KEF LS50W

The thoughts that I have now is. will this new gear live on to become legacy gear?

 

I can absolutely vouch for that. Before buying them I was worried they might spoil my analogue set up with a turntable and a nice tube phonostage by digitizing everything to 24/196.

I shouldn’t’ have. They absolutely transparent to my vinyl. But the main advantage they give, I think, is the DSP getting rid of distortion, which is for all intents and purposes practically unavoidable with any passive speakers, no matter how expensive.

 

Please share more details of your experience using a tube phono preamp with the LS50W. Do you notice a difference vs. ss phono preamps? I wonder if the LS50W’s DAC can replicate incoming tube sound. Thanks.

 

Well, with these speakers I’m using a Manley Chinook, which I believe is an excellent preamp well above it’s price range. I don’t use SS preamps and never have. My systems tend to be fully tube based.

This is the reason I was worried that these D-class amp based digital speakers would somehow mar my purely analogue set-up. How wrong I was.... Being digital (with an internal DAC), they sound analogue-like (whatever that may mean) at least to my ear. The sound is 3-D, rich, dynamic, with instruments and voices clearly defined in space.

And like I said, they’re fully transparent to my tube based vinyl rig, subtracting nothing but adding the following advantages:

Great microdynamics at all volumes (great detail and separation)

Great bass at low volumes (I guess they have some sort of compensation for low level listening)

No distortion at all listenable levels thanks to the DSP

The other great advantage is you can use them in difficult rooms where otherwise you may experience booming bass or some other problems. These problems can be easily eliminated and adjusted via the internal DSP from y0u mobile phone or else.

 

These are definitely on my short list too. I like the idea of active and powered speakers with DSP in my 12x13x9 room. Wonder how these would compare to the new Elac Navis powered monitors. Is there an upgrade path with these (LS50W) such as a better DAC or is that not possible?

 

You can use a different DAC if you connect via the RCA inputs on the LS50W. But it’ll still go through the 24/192 digitizer (if that matters to you). I found it to be completely transparent.

 

The 219 and Cornwalls provided more than enough volume. Impact was what lacked. Still beautiful sound, but not as textured or palpable as my current arrangement.

 

Great review. With vintage tube power amps costing a fair amount of money plus buying the best replacement power tubes, a tube preamp and the powered LS50W could replace the tube power amp and satisfy many audiophiles.

 

I’m not sure here regarding distortion etc. It depends how the active curcuit looks like. Using special amps to lower distortion is not new and was used in eg in the Audio Pro A4-14 speakers long time ago (Ace bass). Also passive components may be used to lower distortion is the drivers. This is not directly applicable in the DSP but how the output impedance is adapted to the driver in question. Phase distortion can be fixed in the filters but the ”problem” of phase in filters is really not an issue in most cases. Absolute phase is audible in certain circumatances but that is another topic.

 

Will have a new phono this week. Will report back with my thoughts on spinning records through the LS50w’s.

 

Getting the LS50w set to try out against a Cronus Magnum I and Waferdale 10.7, and Totem Arros.
I know not exactly apples to apples comparison. But your initial post sparked me to try them out.

mdr

 

with the DSP dialed in properly, i anticipate the LS50W’s are going to get the job done. I’m glad my post sparked your interest, I’m telling you they are great.

In other news, my phono arrived today. Will be spinning some records in a bit..

 

What phono preamp did you get? Please report your experience with your new phono preamp and the LS50W’s. Thanks.

 

Schiit Mani. Heavily relied on the reviews. A wonderful phono within it’s price bracket, as long as you get no RFI. I have absolutely no RFI here.. Dead silent when nothing’s spinning, and when it is? ...

The detailed signal chain is..

VPI Classic 2 w/Soundsmith Zephyr 2 cart
—> blue jeans rca’s
Schiit Mani running at 42
—> audio quest cinnamon rca’s
LS50w’s

Very pleased. Sounds every bit as analogue as my previous setup. The LS50w’s truly excel. The low end out of the chain is rather impressive. A good textural analogue sound. Great imagining..

 

I recently upgraded my phono stage from the Schiit Mani as well. Will post my thoughts on how they sound on the LS50W if you are interested

 

Please do so. Thanks

 

Well, I set up the LS50Ws in my room, and they sounded like crap. Boxy & Boomy.
I played with the settings until I could get them to sound somewhat decent. I decide to play some Lou Reed loud (how else do you play Lou?), went to bed and figured I’d send them back.

After another long day playing with the settings, adding a sub , removing the sub, moving them onto stands, putting them back on the table under the tv, leaving them playing while I went out shopping for sustenance.
They finally started sounding good.
Watched some Star Trek loud, went to bed.

Woke up today to a totally different speaker. More cohesive, better soundstage, tonally much better.

Best of all I’ll be selling the Cronus Magnum, Wharfedale 10.7, and the Totem Arrros.

I might still return them, to get the white ones (depending on the wife’s input), but DAMN they are really excellent, can’t wait till they have 100 or more hours on them.

I’m tempted to put them against my main system, Primaluna dialogue integrated and Focal 1008be2, but I’m scared.

I’ve always wanted to try active crossover speakers with a separate amps on each driver, there definitely something to be said for this approach.

YMMV

mdr

 

Read the first sentence and know by the end of the post, if you did the necessary, the tables would turn. Dial in the DSP it really is accurately engineered in my experience and I’m picky and quick to judge usually..

Keep breaking them in. These speakers really have good texture. Listened to my nirvana unplugged record this morning through them. Very nice. Great recording for assessment.

I actually think they will compete with the primaluna and focals easily when dialed right.

 

Yea, I’ll be putting them side by side next weekend. It’ll be interesting, though I’m kind of worried I might like the KEF’s more .
They certainly are a lot of fun to listen to, was really tapping my feet to Eddie Harris “compared to what” today.

Did you get your turntable set up yet?

mdr

 

Yes I did. Discussed just a few posts above

 

Early impressions: the LS50W is definitely transparent to the analog signals fed through RCA despite the AD/DA conversions. The change in soundstage, body, and detail with different phono stages isn’t subtle.

The hype on the LS50W is real, they are really good for what they are. That said, I went with my Brother last week to audition a pair of ATC SCM19 actives and they blow the LS50W away in terms of expansive sound staging and detail, though they were a little too neutral and “clinical” to my tastes.

 

I’d like to hear some ATC’s. The SCM19’s are many times the cost of the Ls50w’s said and done so we need to bare that in mind of course. We still need an amplifier preamp and DAC. I was able to attain my ls50w’s For $2k brand new and shipped. So hard to even come close to this for the value after all.

 

You are right of course, he KEFs are really good value for what they give. I’m enjoying them as I type this actually, and marveling at what I was missing with my old phono stage. THe fact that changes in the source result in such a clear sonic difference confirms that the LS50W is essentially transparent

 

Well I have joined this club and have been listening to the LS50Ws since Monday.

Whew. This is hard for me to process. I rank myself as pretty uncommitted to audiophilia. I use cheap speaker wires, for instance, and have been using a solidly mid-fi vintage system over that past several years: Marantz 4400, Empire 598iii with Stanton 681eee (cheap replacement stylus, though), and KEF 104/2s. This is "normal good sound" to me and the world of the familiar into which the LS50Ws are entering.

Various factors make my circumstances less than ideal. I'm in a long room (maybe 14' by 26', with the speakers at one end and the listening position about midway), with a low ceiling, totally untreated, with a bunch of alcoves, windows, hardwood floors, no rugs, etc. I have been streaming with the usual difficulties making it work, and also using a thrift-store Sony ES player for CDs, SACDs, etc., and just yesterday added a Schiit Mani so I could listen to records. Of course I have dialed in the DSP settings in the app, though the speakers are still too low, sitting on Isoacoustics Aperta stands on low boxes, about 18" high.

Initial impressions: these things are very refined and musical, excellent with small-ensemble jazz (and strong with rock and roll, too). I have been a bit disappointed with large-scale classical music--the 104/2s, as you might expect, seemed to move the sound throughout the room better.

Until today. Through the Mani (with gain set at 42 dB), I am right now listening to Mahler's 5th, London ffrr, Solti/Chicago. Damn, these speakers are filling this big, awkward room. The bass is almost too much from these little things, a little smudgy and out of control. How is that possible?!? I think the answer might lie with the Mani, which is said to have a pronounced bass end, coupled with the London/Decca recording, known for big bass (and big everything else).

Still, the sound is impressive. I guess break-in is still occurring, which for me also means my ears are also breaking in as I familiarize myself with them. I will probably go back to the 104/2s and Marantz (the oscilloscope is missed) for this room. The LS50sWs belong in my office anyway. I'm not sold yet on the Mani; maybe the Marantz phono section is better? Or maybe I'm just not used to the Mani yet. Lots of factors going into this sound.

Anyway, just thought I'd offer my mixed-up feelings about these things. It's a totally different experience from my vintage set-up, that's for sure, and they do some things very much better than it.

 

The mani does in fact present a good bit of low end. Have you eq’d the bass down on the ls50w’s for the room yet? Assuming you have but just checking. Almost smeary bass could be addressed by the ‘livliness’ control, space from the rear wall control, and the bass control.