer a free and fully integrated alternative to external corrective EQ Systems in hardware or software (like for example TRINNOV, Dirac, Acourate or DSPeaker etc.) all of these solutions require knowledge and experience to set-up correctly for an audible improvement.

Professional advice of an experinced acoustician and correct measurement tools are highly recommended. If you are unsure what these filters do and what their exact purpose is, please leave them in the factory default setting. (Bypass)

4e) Set reading (xy) to 0

This is also a PRO feature, that is not necessarily of use in an audiophile listening setup. It allows the user to calibrate the speakers to a certain playback volume (e.g. a fixed volume in a mastering setup) and reset the volume read out in the Kii CONTROL to display 0.

This makes it easy to always return to a calibrated playback level in a mastering studio. Nothing else is changed other than the number in the display read out.

The parameter choice is:

Set reading (current reading displayed) to 0

5. SETUP MENU

The Setup Menu comprises all functionality needed to install a set of Kii THREEs in a new location and establish the proper connections to your source devices.

5a) Master Speaker

In this setting you select whether the Kii Control is plugged into the LEFT or the RIGHT speaker of your stereo setup. This speaker is called the „master“, because it is directly connected to the Kii CONTROL via the KiiLink In.

 The other speaker is called the „slave“, because it receives its data from the master speaker (1x CAT5 cable: Kiilink Thru of master into KiiLink In of slave).

This setting in the Kii CONTROL overwrites the physical „Input Select“ mini switch setting on the back of the speakers.

The parameter choice is:

LEFT/RIGHT

5b) Boundary EQ

The Boundary EQ adjusts the energy dispersion of the speaker below 50Hz where the ActiveWaveFocusing filters slowly transition from cardioid into omnidirectional dispersion. If one or both speakers are placed closer to a wall or corner in the room, this will result in an unwanted energy build up due to the reflections from those surfaces adding to the direct sound.

Other than conventional speakers the Kii THREE can correct for those reflections with the help of the Boundary EQ.

With the Kii CONTROL the Boundary can be set for both speakers simultaneously, if the speakers are placed symmetrically in your room and have equal proximity to the back and side walls. (Link all with master => Yes)

(Link all with master => Yes)

Alternatively the boundary settings can be set for each speaker individually, if their placement in your room is asymmetrical. (Link all with master => NO)

When „Link all with master“ is set to NO, individual Master and Slave menu entries allow for setting independent values.

The parameter choice is:

Link all with master YES/NO

Master: -6 (default)

Slave 1: -6 (default)

5c) Mute / Dim

To mute the speakers push the volume knob briefly, push again to unmute.

 Activation is indicated by the two blinking LEDs on the Kii CONTROL and a reading in the display.

Alternatively to the MUTE function you can select a DIM function, which attenuates the playback level by a user definable amount instead of muting it completely.

Pushing the volume knob always operates the mute/dim function, even if you are currently using the menu.

The parameter choice is:

Mute / Dim: -10dB Dim / -15dB Dim / -20dB Dim / -30dB Dim / -40dB Dim / Full Mute

5d) XLR Input Settings

Besides the new inputs offered on the Kii CONTROL, the XLR input on the speakers remains providing connectivity for either a stereo analog signal or an AES source. The dedicated input select button „XLR“ on the Kii CONTROL activates the physical input on the back of the speakers. The XLR Input setting in the Kii CONTROL tells the speaker whether the connected source is Analogue or Digital (AES), it also overwrites the physical „Input Select“ mini switch setting on the back of the speakers as soon as the Kii CONTROL is plugged in.

The parameter choice is:

XLR Input: Analogue/Digital

5e) Auto Standby

Standby functionality is not yet integrated in the current firmware release and will be added in a future update later in 2024 !

In the meanwhile please make use of the integrated mains switch when not in use for longer periods of time.

5f) BXT Settings

This is a Kii THREE ONLY feature, which is without function when in use with a Kii SEVEN.

5g) IR Remote Settings

The Kii CONTROL will recognise both Apple Remote and RC5 handsets.

To tell the Kii CONTROL which handset you want it to respond to select Imprint Remote and then on your handset push any button. The type of remote control and device code will be displayed to indicate that the operation was successful.

A new Kii CONTROL will do this automatically without requiring you to go to this menu. The first RC5 or Apple Remote that tries to talk to the Kii CONTROL will automatically be imprinted, so you only need this option if you accidentally imprint the wrong remote.

Apple TV Remotes are different from Apple Remotes, they use a proprietary protocol and won´t work.

The menu let´s you enable or disable IR control. You also have the choice if the channel buttons (<- / ->) should toggle through the inputs or the presets. As the input choice can be part of a preset, this allows you to tailor your channel buttons to different listening situations (Music, A/V setup, etc).

The parameter choice is:

IR Enabled (Yes/No)

Channel Buttons (Channel/Preset)

Imprint Remote

RC Type (this can´t be user set, it will only display a valid pairing)

RC Address (this can´t be user set, it will only display a valid pairing)

5h) LED Brightness

Here you can set the brightness of the Kii Control display. Maximum brightness is at „100“.

The parameter choice is:

Speaker On (not applicable for Kii SEVEN)

Speaker Standby (not applicable for Kii SEVEN)

Kii Control

Full Dim

5i) Restore Defaults

Selecting and confirming this menu entry with ENTER sets the Kii CONTROL back into its default factory state. All previous settings will be lost!

The parameter choice is:

Clear All Settings -> Enter

5j) About

The „About“ menu displays the currently installed firmware versions on all connected devices in the chain. Scroll down to device and press ENTER, the currently installed firmware version number will be visible.

The parameter choice is:

Kii Control

About Master Speaker

About Slave speaker

6. DANTE OPERATION

The Kii SEVEN also offers compatibility with AUDINATE`s DANTE protocol.

When used as a DANTE playback device each Kii SEVEN speaker can be addressed as a single channel playback device (output) within a DANTE network.

The Kii Control must be disconnected for DANTE operation!

Therefore each speaker is only connected to the mains and to the DANTE network with a single ETHERNET cable plugged into one of the two network pots on the Kii SEVEN.
These are the two ports facing upwards to the right of the connector panel.

The speakers can be addressed from your computer via the DANTE virtual soundcard (DVS).

DVS licenses are available from the Audinate website:
https://www.getdante.com/products/software-essentials/dante-virtual-soundcard/