avanti1960
Well-Known Member
Nicely said.Ultimately I preferred the 1.5s tweeter. and the front ported feature. I'm in the process of discovering what I like and want from a speaker. I'm a relative novice to this hobby and I've only owned a few really good speakers. However, early on i got caught up in the hype of new products and purchased them either blindly or on the advice of people more experienced than I. I replaced a pair of Excite X12's with the KEFs, but I didn't do a real comparison. The hype and fact that the LS50s are a great speaker weighed heavy in my decision. The LS50's were the first non silk dome tweeter speaker I've heard or owned. I was blown away by the clarity and it's ability to reproduce Jazz music. I've owned them better than a year now and was content with them. As I was with the X12s actually. But, I want to experience different equipment and decided to try a pair of the well reviewed 1.5's. I've done more comparison of the two than I did the LS50's and X12s.
There is much to like about the LS50's and I could live with them and be happy. It's just that theI 1.5's reproduce Jazz equally well and classical better than the LS50s. I prefer the tonality of the 1.5's (sound more organic) in my system and agree that the LS50 can be a little sharp to my ears at times. I really became of aware of this once the 1.5's were in my system. Prior to the comparison I was aware of the sharpness but I had a habit of turning the music down with certain songs. This was really apparent while listening to Adele's new CD and in particular the song Hello. I'm listening to jazz music right now and the sax sounds wonderfully organic and pleasing to me ears.
The 1.5 boxes disappear with the music. The sound staging is spot on, and the timbre is pleasing. Listening to the music is a more enveloping and involving experience. I found myself missing them when they were out of my system and didn't feel this way about the LS50s, so that made a difficult decision easier. Speaker preference is a subjective process. I'm sure I will continue to experiment with different equipment, so nothing is here to stay. But right now I believe I have an overall system that I can enjoy and is born out of a true process of finding the sound I like.
A poster asked why everyone was buying the 1.5s and not the 2.0s. I would've liked to hear the 2.0s but ultimately didn't want to spend the additional dollars.
I keep forgetting to mention this but for me to love the LS50s they needed tube amplification. The high resolution remains but the edges are rounder. It's as if they were made for tube amps- they seem to be "pre-voiced" so that tube amps make them sound natural.