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KEF LS60 Wireless Just Announced

sweetmusic

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I discussed with their engineering team about the possibility of adding in the future PEQ or maybe auto EQ....but those are only discussions so far. Time will tell.

Thanks, @Jukebox !

I'd really like to go active and the only thing holding me back is how to get room correction while still keeping HDMI eARC and streaming. Put all 3 of those into active speakers that measure well, and I'm all-in.

Buchardt still has a separate streamer box, and pro audio options don't have the streamer or HDMI. I expect that we'll see multiple good options that are truly all-in-one in the next few years. KEF, Focal and Dynaudio are all tantalizingly close to having all of the pieces. I'd really like to see Revel jump into this market too.

For the smaller speaker companies and DIYers, it would be great if there was a standard module that included Dirac, HDMI eARC, and streaming. Then anyone could add it to their speakers. And maybe it could be built as a swappable, upgradable module. That would help future-proof it, and also give audiophiles something to tinker with and replace every couple years.

Until the last piece or two comes together, anything I buy feels like a very temporary solution.
 

Ciobi69

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if you had the money, just a semi-OT question, would you take a pair of used blade or those? the used blade could cost 12k+
 

Mehdiem

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Do you think I would lose any transparency and clarify by not using my Purifi amp, relying only on the LS60's own amplification? In other words, if I feed a comparable passive floor speaker with a Purifi amp would I get any better quality?

I really hoped that KEF had used Purifi for powering LS60, and then it would be a no-brainer for me. I am just so happy with my Purifi amp+ RME ADI set up and I don't want to get any less of what I'm getting now,
 

Vacceo

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if you had the money, just a semi-OT question, would you take a pair of used blade or those? the used blade could cost 12k+
Do you have the room size to use them? Because the cheap part will be the amp, the place to put them, not so much.

Thanks, @Jukebox !

I'd really like to go active and the only thing holding me back is how to get room correction while still keeping HDMI eARC and streaming. Put all 3 of those into active speakers that measure well, and I'm all-in.

Buchardt still has a separate streamer box, and pro audio options don't have the streamer or HDMI. I expect that we'll see multiple good options that are truly all-in-one in the next few years. KEF, Focal and Dynaudio are all tantalizingly close to having all of the pieces. I'd really like to see Revel jump into this market too.

For the smaller speaker companies and DIYers, it would be great if there was a standard module that included Dirac, HDMI eARC, and streaming. Then anyone could add it to their speakers. And maybe it could be built as a swappable, upgradable module. That would help future-proof it, and also give audiophiles something to tinker with and replace every couple years.

Until the last piece or two comes together, anything I buy feels like a very temporary solution.
The idea of the separate box for streaming and connections is quite clever. It streamlines the process of getting a multichannel system without having to overpay for several pairs. KEF engineers, listen to this man! And release a center and atmos self powered versions!

I think Dali has the active options too.
 
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voodooless

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HarmonicTHD

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Do you think I would lose any transparency and clarify by not using my Purifi amp, relying only on the LS60's own amplification? In other words, if I feed a comparable passive floor speaker with a Purifi amp would I get any better quality?

I really hoped that KEF had used Purifi for powering LS60, and then it would be a no-brainer for me. I am just so happy with my Purifi amp+ RME ADI set up and I don't want to get any less of what I'm getting now,
No or at least highly highly unlikely. Modern well engineered amps are all pretty much transparent. Besides distortion of any speaker is usually several orders of magnitude higher anyway.
 

voodooless

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Incidentally, the FCC documents of the LS50 Wireless II does mention WiSA in the documents… and probably the LS60 is build on the same architecture.
Indeed, it looks like WiSa is indeed supported by LS50 Wireless II, and probably LS60 as well:

1652556592032.png


If there is some other big annoucement coming from KEF this summer, I bet it has something to do with this...

At the moment WiSa is probably already in use when you wirelessly link up the second speaker.
 
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sweetmusic

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Indeed, it looks like WiSa is indeed supported by LS50 Wireless II, and probably LS60 as well:

View attachment 206684

If there is some other big annoucement coming from KEF this summer, I bet it has something to do with this...

At the moment WiSa is probably already in use when you wirelessly link up the second speaker.
If KEF would expose the speakers as WiSa, the Buchardt streaming box has everything I want... It supports WiSa, room correction, HDMI eARC and streaming. It's still a separate box, rather than a built in module, but... close enough for now?
 

voodooless

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If KEF would expose the speakers as WiSa, the Buchardt streaming box has everything I want... It supports WiSa, room correction, HDMI eARC and streaming.
Does the Buchardt box work with WiSa products from other manufacturers?
It's still a separate box, rather than a built in module, but... close enough for now?
It means no cables form speaker to TV, so in my book, that would be a win.
 

sweetmusic

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Vacceo

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Does the Buchardt box work with WiSa products from other manufacturers?
It´s a device from Primare, so it should be speaker manufacturer-agnostic.

Too bad WiSa supports only 8 total speakers...
 

Descartes

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I haven't read the entire thread and it may have been mentioned before: price in Europe will be 6599 Euro a pair :(.

Source with a purely subjective first listening experience at a press event (German language only, sorry) :


Sometimes I wish KEF would sell directly to customers, so more people could afford their speakers. Just speaking for myself: I don't want to spend ruffly 40 % of the price to support a dealer for a 20 Minute audition, when it is crucial to listen to the speaker at home anyways.... And I say this having sold KEF speakers for some years to earn my living ....
I could not agree more, no interest in greasing up dealers who are just moving boxes, margins are even higher 50 to 60% of MSRP especially with in-wall speakers.
 

raest

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The LS60 performance is so much a function of the active design that a "passive model" would be a very different speaker. Significantly larger cabinet volume, to start with.
that's why i chose my words carefully and didn't write "a passive LS60"
 

raest

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totally not true. there are several of us out there that did sink a lot of $ into audio and learned the law of diminishing results.

I CAN buy pretty much anything I want but feel foolish in doing so unless there are truly meaningful benefits I enjoy. the days when I felt compelled to impress people are long gone, I am very secure with my choices and don't need to impress anybody... I have about $35k of unused audio equipment I have kept but don't use anymore. Admittedly I also have grown tired of allocating so much space and attention to audio equipment, its sprawl and the wasted time in matching and optimal setup. the alternatives to that started appearing with ever better active loudspeakers and now stuff like the LS60.

I enjoy elegant simplicity and what you could call the ephemeral nature of audio these days... the less of it I see, the easier the ownership is... the much better. I want to listen to great music. not wrestle with boxes and changes and setup. I still want pride of ownership, don't get me wrong. but it's changed for me... and the market is changing fast and I don't think traditionalist audiophiles "get it"...

I already simplified my environment with zero concessions to sound quality to me, and I feel something like the LS60 totally is on my roadmap...
"totally not true" because you're the anecdotal exception? lol. i guess we'll ignore the "totally not true" decades of sales and marketing et al data, because one persons says "i totally would". tbh, not unexpected considering what else i've seen from you
 

phoenixdogfan

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No or at least highly highly unlikely. Modern well engineered amps are all pretty much transparent. Besides distortion of any speaker is usually several orders of magnitude higher anyway.
I own a Purifi Eval 1 and LS 50 Metas, and I would have no problem switching to these as my primary L+R provided they deliver full range, with low distortion at higher volume, and similar levels of smooth Kef directivity. Seems like a poor man's Blade, but with one issue---long term support. My understanding is that KEF has already stopped supporting their original Wirless LS 50's which is, I think, outrageous. I can't imagine how I would feel if I forked over $6k for LS 60 Wireless speakers and found out that a scant 4-5 years later they would have to go to a landfill first time something busted on them. Also, how long is the warranty on these guys? Longer than the warranty on the LS 50 Wireless, I hope, which was only one year. I'll be following the support aspect for this product with avid interest.

I'll probably get an audition on these sometime later in the year, and if I do anything, it will be next year's project.
 
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