Official Kef LS50 owners thread

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shkumar4963:
Glad I can possibly help as others have. The attached photos below show my setup. First one is blurry but gives the best perspective of the room. My listening position is in the middle of the gray couch at bottom left of first pic (in front of the laptop). The KEFs are all black looking because I have custom covers attached. More on that later.

Yes, the stands are fugly.

In the second pic you can see my original positioning (example of left side speaker, down low on the audio cabinet and that I have them on those foam acoustic isolator pads, cant remember the name right now. Those things help a great deal in reducing vibration coming from speaker into cabinet/floor or whatever. Since I have my turntable on the same cabinet, it also has vibrapods underneath it. You cant see them. But together, there is very little detectable vibration coming into the table (an AR 'The Turntable'). Vinyl is my primary source.

Third shot is a close-up of custom 3d printed grill and speaker on foam pad on stand.

Fourth shot is just another view of both on stands up high and much clearer. You can see my sub location (underneath right stand). It is also on a special foam pad to reduce transfer of vibs into hardwood floor. House is old and on pier and beam foundation so the floor was muddying things up a bit.

Definitely, my setup is not ideal. I am still trying to get things better and have useable space. My limiting factor is the narrow dimension of the room makes me HAVE to put the speakers up close to the wall, since they must be laterally spaced a certain amount because of TV and french-door location; in other words, for the TV sound, I want the tv to be between the speakers of course...

Since there are so many variables, I would recommend as the first thing is to get the left and right positioning exactly right for your listening position. Use a measuring tape to make an equidistant triangle between each speaker and you. Mine happened to be 185 inches on each side of triangle. Even 5 inches incorrect placement can be noticeable.

To test your variations, listen to music where the vocalist is mixed into the center (or even better, watch/listen to sports or news where the commentary is always mixed in the dead center.). Keep moving your speakers until the voice just seems to come out of the front wall and slightly behind it. If you are slightly off, you will detect a slightly louder left or right speaker and you will keep looking at it...when it is dead on, the sound sort of comes out of the whole front of the room evenly with biases throughout the song based on the original sound engineer's mix. That's it. Now you are ready to optimize it further with foam pads, taller stands, etc. If you are not getting it to sound that impressive, it may be in your source or amp having some deficiencies which are coloring/hiding the stereo imaging.

I think the foam isolation pads have helped. I tried just blutac before, it was a nice adhesive but the vibrations could still be strong. Another factor which is probably obvious is make sure you have decent thick speaker cable that is the same length!

I think the stands on top of the cabinet(pn left speaker and right speaker is on top of subwoofer) are a big help too. They put the KEFs about 42 inches off the floor, making the center of the drivers at about 50 inches high. For me, my stock stands pictured hear were to close to the floor and I kept noticing that the sound seemed to come from slightly below my eye line and it was annoying me. I wanted the stage to be where it normally is at a concert, directly in front or slightly up a few inches. I have vaulted ceilings so by putting the KEFs up fairly high, I got rid of a lot of the floor bounce, but not all and the high ceiling was a vanishing point so this seems to work for my room. They are not that sturdy. I am still considering different stands or alternatives to this. They look pretty bad and my kids could knock this stuff over.

Sorry for the long-winded post. I am not an expert at this but have been tirelessly experimenting so if this helps someone else achieve more enjoyment out of their music, then it was worth it.

Hope it helps.
Von Chowder

where did you buy the covers for LS50? They are great.
 

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Thanks for the comments on the covers.

I had a coworker print them from his 3D printer. We made an original design based on the LS50's needs.

They are made from plastic and are extremely light.

I have them fixed to the speaker with a small amount of blue tac.
 
Great. Thanks. Could I have the 3D files. I will get them made as well. If you agree, I will send you my personal email address.

Do you keep them on while playing?
 
I'm using 28" stands as my seated ear level is 36", putting the KEFs just slightly off axis. I found I prefer a more on-axis toe-in as well.

Bill

I hadn't revisited the stand issue for a while, but recently had switched power amps. So with the talk of using higher stands, I pulled out a pair of IsoAcoustic risers that I had bought when I first purchased the KEFs.

Placed on top of the 24" stands, using the short legs, and with a tilt, I could aim the speakers pretty much right at my face.

With my original amp, raising the LS50s and aiming them this way caused ear fatigue. With the new amps, which are now close to broke in, the same scenario gives me no fatigue, a better focus and appears to raise the soundstage up a foot or so.

Nothing magical about the risers themselves, just the fact that the speakers are higher now. So I will leave them on for a bit and see how it goes.
 
I've been playing with the height of my stands, and I've concluded that just below ear level works best in my room and system.

The soundstage is much larger and deeper with a shorter stance, so I'm sticking with the 24" for now.
 
Spent some time in front of ye olde hi fi yesterday. Was listening to the vinyl reissue of Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and was thinking "man, these just aren't doing it for me right now".

Then I put on some Bonnie Prince Billy and the sound was incredible/hard to imagine it being better, other than maybe greater scale.

I think I need a euphonic button for those mediocre recordings.
 
Spent some time in front of ye olde hi fi yesterday. Was listening to the vinyl reissue of Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted and was thinking "man, these just aren't doing it for me right now".

Then I put on some Bonnie Prince Billy and the sound was incredible/hard to imagine it being better, other than maybe greater scale.

I think I need a euphonic button for those mediocre recordings.

the first thing I noticed the static from my MR78. Didn't hear that on my DM12's!

Now running some Vevo thru the W4S mINT. I'm impressed. They are fast!

need to get my music server connected.....
 
the first thing I noticed the static from my MR78. Didn't hear that on my DM12's!

Now running some Vevo thru the W4S mINT. I'm impressed. They are fast!

need to get my music server connected.....

awesome

i had a cliche "i've never heard that before" moment this weekend listening to Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", an album I've had to have heard a couple hundred times.
 
I found that mine sound a little better when a tad lower than ear height.

The soundstage seems wider and deeper in my room being at 24".
 
awesome

i had a cliche "i've never heard that before" moment this weekend listening to Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", an album I've had to have heard a couple hundred times.
I know, these things are pretty amazing, especially with good music/recordings like Wilco, which is one of my top 3 favorite newer bands.
 
new room guys, check it out! my last room was too big so i am just now experiencing their true potential!

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Nick Drake LS50's

Enjoying Nick Drake and some single malt scotch this evening. He sounds like he's in the room with me. Really enjoying the Brio-R and LS 50 combo.
 
It is amazing to me how good each of Nick Drake's three albums sound compared to some other bigger rock bands of the same period. Were the recording engineers just tons better than their peers? What makes these Nick Drake recordings sound so good? BTW I am listening via Tidal music streaming.
 
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