Official Kef LS50 owners thread

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the new LSX. A smaller active version of the LS50w. They look interesting but are tiny. I'm happy with my passives for now.
This video was posted over on the AVS KEF thread, starring John Darko, who is a big time LS50/w fan:

 
So i finally got to audition the KEF LS50W today at a dealer.

I had to see what all the hype was about. After all the LS50 hype got me to audition the passives and I've been a happy owner and loved them since. i had initially considered going straight for actives, but at the time was put off by reports of failures and the short warranty. The separates let me somewhat spread the risk around. After trying to match amps with it i finally gave in to giving the actives a shot.

For reference at home i run: LS50s - Naim Nait 5si Amp* - Chord 2Qute Dac - Chromecast Audio - Tidal
*ive also run the LS50s with a Cyrus One and Rega Elex, and demoed a dozen other amps at a similar price.


So straight off the bat the demo did not start well. I asked to configure the DSP, but i couldn't connect to the speakers via the KEF control app. Two other members of staff came in to help but no one was able to connect to the speakers via Android or iOS. This was suprising as all of us could easily connect to the LSX downstairs. After about half an hour i decided to just continue the demo without DSP (with just the more basic DSP settings at the back). i listened for about 20 minutes nearfield and 20 minutes farfield.

I don't want to say i was underwhelmed, but i definitely wasn't overwhelmed. Everyone was saying how the actives wipe the floor with the passives etc... but to be honest i just didn't feel that way. Was it better? - Yes. Was it "in another league"? - It didn't seem that way. The bass was the main difference, it was much better than my 60w Naim Nait 5si, stronger deeper and more natural. The soundstage was also bigger and more three dimensional, but seemed hollow and empty in comparison. The imaging didn't seem much different from the passives. The treble was not as harsh and the frequency response did seem more balanced overall compared to the passives with my Naim Nait 5si, but the midrange sounded less musical, emotive and realistic.

To be honest i was very surprised. I will arrange another demonstration at a different dealer. I hope the differences are due to the DSP running on settings from the back. I was tired of trying to find the perfect amp for the LS50s and had high hopes here. The dealer even offered me 5 years warranty on the electronics AND driver. It was very appealing, but i need to get a proper demo with DSP before i can drop £2k knowing id take a huge L on my newish separates.
 
@Dopamine I’d highly recommend trying to get an in-home audition if possible. It’s only there that you’ll get a true sense of what KEF intended the LS50 to sound like with the LS50W.

As @Route 66 mentioned as well, the different amp pairings will result in varying levels of differences heard when compared to the active version. My McIntosh MA6300 made me fall in love with the original 50th Anniv edition of the LS50 sound but that pairing pales in comparison to what I’m hearing from the same sources with the LS50W. It could be that your Naim is a better pairing than the McIntosh I had.
 
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@Dopamine I’d highly recommend trying to get an in-home audition if possible. It’s only there that you’ll get a true sense of what KEF intended the LS50 to sound like with the LS50W.

As @Route 66 mentioned as well, the different amp pairings will result in varying levels of differences heard when compared to the active version. My McIntosh MA6300 made me fall in love with the original 50th Anniv edition of the LS50 sound but that pairing pales in comparison to what I’m hearing from the same sources with the LS50W. It could be that your Naim is a better pairing than the McIntosh I had.


I had two further demos of the LS50W, this time DSP was set up correctly. One side by side Vs passives + Naim Nait XS2 (one level up from my 5si).

Yeah I was wrong. The wireless is so far ahead of the passives driven by my Naim amp. It wasn't even close.

The second demo was just the LS50W, in an veryvacoustically treated room, with a decent sub. In that moment I knew that was my Endgame. I'll be selling the separates and jumping on the wireless bandwagon soon. Will add a sub later if needed.

It's amazing what the LS50W can do in an acousticly treated room.
 
@Dopamine I recently added an Elac SUB3010 to the setup and, though I'm still getting it dialed in, the initial results seem promising. My room is small so bass gets more difficult the lower you go and the auto-setup of the Elac seems like it's trying to do too much to compensate so I'm going to manually dial it in to compare.

Acoustically treating the room, if you have the ability, is the best money, time and effort you can spend on your system. I've said it here several times before, you truly can't appreciate how your equipment sounds without addressing it. It's the one thing I regret not taking the time to tackle for so long.

Good luck in your quest for better sound!
 
YAY! I'm in the club. Made a good deal on a used pair. Now I have to modify my mono-blocks to run them (Pass ACA at 16W). If those do not work, I'll use my McIntosh.
 
Just traded in my passive LS50s + Naim Nait 5si + Chord 2 Qute for the LS50W. Long drive home then get to set up these babies!
 
Just traded in my passive LS50s + Naim Nait 5si + Chord 2 Qute for the LS50W. Long drive home then get to set up these babies!

I'll bet the Ws sound better. The Naim does not look like it is 4 Ohm rated, and the LS50 can go to 3. Needs lots of power to run cleanly.
 
I'll bet the Ws sound better. The Naim does not look like it is 4 Ohm rated, and the LS50 can go to 3. Needs lots of power to run cleanly.
Yeah the Ws definitely sounded alot better in the demo. The bass response particularly for the naim was very poor with the passives.
 
Just bought some LS-Dubs. Had the passive version...twice! We'll see if these can replace my main system. If so, will save me some coin
 
Any LS50W owners have their speakers going into what seems like "protection" mode? I received the speakers last Friday. They worked fine for a few hours.

Friday evening, we were watching a movie, using optical input on the speakers, and suddenly I noticed the sound had dropped out.

Saturday, I'm using the speakers with PC input (coming from NVIDIA Shield) and I hear a slight "tick/pop" and the speakers turn off again. Power button flashes quickly. Can't get them to respond, unless you unplug and plug back in (sometimes once, sometimes several times).

This has happened to me at least 10 times in the two days I have owned them.

Only thing I can think of is either:

1) Speakers don't like the outlet I have available. I'm not sure if the same circuit or not yet, but in my garage on the other side of the wall, I have an air compressor, fluorescent light, and electric car charger plugged in. Once I noticed my air compressor kicked on, and the LS50W's immediately kicked off into "protection mode." I had to reboot several times to get them to work again. I do have one other outlet available, which I haven't tried yet.

2) Speakers are defective.

I am so frustrated with it that I just boxed them up and asked the seller if he'd take them back, I'd pay shipping both ways (he paid shipping the first time). So I'm out $140 to try these speakers for 2 days.

Other option is to assume the speakers are probably fine and keep them and keep fiddling. I would be more inclined to do this if I were super impressed with them.

Sound-wise, at first I didn't really care for them, then they started to grow on me. To me, they sounded mostly like the passive version. Probably a bit better, but same overall presentation. I felt the sound was more like a really accurate, life-like drawing or painting of the sound, vs. the REAL sound, if that makes sense. My 107' to me sound closer to the real sound. Not as VIVID as the LS50W, but somehow more real. They did start to grow on me though. When they were working for a good 2 hour stretch there, I was thinking I could live with them. Then the air compressor comes on, and the speakers kick off again. My main system has never had any issues with these outlets, which is the weird thing. My main system also doesn't have much in the way of a protection mode either. I know my McCormack amp has some sort of protection, but probably not as sensitive as the protection in the LS50W?

Does anyone have any troubleshooting guide for the LS50W? All I've found so far is the quick start guide that came with the speakers.

I will also say when I was running the LS50W's, my other gear was still all plugged in, but powered off. All of my gear is plugged into two different power strips, in two different outlets (I think different circuits but not sure).

Any input at all here is welcome. This was a frustrating, slightly costly, 2 day experiment!
 
I will note the speakers didn't give the seller a lick of trouble when he had them, so I don't think the speakers are likely to be defective. I am sending them back, glad the seller was good about it.
 
To update my experience in this thread, I kept the speakers. They are now in my office system, listening near-field and sounding great, having no issues. I think they did not like the USB cable or USB output from my Nvidia Shield maybe? Either that, or the connection was just loose from the USB or optical, I dunno. My main system started having "issues" with these digital connections too, so it wasn't just the LS50W's.

Having the LS50W's in my office led to me moving my turntable into the office for listening while at work. Kinda fun. But now I want another turntable for my main system haha :)
 
I just purchased a pair of LS50 (non-active) 3 days ago. Driving with a Marantz PM8005 and playing CDs exclusively through an NAD 516. SVS SB12-NSD subwoofer. Upgraded from Elac Debut B6 and PSB Image B15 that I rotated in and out of my system.

This is the best sound I have ever experienced in my home. My wife heard them for the first time last night and exclaimed "I never new music could sound like this!". She then proceeded to list all of the songs she wanted to hear (which I happily obliged), and then asked if I could setup a similar system for her (!).

The most pleasant surprise was the ease of subwoofer integration. I read on KEF's website that you should set your sub filter to 79Hz and slowly increase gain until the sub just starts to fill in the low frequencies. Boy did that work!! I adjusted the knob between 75-80Hz and the gain ended up being approx 1/4.

The tactile clarity of the KEFs with deep, tight bass is an incredible combo.

Thank you to all the contributors to this thread, otherwise I may have not have ever spent the money.
 
It was 6 years ago this month that I bought my LS50 anniversary model speaks. Sold them last week and bought a pair of Dynaudio Emit 20s. First time buyer of Dynaudio and these speakers sound a lot better than I expected. I did like the Kefs but I have no regrets.
 
How is the resale on the passives now that there is an active version? I've been thinking about trying a pair of used LS50s but if I don't like them will I have any difficulty moving them along?
 
I could sell my LS50's in a heartbeat. Everyone who hears them wants a pair. The key is mating them with good ancillary equipment. When well matched they are an incomparable value. I just attended a concert last night and am listening to the artist today and the balance is so accurate.
 
It took me a week or less to find a buyer and they paid my price without question. If this was dollars and sense forum I would say more. But suffice to say the used prices are pretty much the same. The reason there are so many for sale is because Kef sold so many of these. I still think the LS 50s are nice, but after a few years it's time to move on and right now the Dynaudios are sounding good to me. As much as I like these, their time will come too. (Hopefully not before my time).
 
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