My review: KEF LS50 vs. Wharfedale Denton 80th Anniversary

But they weren't $400 to begin with. They were 1K. I find that a whole more believable.

 

as others have mentioned the LS50s need an amp that is robust and has reserve power because their impedance drops to ~ 4ohms in critical frequency areas. dropping to 4 ohms basically doubles the required amount of current. in the 4ohm frequency regions the speakers are telling the amp-"open up the floodgates and you better have that current available" or it could sound strained". interestingly though the LS50s do not need that much power from tube amplifiers. 20 tube watts and they sound amazing.

 

I can't help but wonder if that was planned from the get go. "It's a 1k dollar speaker"

 

From what I read, these somehow unexpectedly flew under the radar which is why the prices were slashed. My understanding is the manufacturer doesn't have a history of pulling those sorts of shenanigans.

 

Just for the record: I'm not accusing anything. Just seems like a decent strategy the way it's played out

 

The absolute best I've ever heard my LS-50's sound is from the Raven Audio Nighthawk amp. Tubes, 20wpc.

 

I haven't heard the LS50's with a megawatt amp, so my ability to judge that point is limited, but I have never felt that they were especially underpowered by my Fisher tubes. They do open up considerably once the volume is turned up enough to push the amp to the next gain stage.

I don't have a sense that this was the plan. Wharfedale specifically launched this speaker as a 2012-only limited edition designed to celebrate their 80th anniversary; I doesn't seem logical that they would deliberately "cheapen" such an event. I think it just never caught on with public and not that many publications even reviewed it.

 

I agree.

Do we know anybody who actually paid $1K for these? I know I paid $499, and I'm pretty happy with them.

I pondered buying the LS50s, but they were so ugly, I was a sucker for the retro-design Dentons.

 

I gotta admit, their appearance is a turn-off for me as well. The Dentons look more appropriate for my TD-124 and Fisher X-100.

 

I do remember seeing them in the MD catalog for $1000 back in 2012, but it would appear that they didn't really move at that price.

 

I quickly did a search for reviews as they occasionally mention the price and a 2012 October review from a UK website quoted a 500-pound value. Back then, the pound was worth more but still... That wasn't 1K, AFAIK.

 

Even at around $600 USD, they knock the comparably-priced KEF Q100 & Q300s completely out of the park. Those two highly-regarded speakers just sucked all of the vintage tubey-goodness out of both my Scott 299 & 299D amps. I'm not a KEF basher, BTW...I actually quite liked my Coda 8s that I had paired with a Yamaha CA-810 integrated for several years.

Obviously I can't speak for the LS50s, since I've never owned them.

Maybe the LS50s do require more power. All I know is that so far, the Dentons seem to be a perfect match for vintage tube amps, both sound-wise and appearance-wise.

 

I have KEF LD50s in my home office where all the gear is, and which I consider my primary listening space. Hooked up to my "Speaker B" inputs is a pair of Music Hall Marimbas located in the adjacent den; these were originally $350 when released and can now be had for $200. Both sets of speakers are hooked up to subwoofers, the KEF LS50s to a Polk PSW505 and the Marimbas to an M&K 125v (which I also share with my home theater system located in the den).

I can walk back and forth between the rooms and am full satisfied with both sets of speakers. They have very different characters (and of course the rooms have very different acoustics), but I enjoy them both equally. Do I think the KEFs are worth five times as much as the Marimbas at full retail? No I do not, and I'm glad I got the LS50s here on the Forum for just $900 shipped. In terms of build and finish the LS50s are in a very different class than the Marimbas, but sonically for me they are just two different kinds of sound, and I can enjoy both equally.

 

You are kind of touching on a relevant point... Absolute resolution and detail isn't the only consideration, or even the main consideration, when evaluating performance. There are phono cartridges that are capable of extracting minute detail, and yet to my mind they are lacking in tonefulness and character. Meanwhile, I have settled on a cartridge with a conical tip (Denon DL-103), not because it extracts awesome detail, but because I find it so darn natural sounding.

That's not to say that the LS50 lacks tone! Quite the contrary. I'm merely making generalizations.

 

LS50s also have a piano-black finish. Dust these suckers just a couple of times with a micro-fiber cloth, and their condition rating immediately drops from a 10 to an 8.

 

What does that have to do with their sound?

 

Nothing, check his username...

 

The LS50's went back into the system last night, and likewise my relative assessment is evolving again.

I'm finding that the Dentons' vintage voicing enables some recordings to sound awesome - and many do! - but if a recording or mastering has its own inherent warmth, it can sound kinda flat on the Dentons. Such are the pratfalls of components that have their own coloration.

The LS50's, as widely noted, are highly revealing and very accurate... which is likely why the aforementioned Elvis CD sounded hard with the LS50's and pleasing with the Dentons.

 

Reminds me of a pair of Vienna Acoustics I had years ago - certain things seemed to sound great, others a bit too warm and fuzzy, but all had an overall sameness that was imparted by the speaker's voicing. I decided that was not the sound I preferred and have gone back towards the "warts and all" camp.

 

My original plan, as you all may recall, was to pair the Dentons with a '70s Pioneer SX-780. Once the Pioneer comes back from the shop in a week or two, it will be interesting to see how the Dentons interact with vintage solid state. I'm suspecting it could be a very pleasant pairing.

 

I dust mine weekly with a micro fibre and they're still pristine.

 

I use a feather duster.

 

Listened to Bad Company's debut album on vinyl (latest Rhino remaster by Kevin Grey) and it sounded a bit too warm, like somebody removed the high-end from the album. First time with these speakers I thought this. I put another album afterwards (Klaatu's 3:47 EST) and it sounded great!

 

Which were they? For me, VA's are the speakers that have shown all other speakers the door. With a Yamaha A-S2000 (smooth solid state) and LM 518ia, I don't care for them at all. With detailed, high powered solid state, I love them. I'd love to hear their higher end range sometime. For the 1000 or so dollars the Bach Grands fetch used, there's no other speaker I'd rather have (that I've heard yet).

They remind me of Sennheiser HD600's as a speaker (which are one of my favorite pieces of gear ever).

 

Mozarts.
The HD600's a good analogy - they sound good but definitely leave more of their mark on the sound than other headphones.