KEF LS50 wireless

Discussion in 'Speakers' started by Clemmaster, Oct 13, 2016.

  1. AvijitS25

    AvijitS25 Acquaintance

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    @zerodeefex @direstraitsfan98 I think the for the Wireless models 60% of MSRP is the distributor(or I think direct from Kef) price and 40% for the other stuff my friend paid around 7-800Cad for the r300. the Assistant manager had also offered the Ls50W for 2200 cad but since my friend was there we went directly through the kef person
     
  2. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    I like how you guys shit on progress wrapped in tapestry :rolleyes:
     
  3. GoodEnoughGear

    GoodEnoughGear Evil Dr. Shultz‎

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    Awww...the little ones look cute!

    Given the Egg is $500 I can see why they want $1100 for them, but that seems steep. 102dB spl is pretty loud, and they have a sub out, so they may be able to scale. A pair of 8010 is $600 at sweetwater without any of the wireless stuff as a matter of comparison, and they will only dig down to 74Hz and push 96dB.
     
  4. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Bumping this one because I'm curious. Has anyone heard the LS50W or the smaller LSX? My local dealer has the LSX and LS50 on display and I thought the smaller size of the LSX would be perfect for my computer desk. When I work from home I can't use the DAC/AMP since my work Thinkpad blocks all USB inputs/outputs. Also, sometimes I don't want to use my IEMs for someone better qualify for casual listening.

    The LS50W it appealing for a simple solution in the living room nearfields by a few feet. I don't want to be a traditionalist with the speaker amp/source/etc., since I still prefer using IEMs for my serious listening. If it can sound good and able to stream stuff from my laptop and from Qobuz, I would be ok with that.

    Edit: I would most likely not pay full MSRP for anything KEFs on my end.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2020
  5. caputphone

    caputphone New

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    I own the LS50W and use them as desktop speakers, about 1 meter away from my body. They work great because I can set them to work close to a wall on a desk. Although now I am considering moving up to genelec. I have them angled up at the moment but they might work better on full desktop stands. You can set them as either on a stand or desk, and how far from the edge you are on the desk as well, which is useful if you just have them without a desk stand.

    I listened to the LS50 and wasn't super impressed with the low end in the store. The LS50 make up for that, although you will need a sub if you want deep body moving bass.

    They go loud, much louder than you need for nearfield if you want to use them as room speakers it shouldn't be an issue.

    The app is a bit finicky to setup but once the speakers are on your network it works great. You can adjust pretty much everything using it in terms of sound.

    The imaging is amazing btw, which makes sense given how the speakers are designed, so if that's your thing these will impress.
     
  6. mkozlows

    mkozlows Friend

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    I've got the LSX set up in a family room, driven off a Chromecast, connected wirelessly to each other. What I can say confidently is that they sound wonderful for something as small as they are, and are able to fill a room and even give surprisingly decent bass, considering.

    For me, they replaced a Google Home Max smart speaker, and they're in a totally different class of sound. People who aren't crazy audiophiles (aka nobody reading this) could use them as their main speakers and be very happy.

    If you don't have the constraints of wanting something that blends nicely into decor and has no wires between the two speakers, maybe there are better options; I don't know, because I have those constraints and didn't look into the things that didn't work for them. My suspicion is that for the same money, you can probably do better if you get something a little uglier or with more cables, anyway.

    But if you want nice-looking, no-cable, no-fuss small speakers that sound plenty good enough for normal listening, there you are.
     
  7. Jinxy245

    Jinxy245 Vegan Puss

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  8. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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  9. mkozlows

    mkozlows Friend

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    One thing to keep in mind that might not be obvious is that the LS50W requires Ethernet between the two speakers, whereas the LSX are truly wireless. This was a deal-breaker for me with the LS50W, because I have a fireplace in the middle of two shelves and didn't want to string a cable across it.
     
  10. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Thanks. I was aware of that. I just don't want to get into the rabbit hole of amp/source and cables. I'll deal with the one cable of the LS50W.

    LSX looks to be a good fit for my computer desk.
     
  11. zonto

    zonto Friend

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  12. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Queue the massive dump of LS50 / LS50W on the used market (even more than there was previously).

    New amps in the wireless too including class A/B now for the tweeter (smart). 280w class D though for the woofer!! Really do you need 280w for a woofer of that size with an electronic crossover??!! You can’t tell me there isn’t firmware that’s going to limit the output of that thing way before getting close to 280w. Even the 100w for the tweeter seems like massive overkill, but of course, specs wars...
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2020
  13. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

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    Hahaha, it is 280 Marketing Watts.
    It could be peak, in which case it would be perhaps 100..150Wrms.
    Tweeter, 30..50 Wrms.
     
  14. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    It's really not that unreasonable... doubling of power only gets you +3 dB after all. Take the original LS50 stats which show a sensitivity of 85dB @ 1W. Cranking up 2^8 to 256 W is essentially 85+3*8 = 109 dB. Yes that's loud, but not unexpected for your peaks or whatever dynamic range arguments you want to make. Trying to push another 6db essentially means you need kilowatt power so you can see just how quickly it runs away on you.

    My ATC SCM20 has the same sensitivity rating, a max SPL of 108 dB, and the recommended amp is 300 W. The math is more or less all in the same ballpark.
     
  15. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

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    Sure, not entirely unlikely, but from engineering standpoint not practical.
    The midwoofer probably has 70..80 W of AES rating, double that for short term, 4x for peak.
    Besides, I doubt the marketing department would shy away from giving the peak number instead of more humble continuous RMS.

    Below, Skanspeak Illuminator 7'' woofer in a vented box with an amp output to 8 ohms equivalent of 128Wrms:
    This Skanny, also about 85dB/W/m, is likely more impressive in terms of real life power handling and it is in trouble past 150Wrms short term (due to excursion). Long term this would cook it.
    upload_2020-9-22_9-43-33.png

    Peak power is another story, unless it is in the low bass.
    A small 6'' driver can easily handle several hundred watts peak for a moment in high bass and mids.
     
  16. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    You guys need to keep in mind that you're talking about an sd=60cm2 driver. That's a 3.5" non-coax "woofer" equivalent. Anywhere but the mids it will be excursion limited, rather than thermally.
     
  17. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Yup, for the same reason you'll see speakers and headphones rated up to 100kHz :rolleyes:
     
  18. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    tangentially, I got a pair of LS50s as a gift. short of it: these are nominally good at best. they throw a good soundstage, but there's too much fuckery in the midrange, and bass is peaky and horribad "boost and peak" to try to sound "big". I tried plugging the ports and adding Loki for some tweaking to both positioning and FR (bookshelf mounted and on 24" stands all over the f'ing room) and they sound cupped and compressed and closed in, in the midrange. Good for classical, maybe.
     

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