KEF’S JACK OCLEE-BROWN: “THE JOB OF THE SPEAKER IS SIMPLY TO NOT GET IN THE WAY”

If you’ve heard any speakers KEF has made over the past decade or so, the chances are that Jack Oclee-Brown has had a hand in shaping them. Now the company’s Head of Acoustics, Oclee-Brown’s work includes all the company’s recent star performers from the 50th-anniversary model, the LS50, to the high-end Reference 1 and class-leading R3s. We find out about his hi-fi journey.

WHF?: How did you get interested in hi-fi?

Jack Oclee-Brown: We didn’t really have a hi-fi when growing up, but there was always music around at home. My sister, brother and I all played instruments and my mother was constantly singing.

I remember finding an old record deck, some speakers and a few LPs in the attic – I spent hours playing with them and this eventually became my hi-fi system. Then one of my aunts gave me a pair of speakers from an old Sony system and I remember being struck by how much better they sounded.

I had a good friend who played bass and sang in