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KEF LS60 Wireless Just Announced

voodooless

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For met the biggest difference is that in the sound of the LS60 there was too much mid-high. Bass and mid sounded all right to me.
Isn't that a bit of a contradiction? Too much of one thing equals too little of another. If it was a bit of a larger room, and the level was a bit louder, the compression might already be kicking in: making the Blade probably sound a bit more big-bodied in comparison. Mind you, the extension will still be good for the LS60, and distortion will be low due to active technology, so the overall SQ will still be very good.
 

oivavoi

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I heard the Reference 5 Meta, LS60 and Blade 1 Meta in the same room and in this order.

For met the biggest difference is that in the sound of the LS60 there was too much mid-high. Bass and mid sounded all right to me.
The Reference 5 Meta sounded very good but a bit dark (don't know how to explain it otherwise) a bit coloured in the low-mid's ( maybe the room or the amplifier that I heard).
Then the Blade 1 Meta, first idea it's a bit plain, until I realized that everything in the sound is there and nothing is coloured.

The tracks on the LS60 were played from a phone through Qobus, the tracks on the Blades were played from a laptop through a Hegel DAC and 2 Halcro Eclipse mono power amplifiers, the tracks on the Reference 5 were played from a laptop through a Hegel H590.

Of course, this is my subjective opinion and like I said in a room I do not know with 20 people in it and I definitely don't claim to have golden ears.
I never heard the LS50 Meta so I don't know if the LS60 has the same sound signature in the mid-high.
I think you are the second person who says exactly something like this after having heard them in comparison. Hm. It's all subjective at this point, of course, but can these impressions be about something real? Difficult to say. I somehow doubt that KEF screwed up the tuning of the speakers. But I guess it's possible that the small 4-inch concentric driver leads to some kind of distortion or higher-order modes which can give the impression that the highs are too emphasized. Or the impressions may be caused by something else which is not connected to the sound of the speakers (no offense, we are all fallible as listeners!). Looking forward to reading more impressions from people
 

Vacceo

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Right. Agree!

"Hardcore audiophiles" who prefer active studio monitors for home listening make up a vanishingly tiny market, even if many of them are active on ASR. I wouldn't be surprised if the KEF wireless speakers have outsold this entire market from all manufacturers combined.

"Mainstream audiophiles" are an important and influential but declining niche.

The growing market is lifestyle audio with increasing appreciation for design, sound quality and convenience. The LS60 check all the boxes. They are a bit pricey though, and I'm sure KEF is very interested to see how they sell.

An alternative for KEF is to trickle down the innovations into a less expensive, not as good sounding wireless speaker, below the LS series. They might try that as well, and they might make more money from it.

Why haven't they already? Maybe because the LS50 and LS50W have been outselling the LSX even with the higher cost.
I'd have no issues with Kef taking the Dali or Buchard approach for the R series. As long as I can build a multichannel system with center and elevation speakers, I don't mind them being passive or active. If active gives me better performance in the same form factor than a passive would, then, by all means.

If WiSa or any other standard allows to keep high resolution and keep using Atmos, DTS and other object-based codecs, by all means.
 

Daka

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Let us remember that Kef made this model for their 60'th anniversary. They obviously intend to exist quite a long time.

If i was that worried, i'd send a mail to Kef with a question about what is the way they intend to service active loudspeakers in future. If it is one module where everything is attached that they send to you for a repair, i'd buy the speakers. I guess that they will be produced at least 8 years (probably longer but let's be pessimistic).

The day Kef discontinue LS60 would be the day i would order two modules that will serve as my personal insurance. If i ever have a malfunction, i can repair both loudspeakers if needed. If i ever decide to sell the speakers, i can sell the modules with it or separate. NOS service parts always worth quite a few bucks if there is no more support.

I remember recone for JBL 2202H sold for 250-400 euros wjen JBL announced stopping the production of those recones.

If it is Genelec type of service - send it to us at your own expense and we will repair it for a hefty price - i'd give it up.
That’s clever.
I think you are the second person who says exactly something like this after having heard them in comparison. Hm. It's all subjective at this point, of course, but can these impressions be about something real? Difficult to say. I somehow doubt that KEF screwed up the tuning of the speakers. But I guess it's possible that the small 4-inch concentric driver leads to some kind of distortion or higher-order modes which can give the impression that the highs are too emphasized. Or the impressions may be caused by something else which is not connected to the sound of the speakers (no offense, we are all fallible as listeners!). Looking forward to reading more impressions from people
you have EQ present so you can dial them in to your liking. Also as he said it wasn’t apples to apples comparison - different source for starter not to mention ls60 were closer to each other than other speakers so can’t even judge whether indeed they have wider soundstage. In the end to know you need to hear them and compare yourself. Spec warrants they deserve a demo if you’re on the market.
 

retro

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Just a reflection over the postings in this thread..

So many times, all over ASR, I've read that active speakers are the future, passives should be a thing of the past etc etc..

And now, when KEF actually delivers an active speaker with great specs, people instead worry about the future of this, great, active speaker..:rolleyes:

So, be careful what u whish for..;)
 

raest

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Just a reflection over the postings in this thread..

So many times, all over ASR, I've read that active speakers are the future, passives should be a thing of the past etc etc..

And now, when KEF actually delivers an active speaker with great specs, people instead worry about the future of this, great, active speaker..:rolleyes:

So, be careful what u whish for..;)
it's because KEF has a less than stellar reputation when it comes to the reliability of the electronics in their active speakers, which is compounded by the less than stellar warranty and service period on those components. no such worries exists for, f.e., Genelec or Neumann
 

retro

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What about adressing these worries to the people at Kef..? A couple of them are members here, right..?

After market support IS a real thing. For both actives, passives and electronics.
I remember some bad experiences I had with Harman Audio some 25 years ago. Harman used to be excellent in supporting older gear. Now, not so much.. Try to get hold of of a replacement driver for the original Ultima series, for instance? Good luck..

Another discussion of course, is how long we should expect support for older gear..? What's reasonable..10 years after product is discontinued..?!?
 

TSB

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Personally, I think support should be indefinite. I understand McIntosh still repairs stuff it sold from the 1950's. If Kef wants to sell me something that costs $6000, I should be given the assurance the product will not only outlive me, but also my descendants.
Unfortunately this is not possible for any modern electronics given that chips used won't be available indefinitely.
 

Grotti

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it's because KEF has a less than stellar reputation when it comes to the reliability of the electronics in their active speakers, which is compounded by the less than stellar warranty and service period on those components. no such worries exists for, f.e., Genelec or Neumann
Less than stellar..... I remember servicing some KEF speakers about ten years ago (Q and XQ line). It was about changing defective coax drivers which suffered from defective tweeters IIRC.

The (slightly OT, sorry) point was, that each and every driver (about 6 or so) was mounted just with two instead of three screws, which was only visible in case of removing the cover of the drivers basket. I don't think it was done accidentally....

Please note, that I don't want to establish rumors (in fact the KEF speakers measure very well and sound good to me) but I made this experience, which reduces my faith in the reliability of the electronics a bit......

Would be great to see KEF offering a 5 year warranty and a commitment to repair the speakers for about 10 years after production ends...
 

ebslo

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So many times, all over ASR, I've read that active speakers are the future, passives should be a thing of the past etc etc..

And now, when KEF actually delivers an active speaker with great specs, people instead worry about the future of this, great, active speaker..:rolleyes:
I don't know if you've noticed, but ASR members don't always agree on everything.
 

brandall10

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Little sample, interesting comments

Google translate description:

Celebration Day at the Hotel Condes in Barcelona, organized by the Gedelson company, importer of the KEF brand in Spain and promoted by the Style Sound store also located in Barcelona. This event also took place on the 8th for the private public and on the 10th for stores and distributors.

In the presentation we were able to enjoy the main novelties of the brand. They include the public presentation of the KEF LS-60 Wireless active columns and the new KEF LSX II active monitors, as well as the renewal of the Reference and Blade ranges after adding the new "metamaterial" on the back of the Uni transducers. -Q.

The most revolutionary product shown at this event is the aforementioned KEF LS-60 Wireless (€6,599). Speakers that are much more than the column version of the KEF LS-50 Wireless II. They could be considered as small KEF Blades in active format and with built-in streaming. These columns will certainly revolutionize the market, since there are no active columns in their compact size that pack so much sound quality and so many streaming options (they support functions such as Airplay 2, Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect, sometimes difficult to find even in dedicated network audio players). Also its equalization and customization capacity through its App to be able to adapt to difficult rooms of any potential client, in the same way that the KEF LS-50 Wireless II or the KEF LSX already did.
 
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brandall10

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^ Interesting to note those are the Gen II LSX... hopefully those are released soon after an accidental reveal like 1.5 years ago lol.

My biggest issue w/ these btw is the lack of having automatic room correction like Buchardt. Even tuning LFE w/ an iPhone speaker is massive improvement for tricky rooms... don't understand why Kef has not gone this route considering they're basically the pioneer of this type of speaker. Super annoying to have to have outboard correction (i.e. a Roon convolution filter).

Also an aside for the comments about ASR and speakers like these... a bit confused, because, again, Kef has been doing this since 2016 w/ the LS50, and of course we already have a higher end w/ D&D and Kii for years now which have received accolade after accolade. Buchardt has the A700s in this price bracket. The timing is right for a more mainstream hifi product like this.
 
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JulianFP

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On the reliability thing I hope it's OK to post this, I'm absolutely not associated in any way with the company I'm about to mention apart from being an occasional customer, but in the UK Richer Sounds sells KEF LS50W and KC62 (and presumably some other KEF stuff, I didn't look) so one would hope they might sell the LS60 at some point. They have a thing called "the VIP club" which is hardly exclusive, it's free and instant to join at least when I joined a few years ago to get an extended warranty on my last TV. It offers "6 year guarantee included on the vast majority of TVs, projectors and wireless music systems" [ Source: https://www.richersounds.com/vip-club ].

After the TV I subsequently bought my 1st generation LS50W from them and that did count as a wireless system hence I still have quite a few years of warranty still remaining on it. Maybe this might be of interest to UK folks here considering the LS60 but concerned about the length of the warranty.
 

Kachda

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Google translate description:

Celebration Day at the Hotel Condes in Barcelona, organized by the Gedelson company, importer of the KEF brand in Spain and promoted by the Style Sound store also located in Barcelona. This event also took place on the 8th for the private public and on the 10th for stores and distributors.

In the presentation we were able to enjoy the main novelties of the brand. They include the public presentation of the KEF LS-60 Wireless active columns and the new KEF LSX II active monitors, as well as the renewal of the Reference and Blade ranges after adding the new "metamaterial" on the back of the Uni transducers. -Q.

The most revolutionary product shown at this event is the aforementioned KEF LS-60 Wireless (€6,599). Speakers that are much more than the column version of the KEF LS-50 Wireless II. They could be considered as small KEF Blades in active format and with built-in streaming. These columns will certainly revolutionize the market, since there are no active columns in their compact size that pack so much sound quality and so many streaming options (they support functions such as Airplay 2, Tidal Connect and Qobuz Connect, sometimes difficult to find even in dedicated network audio players). Also its equalization and customization capacity through its App to be able to adapt to difficult rooms of any potential client, in the same way that the KEF LS-50 Wireless II or the KEF LSX already did.
Ah… lsx ii ! If they are as good as the ls50w2 I’ll consider one for desktop use.
 

Mnyb

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To be fair against kef they did learn something from thier previous active speakers.

The ls60 electronics is in a separate compartment with an air duct from the bottom of the stand to above the backplate for the electronics .

This improves over just a metal backplate that so many actives have . And the amps are not in the acoustic cavity used by the drivers , so less vibration too.
 

AOR

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That's from anechoic measurements and not Klippel right?
Hi BoredErica,

The measurements shown in the white paper are taken in an anechoic chamber, with a correction applied at low frequencies due to the chamber being smaller than ideal.
 
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