They are now doing surround speakers duty in my family room 5.2.2 setup (Paradigm for all other speakers and subs). Didn't really quit, but I guess pretty close....
Always impresses me that Audio Note can make what are very basic drivers sound so good with top quality cabinets, crossovers, careful matching and attention to detail..They are basically the same drivers that JPW P1's had in the 1980's that sold for £100 a pair .
If it ain't broke don't fix it. The drivers look similar but they're not the same nor is the cabinet dimension - frequency response or power handling. The JP-1 uses Vifa drivers - the AN K uses Scanspeak. The original Audio Note K did use Vifa but was priced at $699 in 1992. I did see second-hand pairs in Hong Kong selling for $1,200 (you'd be able to get them for $1k) in ~2014
LS50 Meta owner here — not a quitter yet. I think they’re fantastic speakers for the money. The better the equipment you pair with them, the better they sound. My only problem with them is the lack of real bass. You have to pair them with a couple of subs. I would recommend them to anyone with a small room or near field setup that has less than 1500 to spend. All that said, I recently bought a 19 year old pair of Vandersteen 3a Signatures and they’re much better. They’re probably too big for my listening room but I really enjoy them. Instruments, particularly bass and piano, just sound a little more lifelike and real. To be fair, comparing a small monitor to a 4-way floorstander is not apples to apples. So yes, I moved on from the Metas but will pop them into my system when the mood strikes. At least until I sell all my speakers for the next upgrade. ;-).
Yes - the current Audio Note K is considerably better than the KEF LS-50. Having owned the KEF LS-50 and the Audio Note AX-Two side by side for four years moving the KEF LS-50 on for the AN K was an easy decision - I kept the AX Two as well. I did like the KEF and reviewed the speakers for dagogo.com But in the end, I was moved more by the other two where the LS-50 sounded more technical than involving. The way I score them. KEF LS-50 2 Way Standmount speakers $1,499 Where the score should place $1,401 - $2,000 (Needs a score of 5.5 – 5.9 to be recommended) Qualities Bass........................................................ 5 Midrange 200hz to 3khz ...................... 5 (*2) High Frequency 3khz up .......................5.5 Dynamics (Macro)..................................5.5 Dynamics (Micro/Midi)......................... 5 Attack...................................................... 6 Decay...................................................... 5 Resolution.............................................. 5 (*3) Imaging ................................................. .8 Soundstage.............................................. 7.5 Tonal Quality.......................................... 5 (*4) Cohesiveness .......................................... 7.5 (*2) Gestalt..................................................... 5.5 (*5) Total Rating: 75.5/13 = 5.8 Rating with subjective personal modifier(*): 135/24 = 5.6 Kef LS-50 falls within the expected price rating (5.5 – 5.9) offering good value for the money Overall Value(Bang for Buck) Score: 8.5 (Recommended) Audio Note AX Two 2-way Standmount speakers ($1,000) Where the score should place: $901 - $1400 (5.0 -5.4) Qualities Bass..................................................... 5 Midrange 200hz to 3khz.................... 6.5 (*2) High Frequency 3khz up.................... 6 Dynamics (Macro) ............................. 5 Dynamics (Micro/Midi) .................... 6 Attack ................................................ 5 Decay .................................................. 6 Resolution .......................................... 6.5 (*3) Imaging .............................................. 7 Soundstage ......................................... 7.5 Tonal Quality ..................................... 6.5 (*4) Cohesiveness ..................................... 7.5 (*2) Gestalt .............................................. 6.5 (*5) Total Rating: 81/13 = 6.2 Rating with subjective personal modifier(*): 153.5/24 = 6.4 This speaker is scoring near the top of the $2,001 - $3,000 (60 - 64) price tier, two levels above its price class. Overall Value(Bang for Buck) Score: 10 (Superb Value)
Switched from the kef ls50 metas to the jbl Hdi 3800 floorstanders. The kefs just didn’t hit the spot for rock/heavier music. The jbl plays everything good.
“Quitters” after fighting the good fight It was been the most challenging speaker that I had in the last 15 years. The Monitor Audio Studio 15 were the previous and that fight was lost... but then perhaps the room was not suitable to them. After finding the extreme importance of speaker cables matching to allow a proper in-room set-up (and amplification choice) I find that the LS50’s are really wonderful (again, with the right amplifier and cables) but in the end can’t deliver on all genres of music, and that is the main reason (fir me) that for me they couldn’t be my only speakers. I have decided not to sell them (just refused a couple of offers for the selling price) and become part of my “Naim system”. The LS50 could easily be the worst speakers in the world (a feeling also enhanced by all the hype about them) if your amplifier, cables and room set-up don’t gel together... but this can be true with the majority of speakers. They can sound flat, thin, hard on the treble, bass less, shouty, with no depth, etc. For example: Exchanging the LS50’s for the Totem Arro reveals the easy going nature of the Arro’s, very helpful in the room positioning, playing almost great from the start and responding clearly to the boundary distances and cables, making this a much more straightforward process. The Kef’s quality and engineering is truly superb at this price point and it is miles away from one or two drivers on a MDF box, like some price point rivals. It is clear that this is a real special product, one that deserves all the effort. That said, I can understand if someone fells for a more universal solution, one with similar sound quality and satisfying abilities. Models from Dali, Triangle, Wharfedale, Dynaudio are excellent contenders - in fact I am very curious about the Dali middle range bookshelfs... but that’s another story. Note: I have not addressed the importance of the speaker stands because I have always used my trusty (and expensive) Target R4, with the rubber/foam discs that came with the LS50’s, so everything’s good on that end.
I forgot to give the reason why I mostly give up on using ls50 as main speakers. Main reason: Not as clean sounding as my Paradigm speakers. It is very apparent when comparing LS50 with my other Paradigm speakers in my large living room, playing music in a comfortable loudness. No, I don't think this can be solved by swapping wire, amp, position, etc. This is the inherent DNA of the ls50, where it has much higher distortions below 200hz. This is from soundstage.com: Here is the measurements of my cheapest Paradigm Speaker at around $1K: My more expensive Paradigm at around $2.5K: I am sensitive to distortions. Since you still like it, I really wonder how sensitive you are to distortions. If you don't mind, would you please check out the Klippel distortion tests (two-tone 70hz 800hz tests) as listed at the bottom of this web page? Hearing sensitivity tests – PDXPage I am curious how sensitive you are. It would be great of you can tell us your results. Thanks!
Anybody worried about the graphs pdxway just posted, about the distortion below 200hz that he's worried about, might want to read this article: How Much Distortion Can We Hear With Music? It's a real-world test done with 8 listeners, and the results are pretty interesting.
Yeah, based on a certain audio chain with unknown full chain in unknown room..... It is based on using this: Pair of wide-range loudspeakers (Axiom M80ti's) operating with an Axiom EP600 subwoofer So, basically the results are showing that, just for that specific chain itself, the setup is not clean enough to let people sense lower distortions. Definitely not representative for "All" setups in all room....
I mean, you're talking about opinions. Just because you read one person's perspective doesn't mean it will be "true" for you - we're not talking about facts. For some people, the LS-50 is their favorite speaker. For some, it's unlistenable. Both are right.
BTW, you are correct that in real world speakers setup on a room, sensing distortions is harder, as compare to using a headphones chain. For the Klippel real music distortions tests, I did much better with headphones than with speakers chain in my living room. I was able to do -54db with headphone, but with real speakers in living room, I could get -27db only after 2 tries..... The test is Klippel distortion tests, full range speaker with stimulus “Music T. Chapman” See Hearing sensitivity tests – PDXPage for my headphones and speakers results and link for the test. Anyway, -27db means I can sense distortions above 4.47% in a real speaker setup in my living room. Still better than the ~10% distortions of the LS50 from 100hz down.....
I bought a pair of LS50 Metas earlier this year. They're not here any more. They were the first new speakers I've bought in decades. I bought them from a local dealer because I like to support my local guys. I loved the look of them and they fit in with my room size. But, I got seduced by all the positive reviews. I kept them here for a few months to give them a proper break-in before reaching any conclusions. However, I now wish I had bought them online for an easier return. I ended up selling them on CL to a very happy new owner. They never came to life for me. Most of this is my own fault according to all the things that people cite as reasons for a quality result. One of the first things I noticed was the feeling that familiar music seemed supressed and receded into the background a bit. It kept happening with all sorts of music. They imaged incredibly well but that recessed sound kept bugging me. The parts of songs that would excite me previously were missing something. I finally gave up on them. Living on a fixed income is tough enough but losing a few hundred dollars made the whole thing even more painful.
In my main system, I "quit" my LS50s for KEF R3s, which sound a lot like the LS50s but with even greater clarity and more bass. I still (very happily) use the LS50s in a secondary system. Great speakers for the money.
As I approach one year with these speakers (LS50 Metas) I am amazed I am approaching 1 year with a speaker! I love them, I really do. Adding a quality subwoofer only solidified my feelings that I've found the speaker I can happily live with for years to come. And that's rare for me. In my room, etc etc, they are a delight to listen to every single day. Maybe the only "complaint" I have is they are very revealing of crappy recordings! I haven't heard a slew of speakers at their price range, or above and really have no desire to.
Haha, I just realized the article actually was about noise tests and not harmonic distortions tests.... Quote from the last paragraph: "The tests done in this experiment are essentially noise tests; things such as mechanical resonances and port noises that are not harmonically related to a specific fundamental contained in the music would be examples of noise distortion. Other types of distortion such as Harmonic Distortion and Intermodulation Distortion have a direct relationship to a frequency being reproduced as part of the music. These types of distortion may be harder to detect than straight noise distortion; a subject for a future round of experiments." 16 years later, they still don't have an article about harmonic distortion test results...I guess not easy to use a third pair of speaker and sub to simulate high distortions (+10% harmonics distortions) for a wide range of frequencies (like from 100 hz down)? Anyway, thanks for the interesting link. But, likely not relevant to the main issue (not as clean sounding) I observed with LS50.
How do you like the Denton’s? I am looking to maybe getting a pair. Are they hard to drive? How much juice do you need to drive them?
I disagree. They are NOT stunning. They are fairly good, look great and seem like they are expensive, image well and seem decent. Stunning.....hell no. I disagree about PROPER amp and source also. That is just the excuse people give to anyone that does not agree they are great. They do not have fantastic frequency response overall. They rise a LOT between 2-6 khz and that makes them sound edgy Better amps and sources do not compensate for shortcomings of a speaker. ><img src="https://i.ibb.co/fNFtWjG/KEF-LS50-Bookshelf-Speaker-CEA-2034-spinorama-Audio-Measurements.png" alt="KEF-LS50-Bookshelf-Speaker-CEA-2034-spinorama-Audio-Measurements" border="0" /></a>
[image.jpg](Image — Postimages ) I just hooked my old ls50s to my Lyngdorf tdai 3400 in front of my revel 226bes, I set the crossover at 95 hz, used my rme dac to dial down the treble response at 2100 hz. They compared very favorable to the much more expensive revels.
A long running thread just got a bit longer. Was interested to read the entire thread and concur with all the sentiments. They may be technically advanced but the LS50 mk1 does not work for me. I have not tried the later meta and wireless versions. Yes they are not sensitive but I have a Musical Fidelity M3i which should have enough umph. They just sound compressed. Depressed even .. Maybe a good vinyl source with maximum DR and a really beefy power plant might help - but why bother? So I just switched back in some old Focal JMLab Meganes which cost me almost nothing ( here in France ) and joys of joys - the music and I can breathe again. They do have those quite famous tweeters. Moral perhaps is that new technology is only better if done very well. And that normally equates to top $ - $5000 plus I suspect. It takes a very lot to beat the best old Fenders and Gibsons from the 50s/60s - if they can even be matched at all. And speakers are acoustic instruments in the end.
I will be finding out in a couple days what "needs more power" means as far as my Metas are concerned. I'm going from an Audiolab 6000A @50 watts/channel to a Rega Elicit MK5 @105 watts/channel. That should open them up a bit.
I had this combo (with an Elicit-R), and loved them. With the right recordings they gave holographic imaging, laser detail, and a neutral-warm tone. Listen to somethin like "Angel" by Massive Attack or the Amused to Death album and see what I mean.
