Snoober
Dysthymic
Oh! That sounds much more reasonable. Let us know how they sound, thanks!!!!!
KEF LS50 Active Wireless Speakers!
- Thread starter ictwoody
- Start date
Oh! That sounds much more reasonable. Let us know how they sound, thanks!!!!!
RDSChicago
Well-Known Member
I have a pair. They sound better than the original LS50's. Why wouldn't they since they're the same speaker with optimal amplifiers and DACs chosen by Kef? A modest price premium over the passive model for all of the electronic guts one needs to me is a screaming bargain. Very pleased thus far. Just plug in your computer over USB and listen to Tidal HIFI or Masters and you've got music satisfying your would all day. Highly recommended.
RDSChicago
Well-Known Member
Bass is superior to the passives. I'm still using a sub because I think it's necessary with symphonic music or hard rock, but don't really need a sub for jazz and vocalists, etc. I was using a high current solid state amp with them which was 200wpc doubling down to 400wpc at 4 ohms. I forget the specs for the Wireless, but it's something like 200wpc for the woofers, class D and 30wpc for the tweeters, class AB. The passives are great speakers and I wouldn't necessarily upgrade if I still had mine; but active seems to be the way of the future, so why not take the plunge with the LS50 version, which garners such wonderful reviews.
People complain about the app and rightfully so. However, if you go via the USB route directly from your laptop/computer, it works flawlessly. And the remote control will work not only for volume, but also to skip or reverse songs on a particular album or playlist.
And the $700 premium over the passive version is really a great deal. Dealers are discounting so for around $1,800 you are really getting a great setup. Just add stands, computer and crank the tunes!
People complain about the app and rightfully so. However, if you go via the USB route directly from your laptop/computer, it works flawlessly. And the remote control will work not only for volume, but also to skip or reverse songs on a particular album or playlist.
And the $700 premium over the passive version is really a great deal. Dealers are discounting so for around $1,800 you are really getting a great setup. Just add stands, computer and crank the tunes!
TForan
Active Member
Where are they selling them for $ 1800 ?
RDSChicago
Well-Known Member
An authorized dealer who asked me not to inform anyone of discount. Negotiate your deal.
erniejade
Active Member
I had them on loan for a bit and thought they were fantastic sounding especially in my difficult 9X10 room with a 2 foot deep, 6 foot long cutout in the wall for bookshelves. I liked them so much I ordered a set. 2 or 3 years ago, I tried out the regular LS50's on a tube preamp, tube sacd player and McIntosh mc402 amp. I thought the top end had a metallic or ringy sound to them when turned up to normal listening levels. I could not get past that ringyness to buy a set. The ls50 wireless does NOT have that same ringyness and is much smoother. The DSP works well but, I find their app needs a LOT of work.
wgb113
Super Member
Agreed on the app - it could be so much better. I encourage owners to use the "Send Feedback" option within the app to let KEF know what features/functionality you feel the app is missing. They have been pretty responsive to my emails.
erniejade
Active Member
Thanks for the tip. I will My personal grips on the app ( not counting tidal) when you change from Wireless to rca, you loose connectivity from the app or to your device you have the app on so you have to use the remote. One of the things that I like about the app is to change the sound on the fly not only to compensate for your room but, bad recordings but, you cannot from anything other then wireless option so if you want to change the sound,, you have to stop what your playing from another source, go back to the wireless....... You get the picture. At that point you have no idea what your adjusting to make that source sound better since its not that source playing. Also when using the wireless app, lets say your playing a song and want to change a setting on the speaker, it takes it a min or so to re-connect itself to that portion as well as no shortcut icon on the app to take you directly to that setup part without hitting back back back.
One thing they got right was the subwoofer portion of the app. I like that you can do 5hz jumps and not 20 hz jumps. A lot of sub settings are 40,60,80 but with this, and my room, 75 was the answer. I also like you can set the high and low pass different if you wish.
I know its small stuff they can probably make changes to on the app but the speakers do sound fantastic especially in this price range. For me, the buggy part is minor vs what this speaker can do in a smaller or medium sized room.
One thing they got right was the subwoofer portion of the app. I like that you can do 5hz jumps and not 20 hz jumps. A lot of sub settings are 40,60,80 but with this, and my room, 75 was the answer. I also like you can set the high and low pass different if you wish.
I know its small stuff they can probably make changes to on the app but the speakers do sound fantastic especially in this price range. For me, the buggy part is minor vs what this speaker can do in a smaller or medium sized room.
wgb113
Super Member
That's my biggest complaint about the app - not being able to change the settings on the fly outside of the WiFi input.
I'm still sorting out placement before I delve into subwoofer integration. What height stands did you go with and where's that put the tweeters relative to your seated ear height?
I'm still sorting out placement before I delve into subwoofer integration. What height stands did you go with and where's that put the tweeters relative to your seated ear height?
RDSChicago
Well-Known Member
Most LS50 users favor around 27". Tweeter should be ear-height so it is seating-position dependent.
wgb113
Super Member
Yeah, for the years that I had the passive version I had them on 30" pedestals which more or less put the tweeters at the same height as my ears when seated.
I see KEF released their new stand lineup: https://www.kefdirect.com/accessories/stands/bookshelf-stands.html ranging from $200-$400/pair. My concern about their top-of-the-line custom LS50 stand is that it's bottom plate is the smallest of the bunch - and smaller than the footprint of the LS50W itself. With the weight of the speaker being 22 lbs that seems to make for a very unstable stand that easily tipped over. Of note is the fact that they're all 24" which is the max height they recommend in the manual.
For S&Gs I yanked the KEF Q300s I use for surrounds in another system off of their 24" Lovan stands and did some REW measurements. Compared to the 28" Sanus stands the frequency response was noticeably smoother. So now I think it's down to the Skylan SKY-24D @ $385 or the Target HS60-B with Stance Plates @ $415.
The more I listen to the speakers the more shocked I become at how much better they are than the passive version - it really is unbelievable.
johsti
Active Member
KEF now makes a stand for the LS50 and it is 24" tall. This is also what the manual recommends for the passive LS50. As with anything, experiment and find the height that works best for your room, placement and seating arrangement.
Here are the KEF LS50 stands. https://www.kefdirect.com/accessories/stands/ls50-stand.html
edit - just noticed the post above mine from wgb113 who posted the same info about the LS50 stand. Guess I should finish the thread before posting (;
wgb113
Super Member
FYI - they've started putting together an LS50W Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIIJ-_cyFD5q00kL6jNzy_PuItY7DBq9w
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIIJ-_cyFD5q00kL6jNzy_PuItY7DBq9w
phantomrebel
Serial Tapist
That's all good, but it doesn't make up for the crappy app. They should quit messing around and focus on this gross deficiency. I'm at the point of almost returning these, as I'm not as enamored by the sound as most people seem to be (Fairly good acoustics and crappy app don't add up to a full win for me). I guess my mileage varies.
wgb113
Super Member
Where are you having problems with the app? Have you sent feedback to KEF?
Part of it is that they've only been out in the west for two months. I know they're taking feedback as I've sent them a few requests. Judging by their responses I'm sure they want to take some time to gather a good set of data to see what feature requests to give priority to before getting with their developers on an app update.
I haven't had any major issues that would prevent me from enjoying the speakers but I'm also not trying to use them wirelessly. My Mac is connected via USB, my CD via optical, and my Turntable via analog. No issues at all.
Part of it is that they've only been out in the west for two months. I know they're taking feedback as I've sent them a few requests. Judging by their responses I'm sure they want to take some time to gather a good set of data to see what feature requests to give priority to before getting with their developers on an app update.
I haven't had any major issues that would prevent me from enjoying the speakers but I'm also not trying to use them wirelessly. My Mac is connected via USB, my CD via optical, and my Turntable via analog. No issues at all.
Snoober
Dysthymic
Will KEF repair these speakers after the 2 year warranty period is up? Diavalet Phantom customers are just finding out that the Phantoms cannot be opened to be repaired: they can only be replaced. After the warranty is up (it can be extended to 3 years for $299), if the speaker goes bad you are 'toast'. There is a thread on this and Diavalet's position on the pinkfishmedia forum.
