I have like five hours listening to these KEF speakers in a far from optimal placement (my huge Avalons are flanking them and at amost 2 mts from the back wall) - my jaw is on the floor to say the least!!
I have like five hours listening to these KEF speakers in a far from optimal placement (my huge Avalons are flanking them and at amost 2 mts from the back wall) - my jaw is on the floor to say the least!!
Just got the latest issue of Hifi Critic with 3-pages long LS50 review. Paul Messenger is rather enthusiastic about them.
Do they make an active version?
Tim
They do. It even has a DAC built-in. It is the X300a: http://www.kef.com/html/us/showroom/digital_music_solutions/X300A/overview/
I have like five hours listening to these KEF speakers in a far from optimal placement (my huge Avalons are flanking them and at amost 2 mts from the back wall) - my jaw is on the floor to say the least!!
I warned you Flez![]()
It's incredible how they fill the room (Mark's main concern is banished) with the right tone considering their frequency limitations - the go deeper than expected, mids and highs perfectly balanced and have the ability to dissapear in the stage, just some additional SPL and I would be considering to retire my large speakers!...Not that fast!
The thing that's got my attention here is mep -- he's such a big speaker/big power guy and he's satisfied by these little guys and his sub. That's quite a recommendaton.
Tim
Tim-I still have big power with my KSA-250 powering the LS50s. I still have all of my subs with 1800 watt amps x 4 so I didn't lose any of that either. I find the drivers in the LS50s to be remarkable in sound quality. They have a cleanliness and purity to them that has to be heard to in order to be understood. Provided they are used with subs, they play big and sound big. My soundstage is actually wider and deeper now than it was with my big Def Techs.
The LS50 should sound good. They learned a lot from high-end people.From the KEF white paper:
Voicing the Loudspeaker
The crossover was initially designed from measured responses of the individual drivers mounted in the final enclosure. It was found that the combined driver response and diffraction characteristics required a relatively sophisticated circuit: after all the aim was for a smooth response not for the flattest response. It is perhaps worth noting that during the balancing process the priority was on the subjective performance not obtaining the flattest response.
The acoustic balancing of the LS50 was carried out by the KEF listening panel. There are some passing similarities to the methods used for the LS3/5A. Some use was made of anechoic voice recordings of KEF R&D team members since this is a very sensitive way of checking for
colouration. Additionally, a wide range of commercial music recordings were used to evaluate the balance. The reference loudspeakers used were the LS3/5A and the KEF Blade (production version).
The key components for the crossover were individually auditioned to ensure they did not limit the perceived sound quality. The capacitors for the higher-frequency section are vibration damped with mastic, to prevent sonic deterioration due to vibration. Initial prototypes were bi-wired but during the voicing it was found that the system actually sounded better with bi-wire loudspeaker cable connected together both at the amplifier and the loudspeaker. Consequently, the final product incorporates a single pair of binding posts. Nevertheless, the low-frequency and high-frequency circuits are on separate boards to reduce interaction between the inductors, since this has been found to have a significant impact on detail.
So when they listened to the recorded voices of their co-workers, they didn't listen to hear if the speakers sounded like their co-workers but, rather, if they sounded like euphonic enhancements of their co-workers?
Tim
Tim-You need to go back and reread what was said by KEF. They listen to the voices to see if there is any coloration of the voices and not because they wanted to create a euphonic coloration of the voices.
Fernando-Are you using them with subs? I now have my separate subs hooked up and they are daisy-chained to the subs that are built into my main speakers. I think that so far the SPL levels are fine which is what I was worried about and having 4 active subs with 14" woofers is working quite well right now. Another thing, what amp are you using with the LS50s? These things love power as they are inefficient. I find the KSA-250 to be a lovely match and it sounds like a different amplifier with the LS50s.
No sub in the chain yet Mark, I have a REL sub from a friend accumulating dust and will try it this weekend, as for amps, I am using my Jadis JA50 which handle my Avalons at very comfortable levels without stress.
I know, Mark. I was just messing with micro. Congratulations again. I wish there was a KEF dealer in my neighborhood where I could hear them. I love a small 2-way. And I mean small. I think the woofer, which is really a midrange and does the overwhelming majority of the work in such designs, begin to lose something when they get over about 7". 4.5" to 6.5" seems to be about right. Enjoy those.
Tim
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