Very interesting new KEF wireless speaker

Look forward to your feedback/comparison as I've never heard the LS50W and bought the LSX purely off the reputation of the LS50W (and Darko's/What HiFi reviews)

The speakers have there own built-in DAC. I assume this would be bypassed when connecting via 3.5mm analogue connection ?? Have I got this correct and its the PC DAC that would be used?

 

On the LS50W the DAC couldn't be bypassed even when connecting via 3.5mm it was doing ADC->DAC which is kinda counterintuitive. I don't know if they changed that on the LSX.

 

The crossover, etc., is done via DSP so analog signals go through the AD/DA conversion. I presume it's the same with the LSX.

 

Music Direct says they'll be in stock in two weeks.

 

Black is available for order now....the color options are coming in a few weeks.

 

Some of the reviews are referring them as desktop monitors. I'm worried as I'm considering these for living room (of a small apartment).
Will these be good for a 200 sft or 20sq.mt room with the distance from speakers to the listening spot being 20 ft. I don't want to end up buying near field monitors. Initially I wanted go with LS50W but due to space constraints I'm considering LSX and Klipsch Sixes.

 

correction:
distance from speakers to the listening spot is 12 ft.

 

Revisiting this thread. I'm interested in using these for TV audio and for the occasional music listening in a family room. Flanking a TV on shelves. I'm just not that crazy about sound bars and these seem like a good way to incorporate stereo sound for TV and non-critical music listening with ease. Is there anybody out there using these speakers in a similar fashion?

 

Use a pair with my Samsung TV why anybody would pay $1000 for a Mono soundbar is beyond me

.

 

Again, these speakers will cut it for critical music listening, and probably outperform most legacy gear at the price anyway (and a notch or two above I'd guess).

 

How easy are they to use with the included remote? I assume there really isn't that much issue. I'd just like the whole family to be able to use them and a remote makes more sense then apps. Understandably, the apps will need to be used for setup and other operations I presume.

 

Ok, well I just purchased a used pair of the olive KEF LSX. Looking forward to getting my hands on these and trying them out. They are so versatile and convenient, I have many thoughts on how to use them. For the time being, I'll be placing them in a bedroom on a dresser top for music and TV duties

 

Considering the LSX for our living room primarily for TV audio and streaming from Spotify. How are people liking these? I'm seeing some not so great reviews of the Kef app elsewhere. A soundbar will not work so great in our setup and I like the idea these could carry double duty for music and TV easily.

 

I have two pair of LSX. One pair in the kitchen and anther in the living room for TV and occasional music listening. They functional and work great. I wish the TV remote was better designed (Raised and lighted button, better labels, and bigger) This wold make if more functional for the whole family. Yes, you can use the phone app too while watching TV but my family doesn't really want to have to use an amp on a device while watching TV. Therefore, I wish the remote was better. For use in the kitchen for music, I use Roon to control them and it works perfectly.

 

LSX are fun speakers! The KEF app for them is not terrible (but also not great). It's fairly basic, but functional.

 

I also have a pair in the kitchen. The DSP is useful to tame the boominess of having the speakers on a tile countertop. I don't use them for "critical" listening but they sound much better than the HomePod that was previously in there, and in the future could be great desk or TV speakers too. One caveat is I recently had to update the firmware (they were not working with Roon with the old firmware, for whatever reason) which is not hard to do, but I definitely have a preference for my main, vinyl-based system which doesn't ever need a software update.

 

My living room set up with the KEF LSX. Love using Roon to control them for music. However, for TV watching the speaker remote and KEF control app, not so much. The sound quality I believe is worth it most days. I'd also note that KEF advises against using the LSX with a mesh wireless network. I currently use Google Wifi (mesh) for my home and for the most part it works fine but I do believe is causes some hiccups. Mainly with keeping the LSX online and controllable via the app. So it does add a bit of annoyance every once in awhile. I usually have to power cycle the speakers by removing the power cords and closing out the app, etc. The new KEF wireless II are interesting so I'll probably keep an eye out on those. I believe it might be a bit overkill for my application here though. Hopefully KEF has worked out the mesh network and app issues for those.....

 

Putting this back up to the top!

KEF just announced a great Black Friday Sale Price on the LSX --

$799 a pair from now until the 30th!

http://kefamerica.com/2020-11/KEF-LSX-BlackFriday-Consumer-Promo-1120.pdf

 

Whoa! Thanks for sharing. Just ordered a pair in olive finish. I’ve been debating pulling the trigger for a few weeks now, and this seals the deal.