KEF Owners Thread - Page 192

If you are considering LS50s for L&R, why not the center also? Move the IQ30s to surround duty and the IQ10s to backs or heights.

I prefer a 'real' center to be honest plus the shop only will sell them in pairs. Maybe a Q200c could do the job as well as it has smaller woofers more in line with the LS50? (just a thought..)

The LS50 can be put on its side and I do believe Kef Direct may sell just one. Just a thought.

If only they would ship to Belgium :'(
Edited by john bass - 2/21/13 at 6:44am

Btw,I just spoke to a KEF rep regrading the LS50's. he said for a true center, he said he would not go lower than a R200. Although, a 3rd LS50 (which they don't sell singles) would be a excellent choice for multi channel/blu ray concert listening/viewing.

That's interesting. The KEF rep at RMAF said they would be selling singles via special order.

I am very torn between going with the R100 vs the LS50. Either way I'm going with the SVS PB12-NSD
or
HSU VTF-3 MK4
I'm a Lillie concerned that the lack of front bass on the LS50 might be noticeable givin the size of my family room (17x20 listening area)

My only concern with the LS50 is the LACK of the speaker grille.

I mean with kids, in-laws, and house guests, etc.

Otherwise, I would go w/ the LS50 over the R100.

But since I can't stand speakers w/o grilles, I would have to go w/ the R100.

My living room is 18' x 20' x 12' ceiling & open to 3 sides. Yet even the little ATC SCM7 bookshelf speakers can fill the room fine when paired with subs.
Edited by AcuDefTechGuy - 2/23/13 at 6:09am

Thanks. I might be in the minority but I actually love the way they look. No grill and all. My only concern is if the rose/copper color will clash with the silver on the Q200c( if I go that route vs another LG50).

You're not in the minority.

Hey guys.....

MY SYSTEM SOUNDS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
you guys don't even know the trouble i've been through ever since i got these speakers.
My biggest problem was the channel imbalance. My left side was always louder than the right side and i tried everything to correct it
I was able to run audyssey to correct it for the most part but there was definitely something wrong and even with audyssey the image would break up.
Just yesterday i took my entire system except for my dac over to my buddies house to see if i still encountered the same problems and i didn't.
I suspected my room acoustics but the walls aren't close to the speakers and i took measurements to make sure the speakers were the same distance
from the walls.
So when i got home, i did move a desk that could possibly reflect some sound but i don't think that was the culprit.
I believe the culprit was the ridiculous amounts of cords i had bundled up between the speaker and my entertainment center. It was such a mess
I had my router and modem, computer, xbox and three surge protectors completely filled up with all the devices running ethernet cords to them
and all that was cluttered in one little spot for the most part. Could that have caused some type of interference?
Well i decided to just make everything wireless and went out and bought adapters for everything so i could move the modem and router to the other side of the
room to free up some space. I also moved the xbox and computer over to the newly moved desk and put all that power on a surge protector that is on another fuse (yes i said fuse)
FINALLY the right channel was singing.
The imbalance was causing the over all sound to be very confusing and i could never get a good center image. It always seemed to be moving all over the place.
This hole time i had been worrying like crazy that i did not have the speakers positioned right and let me tell you, I moved them around a lot over the past few weeks.

So last night i went out and had a few beers(a few pitchers) and came home and just laid down on my couch and listened to some good old flogging molly and smiled myself to sleep

Today, i was playing with the audyssey settings and found what setting i liked most and then also switched to pure direct mode a few times just for comparison. Then
I realized that i still didn't try my dac. The reason for this was because when my setup was in it's faulty stage, i couldn't hear much of a difference between the
dac in the marantz and my peachtree dac*it. Not much but a little. Basically just a little smoother.
Today, i hooked it up and my mind was blown how good these speakers sound (and the dac).
The dac made the sound soooo much more analog sounding. Way more instrument seperation. Smoother transitions with music passages that went from left to right.
The highs were ridiculously smooth and clean. the overall image was more impressive and completely coherent. This was with 320kbps files.

I just hooked my computer up to my dac and plan to listen to some high definition recordings now. Can't imagine a cleaner sound than this lol

Another question regarding using 3 of the same speaker(LS50) as a front stage. How important is the distance between them. If I were to go that route the center would be roughly 2 feet below the L/R. Does that make a difference ? Thx.

I have a new found appreciation for 24 bit music!
and Celine Dion lol.

Level is best but to be honest, it will still rock. My 202/2c is below my 205/2s and it still kicks.

Thx would you agree regardless if the center was a r200c or another LS50?

Yes but my 202/2c has the same Uni-Q as the 205s. If you are looking at LS50s why not go 5?

First 5 would pouch mw out of me budget . Second my rears are approx. 3 ft away from my listening area.Might be a little overkill.

Try posting this on the UK AVForum LS50 thread and explain your room situation. I believe Dav1dF has a relatively small cinema room with 5 LS50s and loves them. Understand the budget, but overkill can sometimes be so nice. .

Actually considering LS50s for surrounds myself and they would also be about 3' from my listening area.

You might consider Q100's for surrounds - obviously not a perfect timbre match but still in the same ball park - i.e. a Uni-Q driver - and very reasonably priced.

Thanks I was thinking of going with the HTS2001.3 for the rears. The KEF rep thinks these are a good match as well.

I'm using the HTS3001's as surrounds now with Q100's LCR across the front (still debating LS-50's across front) and they work great. I actually started with a pair of HTS2001.3's, had a chance to upgrade to the 3001's cheaply and did. But the upgrade was unnecessary - I've never heard any difference since the upgrade ; )

Since the KEF eggs have Uni-Q drivers I think there is enough of a timbre match that they are very good "budget" surrounds for any of the larger KEF Uni-Q speakers. And their imaging is really quite remarkable, another big plus for surround or back speakers.

Thx. I agree they are a very good deal.

For true cinema experience and superb audio I would do LS50 all around :)

Copied from another thread in case anyone wanted some recent comparisons. I don't have the knowledge or correct vocabulary to appropriately describe what I heard so it is what it is...


As luck would have it I listened to some KEFs today. I heard the r300, LS50s and r700. I have to admit, that uniQ is something special. The r300 and r700 use the same size uniQ so the only difference I heard was more "fullness" and more bass extension. The r300s were no slouch in the bass department either though. After listening for a few hours I asked the guy since I'd be planning on using them for music and movies which would be the better center to go with the 700s. He suggested the larger center with the r500s since movies are primarily dialogue. YMMV. That uniQ definitely didn't have a small sweet spot either. I walked around the room listening and the soundstage barely changed. Stability of the bookshelves totally depends on the stand. The towers have good outriggers and looked very stable, fwiw.

Just picked up a pair of LS50's and they sound amazing !!

Congrats. My local dealer sold their LS50s between the time that I first saw them and upped my budget to that price point. As such I never listened to them. Wish I would have, as everyone raves about them.

Thanks ! I'm really enjoying them .

Congrats!

Not disagreeing with you of course!
But for someone on a budget less expensive KEF surrounds might be the path to LS50's LCR across the front ; )

Thanks ! What great speakers !