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Does anyone have experience with the Kef LS50?
Aug 8, 2015 at 5:46 PM Post #211 of 267
I own a pair of LS50's. Their performance to price ratio is what makes them special to me. Owning a number of more pricier designs gave me only marginally better performance in comparison. Rewarded by quality amplification and source material.... They're a steal.
 
Aug 9, 2015 at 1:16 PM Post #212 of 267
coli said:
  KEF LS50 is OK, the floorstander version from KEF are much better bang for the bucks, easier on the amp too.
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Definitely agree. The LS50 does have some magic unique to them, but personally I think they need to be paired with a good sub and with a DSP with bass/subwoofer management to lower the distortion on the LS50s that can cause them to sound a bit edgy. I had good results with them crossed over at 90/100Hz using my AVR and a dedicated power amp.
 
Nov 7, 2015 at 10:53 PM Post #214 of 267
Recently purchased a pair of these. These things are just magical.
 
Running them in a nearfield desktop setup and I have never heard better sound coming out of a pair of speakers. I have never really experienced high-end speakers in the past (best I had tried before was a pair of $250 Klipsch bookshelf speakers). These speakers have stepped me up to the sound quality that I get (and even better) than the high-end headphones that I have.
 
While they are pretty great speakers alone, I have added in a SVS SB-1000 sealed subwoofer crossed over at 50hz so that it can fill out the lower end of the speakers and the sub pairs amazingly. I can pretty much forget the positioning of the speakers and hear the music coming in from all around me. The soundstage is really impressive.
 
Might just be my best audio purchase I've ever made.
 
Nov 8, 2015 at 7:11 AM Post #215 of 267
pervysage said:
  Recently purchased a pair of these. These things are just magical.
 
Running them in a nearfield desktop setup and I have never heard better sound coming out of a pair of speakers. I have never really experienced high-end speakers in the past (best I had tried before was a pair of $250 Klipsch bookshelf speakers). These speakers have stepped me up to the sound quality that I get (and even better) than the high-end headphones that I have.
 
While they are pretty great speakers alone, I have added in a SVS SB-1000 sealed subwoofer crossed over at 50hz so that it can fill out the lower end of the speakers and the sub pairs amazingly. I can pretty much forget the positioning of the speakers and hear the music coming in from all around me. The soundstage is really impressive.
 
Might just be my best audio purchase I've ever made.
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Pretty much the same experience I have had with my own LS50 and SVS SB12-NSD.
 
Nov 13, 2015 at 1:14 PM Post #216 of 267
I listen nearfield as well and I've likened it to listening to the world's best headphones as well.  I run dual subs that cross over @ 80Hz and with my treated room the sound is unbelievable.  They're one of the best values in HiFi for the third year running.
 
Bill
 
Nov 18, 2015 at 10:32 PM Post #217 of 267
pervysage said:
  Recently purchased a pair of these. These things are just magical.
 
Running them in a nearfield desktop setup and I have never heard better sound coming out of a pair of speakers. I have never really experienced high-end speakers in the past (best I had tried before was a pair of $250 Klipsch bookshelf speakers). These speakers have stepped me up to the sound quality that I get (and even better) than the high-end headphones that I have.
 
While they are pretty great speakers alone, I have added in a SVS SB-1000 sealed subwoofer crossed over at 50hz so that it can fill out the lower end of the speakers and the sub pairs amazingly. I can pretty much forget the positioning of the speakers and hear the music coming in from all around me. The soundstage is really impressive.
 
Might just be my best audio purchase I've ever made.
Click to expand...

 
The LS50 is designed such that the last 2 octaves for sound reproduction needs to be taken up by a more capable sub. According to KEF's own white paper on their design of the LS50, roll off starts at 100Hz. 
 
KEF's own specs say that harmonic distortion of less than 0.4% is only applicable at 175Hz and above. 
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When applying a crossover frequency of 50Hz from the LS50 to the sub the following things should be checked out:
(a) the magnitude loss of output;
(b) distortion value; and
(c) phase angle.
 
Nov 25, 2015 at 2:19 AM Post #218 of 267
*sigh* Just noticed that KEF has limited edition colors available at the moment. Seriously contemplating selling my current LS50's and switching to the matte black/blue driver LS50's (blue is my favorite color). But my brain is telling me to shut up and not waste money on a darn speaker color change 
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Nov 25, 2015 at 8:35 AM Post #219 of 267
If you intrinsically like how the speaker sounds and performs. Keep them.

This is coming from the guy who, like you, also appreciates the aesthetics as much as the performance.

I no longer own the LS50's but have no problem recommending them. In this hobby... It can drive you crazy the options and undermining we do to ourselves. If you like their sound. Keep them.:):)
 
Nov 26, 2015 at 10:51 PM Post #221 of 267
jpbas1 said:
If you intrinsically like how the speaker sounds and performs. Keep them.

This is coming from the guy who, like you, also appreciates the aesthetics as much as the performance.

I no longer own the LS50's but have no problem recommending them. In this hobby... It can drive you crazy the options and undermining we do to ourselves. If you like their sound. Keep them.
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jologskyblues said:
  The red and black one looks really nice. I'm tempted to change my LS50 to these but no.
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Most definitely keeping the LS50's. Was mulling over swapping over to the black/blue but cooler heads have prevailed and I figured it would be stupid to throw away potentially hundreds of dollars for a color change. The black and rose gold are by no means bad looking anyways... in fact, they are more classy looking and probably better suited for my room setup anyways. I just really have a thing for blue 
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Only reason I was kind of bummed was because it was only a week after I acquired my LS50's that I found out they were going to have some limited edition colors. 
 
Dec 2, 2015 at 4:57 PM Post #223 of 267
Hey guys. I wasn't really sure where to put this because I am very new to headfi. A friend of mine has a lot of stereo equipment he was getting rid of. He gave me the LS50 speakers as a gift for a birthday of mine. He also gave me a ALO Continental Amp/Dac. I don't really listen to anything other then my AK240, what would I need in order to set up these speakers to be able to play it? Will this ALO Continental do anything for me or will I need to go buy something. I don't have the biggest budget cause i'm a university student so any help would be much appreciated!
 
Dec 2, 2015 at 5:35 PM Post #224 of 267
ra66 said:
  Hey guys. I wasn't really sure where to put this because I am very new to headfi. A friend of mine has a lot of stereo equipment he was getting rid of. He gave me the LS50 speakers as a gift for a birthday of mine. He also gave me a ALO Continental Amp/Dac. I don't really listen to anything other then my AK240, what would I need in order to set up these speakers to be able to play it? Will this ALO Continental do anything for me or will I need to go buy something. I don't have the biggest budget cause i'm a university student so any help would be much appreciated!
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Your friend GAVE you a pair of KEF LS50's  ANNNND the CDM? What is your friends names & address please ?
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Anyways, the CDM is an amp/DAC, so you can use it with your AK240. You will need a proper amp, DAC & Source to drive the KEF's though (the AK240 could be the source & DAC though) if your looking for an amplifier on a budget I would check out Peachtree's gear, I used a 125 watt amp from them and it drove the KEF's very well.
 
Dec 2, 2015 at 5:58 PM Post #225 of 267
goldendarko said:
Your friend GAVE you a pair of KEF LS50's  ANNNND the CDM? What is your friends names & address please ?:D

Anyways, the CDM is an amp/DAC, so you can use it with your AK240. You will need a proper amp, DAC & Source to drive the KEF's though (the AK240 could be the source & DAC though) if your looking for an amplifier on a budget I would check out Peachtree's gear, I used a 125 watt amp from them and it drove the KEF's very well.
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Thanks so much for the help! I'm very new to the whole hi-fi speaker world. To say I'm lucky to be getting this good of a system to start, would be an understatement!
 
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