Official Kef LS50 owners thread

johnvb said:

I have hung two 4" x 2' x 4' absorption panels on the ceiling, at the first reflect points. It wasn't easy to do, and helped a little but not earth shattering. The biggest results was when the wife walked in, took a look at them, and screamed W...T...F...! :lmao:

Click to expand...

That's just perfect! Good story!

4963, here: www.atsacoustics.com

Very good prices and nice options. There are more expensive options.

Ok, I'm thinking three 4x2 foot panels hung from tracks. Using tracks I'm thinking that I could reduce the number of holes. Let's see, my wife is heading to Florida to see her parents in a couple of weeks... I'll have to take away the kids cell phones for a couple of days!

Fat Fingers said:

That's just perfect! Good story!

4963, here: www.atsacoustics.com

Very good prices and nice options. There are more expensive options.

Ok, I'm thinking three 4x2 foot panels hung from tracks. Using tracks I'm thinking that I could reduce the number of holes. Let's see, my wife is heading to Florida to see her parents in a couple of weeks... I'll have to take away the kids cell phones for a couple of days!

Click to expand...

FYI, if your speakers are the same height as your ears, the location of the panels will be at the half way point in between. A laser level with a perpendicular laser, placed on the floor, works well for this. If not, to determine where you should hang them, you can use this mathematical equation (complements of the Real Traps web site). It can be applied to the sidewalls, or ceilings:



http://realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm

When I installed mine, I wanted the mounting points to hit at the ceiling joist locations to be able to screw into the wood behind the drywall. Which of course didn't totally cooperate with where the panels should go. Ended up with some mounts on the short sides of the panels, some on the long sides. And the panels slightly more angled towards each other than originally planned. But still worked out fine.

I mounted mine flush up against the wall with metal L brackets, using ladders and those expandable "helper" poles used for drywall installation. The panels are diy, in plywood frames, so it was easy to just screw into the sides of them. But if you can handle mounting the panels to hang a little lower, another option would be using small chains and hooks (hang one end, then move the ladder and hang the other).

Fat finger. Why did you put sound treatment slightly behind your LP near where lamp is?

Thanks FF for link to spund panels.

Shkumar - when I did it I wasn't even sure why but after it really quieted down on my left which made me think that there was a lot of crap bouncing around over there!

Ok i'm on page 53, are most of you LS50 owners first time uniQ owners or have some of you moved from the Q series or are replacing old uniQ designs? I wonder how they compare to my R105/3 but don't want to bother a dealer when I have no intention of buying a pair.

I own Q700/600c/300 setup in the family room, the last model being the closest of the bunch to the LS50 in size. In terms of sound, they're a very distant cousin to the LS50. While they go deeper, the bass isn't as totally accurate and in every other aspect they get trounced.

Bill


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I auditioned Q300 and R300 with LS50. Q300 is not in the ball park. R300 is similar. It does have more bass. But the accuracy is just not there. It does have quantity but not quality. R300 feels like another speaker while ls50 makes you feel that you are actually in front of the singer or the guitarist. So if you need to play your speakers at high volume go for R300 as ls50s don't go that high volume. But if you can enjoy music a low volumes, there is no comparison. Go for ls50.

shkumar4963 said:

I auditioned Q300 and R300 with LS50. Q300 is not in the ball park. R300 is similar. It does have more bass. But the accuracy is just not there. It does have quantity but not quality. R300 feels like another speaker while ls50 makes you feel that you are actually in front of the singer or the guitarist. So if you need to play your speakers at high volume go for R300 as ls50s don't go that high volume. But if you can enjoy music a low volumes, there is no comparison. Go for ls50.

Click to expand...

Agreed, for near field listening LS50's are fantastic

Thanks for the quick and helpful reply's.I remember my first exposure to kef's uniQ an was so amazed I bought the pair first listen, I thought that was happening on a mass scale with the LS50's obviously something more is going on. They sound like real world beaters but I think i'll stick with my floorstanders. has anyone tried replacing the heads of their 105's or 107's with the LS50's and bi-amping? The 107's with LS50 heads hmmm.

Odd request - those that love the LS50 sound - what headphones do you find similar?

I loved the AKG K712 Pro but found them uncomfortable after an album or so. I switched temporarily to a Sennheiser HD650s and find them far too polite.

Initially only considering the Oppo PM-2 or Audeze EL-8 but after hearing the PM-1 I don't have much hope that the PM-2 will sound different enough and after the lukewarm reception owners of production EL-8s have given I'm wondering if they're even worth the audition.

The Sennheiser HD700 has gotten on my radar based on what some owners of it have to see with regards to their AKG K712s from a sound standpoint and they're pretty much guaranteed to be more comfortable.

What cans do you have that you feel offer a similar sonic presentation to our beloved LS50s?

Bill


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Anyone running a Rega Elex R with their LS50's? I use a Brio R currently. i listened to the Elex R and Brio R at a dealer today and man I really like the Elex R. I think it's a big step up from the Brio R. Unfortunately the speakers were Rega not the LS50s. The source were essentially the same.

Tone_Boss said:

Agreed, for near field listening LS50's are fantastic

Click to expand...

[emoji106]

Tone_Boss said:

Agreed, for near field listening LS50's are fantastic

Click to expand...

I recently added an iFi iTube on my Crown XLS / LS50 system, between DAC and preamp. Nice improvement. It includes some switchable 3D processing circuitry, for speakers, nearfield, or not (my setup is a 7' equal triangle). I know I'm changing the sound of the original recording, but really liking the effect so far.

It was designed for nearfield apps, such as PC speakers, etc. or small room listening setups.

Doesn't effect the imaging or transparency, but gives the soundstage more of a "di-pole" sound. Still breaking it in, and trying on all my material, have'nt found anything really offensive sounding yet.

So you're using a ifI tube buffer? Saturday I went to a DAC party where we listened to several systems with DAC's. There was a Cary Audio sytem there with Cary DMC-600SE Music Center with built in DAC that can be used as a tube DAC or SS DAC. A Cary SL-100 PREAMPLIFIER, and a Cary CAD-120S MKII AMPLIFIER. And get this.....all that was driving a pair of LS50's. I couldnt help but notice the tweeter. It had a very distinct metallic sound to it....and that with the tube amp and tube DAC!

You would of thought that would of been a great match up, although I'm not familiar with the Cary sound. The LS50s have an upper midrange / lower treble bump, that can get pronounced and fatiguing with the wrong setup.

When I was driving mine with the Aragon 8008, which I thought was a warm, or at least, neutral sounding amp, I fought that problem myself. Constantly changing the toe-in, trying to get the best balance.

With the amps in the setup I have now, the speakers are toed-in at 45 degrees, right at me. Nothing but a gorgeous sound stage.

Of course your idea of metallic may be someone else's paradise, we get use to what we like.

slippers-on said:

So you're using a ifI tube buffer? Saturday I went to a DAC party where we listened to several systems with DAC's. There was a Cary Audio sytem there with Cary DMC-600SE Music Center with built in DAC that can be used as a tube DAC or SS DAC. A Cary SL-100 PREAMPLIFIER, and a Cary CAD-120S MKII AMPLIFIER. And get this.....all that was driving a pair of LS50's. I couldnt help but notice the tweeter. It had a very distinct metallic sound to it....and that with the tube amp and tube DAC!

Click to expand...

The metallic signature is the reason that i sold my LS50`s, for me it interfered with the music. Amps used, AR Reference 150, LM501IA and LM518IA.

To my ears, the tweeter lacked finesse....didn't have any sort of delicate manner....and that was with a Cary tube amp and Cary tube DAC.

Guess you won't be buying any then.

I wish Stereophile hadn't proclaimed this speaker as one of the best of the best. It pretty much painted a big bullseye on it's back.

A solid class B rating, with additional cavets, would of been more appropriate. I stil would of bought (and kept) my pair.

Naw....I love what I have. But that's not to say the LS50's are horrible. We like different things. If I decided to get new speakers. I would move up in what I have now. Canton Reference is what I would get...does all music righteous! well balanced speaker...and a ceramic tweeter. I think they should rework the tweeter in the LS50 and come out with a LS50.2

But as I said....we all hear differently.