Can you beat my option? KEF LS50 Wireless II + SVS SB-2000 Pro

[Vahidhm]

I prefer DIY, especially for subs, but I'd be real keen on trying the new Elac Uni-fi References.

I think DIY is not the best option for a noob like me. I can't wait to see the Amir's review of these new Elac Uni fi reference

 

[rclark07m]

I second considering the Uni-FI Reference. I'm hoping they give the R3 competition at half the price.

 

[richard12511]

Genelec 8330A $1600
SB2000 pro $800
Denon 3600h

It's a shame that Genelec subs aren't very good for the price. 8330 + Genelec sub + GLM would be hard to beat, but sadly the comparable genelec sub isn't competitive with SVS' offering

 

[AudioSQ]

I think DIY is not the best option for a noob like me. I can't wait to see the Amir's review of these new Elac Uni fi reference

I get DIY isn't for everybody. That's why I didn't suggest it, just put out a feeler. Subs are easy though, no crossover, get a kit or two that come with enclosures, a Crown amp, a little elbow grease and presto.. I had to try. To play the game all the way.

Pi for a steamer $100
DAC.. maybe SMSL M200 $300
VTV or Buckeye Ncore amp $550
Elac Uni-fi Reference $1,000
2 Parts Express Reference 12" kits with enclosures $275 each
Crown XLS 2002 $560 for the subs.

I'm just talking out my rear though.. never heard most of that gear or what you originally suggested.

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

very good point. I really don't know what is the procedure when audio down mixes from 5.1 or 7.1 to stereo or stereo.1 in a typical AVR. whether it pulls out the .1 portion and sends it out directly to the sub (Sounds like a good idea) or it mixes down everything like a noodle soup and then tries to separate the noodles from the broth and send them to the added subwoofer and if there would be any meaningful difference between the final results.
with non AVR systems I think everything is going to be downmixed to stereo by TV which has no idea about the subwoofer down the line so It will mash the soup thoroughly and sends it to the poor DAC or Preamp or DSP and it is up to that dude to separate the noodles from this mixture. Therefore, yes for the movie experience the subwoofer would not receive a direct dedicated signal and should try its best with whatever DAC gives to him and that should be fine because movies are not my main priority. But honestly I don't know how bad or good or fine it would be

If you don't care much about movies and video games it will work great. Not unwatchable.

 

[carewser]

Looks better stacked with the KC62

View attachment 134777

You know what looks even better paired with the little KEF KC62 sub? The Kanto Tuk's. It's hard to believe they weren't designed to go together

 

[carewser]

A pre-covid buddy of mine told me he owned a pair of wireless LS50's so I researched them and found out they're the bee's knees, almost universally praised amongst both audiophiles and normal people. A little later I ended up buying a used pair of Audioengine A5+ speakers that I wanted to compare to his LS50's and then I bought a pair of Kanto Tuk's which I thought sounded even better so I really wanted to compare them to his LS50's but we'll probably have to wait until all this covidiocy is done before we can (if it ever ends). I fully expect his wireless LS50's to sound better than my speakers (in fact I think there's something wrong if they don't), I just want to see how his $3000 wireless LS50's sound compare to my $530/pair Audioengine's and my $1100/pair Kanto's

 

[Chromatischism]

Initially I wanted to buy an AVR (3.1 with upgrade in future) but down the road I realized that I appreciate a better music quality over the surround features for the movies so I passed the AVR + Speakers options and started to look at the Streamer , DAC, Amp + Speakers options. [A reasonable priced AVR (e.g. Denon X-3700H) technically cover all those features but seems that AVRs do not have a good sound quality (General Audiophile opinion)

Welcome!

This is false and I suggest you re-think as we do have some fine options for AVRs (not all are created equal). Plus they benefit hugely from economies of scale.

With all that said and considering the tight budget I choose KEF LS50 Wireless II + SVS SB-2000 Pro ($3300: $2500+$800)

To me it ticks all boxes. The only negative point or missing item about this option is lack of room correction (I don't know how important is that. I can do some parametric EQ for the Subwoofer via the SVS app and REW but not much after the crossover and I don't know if that is enough or not)

Is there any better option for me to have all my needed features and provide better sound quality end result in my room?

Here's one that will utterly destroy that in every way:

Denon AVR + Genelec 8030c + HSU VTF-2 MK5

Alternates:

Denon AVR + Swans M300 MkII + HSU VTF-15H MK2

Denon AVR + Buchardt S400 (4 ohm) + buy a sub later, maybe a Hypex NC252MP also

Add a new Google Chromecast to one of the HDMI ports and I believe all of these will sound fantastic in their own way and give you all the features you should need.

 

[stevenswall]

Maybe the LS50 Wireless II is more competitive than the first LS50w, but they really need a three way active until we're in a universe where the Kali IN-8 V2 doesn't exist, or the Kali IN-5, especially for a larger room. Save your money and get the former, then use the saved money to get Dirac on a MiniDSP to integrate your sub better.

Of the coaxial/coincident speakers I've heard:

KEF LS50W<Elac Navis<Kali IN-5<Kali IN-8 v2<Devialet Phantom Reactor<Genelec 8260

KEF needs something active on par with the R3, but with dual opposed woofers for ~$3500 to get back on top for me, and a budget three way active.

 

[io53]

I was in a very similar situation as you, except needed an analogue source. I ended up going with the KEF WII, I spent a lot of time researching separates and they were appealing, but WII seemed like a great value compared to $1,500 passive metas then finding sufficient amplification, streaming, etc. within a similar budget.


They sound great, but be warned, you may have some frustrating times with connectivity and the app. I have a Samsung tv, it's ARC function worked with Klisph the Fives, but not with my WII's. They had a firmware update to improve ARC connectivity with LG and Sony tvs, maybe Samsung is in the pipeline.

If you're prepared to occasionally reset your speakers, app, and router, and fiddle with that stuff, you'll probably be fine. But just be aware.


The new Bluesound NODE which now had HDMI eARC paired with some powered/active speakers might be a nice alternative as well.

How would you say The Fives compare to KEF LS50 WII? There is quite a price difference, but their features looks compelling. Sadly I dont think there is any high quality third party measurements of them online..

 

[sweetchaos]

Sadly I dont think there is any high quality third party measurements of them online..

You probably missed the review.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...fives-powered-bookshelf-speaker-review.22892/

 

[thewas]

Of the coaxial/coincident speakers I've heard:

KEF LS50W<Elac Navis<Kali IN-5<Kali IN-8 v2<Devialet Phantom Reactor<Genelec 8260

Recommendations are of course subjective and also depend on personal needs.
I used to own myself the Kali IN-8 (v1) and even the Neumann KH120 and with EQ I preferred even my old first gen passive LS50 to both of them (so I sold both again) and of course the LS50 Meta without the need of EQ. The only problem is that as a small 2-way its limited in bass depth and max SPL, something which can be dealt though with a good sub matching using a high crossover frequency.

Talking about max SPL, what makes me surprised is that this thread is already 3 pages long but I haven't seen one question of the most important decision factor which is the listening distance...

 

[io53]

You probably missed the review.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...fives-powered-bookshelf-speaker-review.22892/

I was talking about measurements for KEF, no the Klipsch.

 

[Vahidhm]

You know what looks even better paired with the little KEF KC62 sub? The Kanto Tuk's. It's hard to believe they weren't designed to go together

Wow they look absolutely beautiful. Someone should show these to Genelec

 

[Vahidhm]

A pre-covid buddy of mine told me he owned a pair of wireless LS50's so I researched them and found out they're the bee's knees, almost universally praised amongst both audiophiles and normal people. A little later I ended up buying a used pair of Audioengine A5+ speakers that I wanted to compare to his LS50's and then I bought a pair of Kanto Tuk's which I thought sounded even better so I really wanted to compare them to his LS50's but we'll probably have to wait until all this covidiocy is done before we can (if it ever ends). I fully expect his wireless LS50's to sound better than my speakers (in fact I think there's something wrong if they don't), I just want to see how his $3000 wireless LS50's sound compare to my $530/pair Audioengine's and my $1100/pair Kanto's

With all of these outrageous manufacturing chip issues, I think I am not going to be able to buy anything soon. So, please let me know if you happen to find a chance to compare the speakers. Thanks for the comment

 

[maxxevv]

For a large room and based on your budget of US$3300 ?

Kali IN-8 Revision II. - US$800 /pair
SVS SB-1000Pro x 2 - US$1000 /pair

Matrix Element i - US$1000 / each

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...udio-element-i-usb-dac-streamer-review.10360/
https://www.matrix-digi.com/en/products/417.html

You have some money left to spare for fancy cables / stands. Plenty of power, plenty of flexibility.

 

[Chrispy]

@Vahidhm fwiw and just to see what happens, I set my L/R to large and turned off all the other speakers (except subs). I still get LFE (watching a bluray with a DD soundtrack on a Denon 4520).

 

[Vahidhm]

Recommendations are of course subjective and also depend on personal needs.
I used to own myself the Kali IN-8 (v1) and even the Neumann KH120 and with EQ I preferred even my old first gen passive LS50 to both of them (so I sold both again) and of course the LS50 Meta without the need of EQ. The only problem is that as a small 2-way its limited in bass depth and max SPL, something which can be dealt though with a good sub matching using a high crossover frequency.

Talking about max SPL, what makes me surprised is that this thread is already 3 pages long but I haven't seen one question of the most important decision factor which is the listening distance...

I am glad you asked. Here is a simple plan of the room

 

[dkinric]

Can I just take a moment to point out that this is an excellent example of how to post a "newbie what should I buy" post. OP has already done some research, made some very good choices, shared his thoughts and challenged members for a better system for the money for his use case. Welcome to ASR!

There are many excellent alternatives already mentioned here. I would also like to suggest that if you are one that likes to research and upgrade from time to time, your proposed system minimizes this possibility. If you are looking for minimal footprint and a buy it once and forget it, then it's perfectly fine.

However, passive speakers and separate components will allow you more opportunities to take advantage of the newer products that come out often. If you are this type - that will still be reading about what else is out there even after buying your new system - then you may want to go this route so you can get the most out of this hobby.

I have bookshelves with 2 subs - highly recommend the bookshelf/subs route. If you are hesitant on how much to pay for subs, get the one good one, than later decide if you want to add another good one. Deep, accurate, properly integrated bass is addictive.
Cheers!

 

[Vahidhm]

Welcome!

This is false and I suggest you re-think as we do have some fine options for AVRs (not all are created equal). Plus they benefit hugely from economies of scale.

Here's one that will utterly destroy that in every way:

Denon AVR + Genelec 8030c + HSU VTF-2 MK5

Alternates:

Denon AVR + Swans M300 MkII + HSU VTF-15H MK2

Denon AVR + Buchardt S400 (4 ohm) + buy a sub later, maybe a Hypex NC252MP also

Add a new Google Chromecast to one of the HDMI ports and I believe all of these will sound fantastic in their own way and give you all the features you should need.

Thank you for the options. The only unclear point to me then is what is the difference between the sound quality of an AVR and separate systems?
That is the part I have problem with. If is not a major difference, why people choose separates? AVRs have tons of features over the separate systems