Quote:
Originally Posted by
jima4a 
Max, Thanks for that elaboration. I am copied a post below from the UK "AV Forum" by Dav1dF on the Kef R Series Thread Part 2
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"I spent a bit of time this morning listening to this new speaker.
The LS50 isn't part of any range, it's a one off product. Basically, KEF have said to their engineers to approach a new build speaker from a studio point of view rather than hi-fi, so the presentation is a little different from something like the R100's (it's closest relative to look at). The R series has a lot in common with the Blade, but not quite as much as the LS50 does....
Whilst the R100 cabinet is very good, the cabinet for the LS50 has pretty much been 'overdone'. There's more bracing, and KEF have utilised their 'constrained layer damping' to heavily reduce cabinet colourations and resonances, and have even redesigned the port to help in this respect too. The front panel is effectively double layered for extra rigidity. If you 'knock' on the cabinet as you would a door, it's solid. If you've ever done that to the Reference range, you'll know what I mean.
The front panel is shaped more like the Blade in that over the full 360 degrees around the driver, the cabinet curves back, which fully minimises reflections from what would normally be a flat front panel (on most speakers).
The sound from these is different to a normal hi-fi speaker. Speakers that studios master music on tend to be more neutral than hi-fi speakers, so you can hear more of what's going on in the mix. If you like detail, the LS50 will be preferable against the R100, and even the R300. If you like a bit of warmth and fullness to your bass, the LS50's won't be for you....
Frank Harvey Hi-Fi and
www.hifix.co.uk US"
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Thanks to you, David, and I believe Donutfan from a different posting, I think I am starting to get my head around this a bit more. I am not looking for a flawed speaker that emphasizes or de-emphasizes a certain frequency, but because of a past experience with the 801, I am wary of an ultra clinical speaker. I now believe I don't have to worry about that with the bulk of the speakers on the current list. And yes, some of my music will need to be listened to on the Ipod or Boom Box to enjoy, as I sometime have to do today.
I was reading the same post a couple days ago. Interesting stuff, so basically KEF admins that there are 2 approaches to design speakers (and they can do both).
1. pure, flat, max on details, forward
2. relaxed, easy on ears, more user friendly
and apparently you have to pick which one you want more. That just again brings me to think that you really need 2 separate systems if you listen to wide variety of music. But than again if you all about acoustic, classic, voice and mellow stuff option 1 should be all you need. And if you only like rockcy-popcy stuff all you need is option 2.
I wonder what how good would the sales be on the LS50, because it looks like they are stepping in the ID speaker world.
From that post at whathifi some1 claimed that
http://www.whathifi.com/review/spendor-sp100r2
can do both (but again, who know if it's true):
"The SP100R2 manages to sound fluid, informative and entertaining without edginess, even with poor recordings. There's enough transparency to expose ropey material, but the Spendors still manage detail with an unusual amount of politeness."
right in your price range, would be interesting to see if you can audition those...
) followed by Salk (under budget 
