A new Kef speaker? The Kef LS Luxe

[kyuu]

Just saw this “review”, ridiculous statements.

All these crazy “mind boggling bass”, “no comparison”, “no contest to the LS50W2”, “perfectly balanced no matter what we listened to”, “über transparent”, “night and day” etc. statements…..

Dude, WTF is with that thumbnail. Can't just be the guy with the dumb expression pointing at something, which was already terrible. Now we have to have what I presume to be some AI-generated mish mash of a wave, lightning, and some magic rune circle shit going on? Thanks, I hate it.

 

[Matt S]

Waiting for some reliable reviews and measurements before commenting on anything other than looks. Personally, well done Kef, they look great. Not just the usual box and therefore quite unique, even if it has been done before, to some degree. Great design.

 

[kemmler3D]

Dude, WTF is with that thumbnail. Can't just be the guy with the dumb expression pointing at something, which was already terrible. Now we have to have what I presume to be some AI-generated mish mash of a wave, lightning, and some magic rune circle shit going on? Thanks, I hate it.

It's like packaging for something only semi-legal like fireworks or cannabis, and yet apparently they want people to spend $4k based on their opinions.

 

[mhardy6647]

Black, White, Gray, meh......

The shape of the enclosure of the KEF LS Luxe using the White colorway reminds me of a skull.

Memento mori.

 

[Goldhamster916]

Hm now I am debating between getting these or the genelec 8331, both cost the same. The genelec is a three way but also a smaller speaker with less amplification. Apart from that I like the design of these quite a bit more.

 

[mhardy6647]

Frequency Range
35 Hz - 47 kHz

Damn, KEF does think of everything! Now your household pets can enjoy the awesome hi-fidelity music too!

And/or you can use it to repel mosquitoes -- or loitering teenagers.

 

[fwwwk]

they look both Kef-ish and Genelec-ish so i would lean towards new

 

[Chanur]

The drivers not being 5 inch makes me interested. How ever the price is a bit close to the LS60 which might make them the better choice.

One thing that all these home powered speaker offerings are missing is the ability to add more, so we can get 3 or 5 channel set up. Having a powered speaker that I could expand into a wireless 5 channel set up would be ideal.

 

[mhardy6647]

Apparently everything is supposed to look like soap bars today. Sure the directivity shows why, but boxy stuff have shown to perform great as well while at the same time actually fits in a living room.

Well... they could've made it look like a generic SUV -- from that perspective it's refreshing.

 

[Goldhamster916]

interview with KEF lead engineer on the Luxe. Wasn't familiar with that guy before. They had to deal with the additional heat from the larger driver as well as adjust the damping to the lower resonance frequency of the driver compared to the LS 50 Meta. These kind of adjustments to each product, made me more aware how much work it is to create a new product even if it very similar to already existing one.

 

[mhardy6647]

Why are the colors so boring? View attachment 548134

Maybe there will be aftermarket wraps, as for Teslas.

 

[kemmler3D]

Maybe there will be aftermarket wraps, as for Teslas.


View attachment 548170

I don't know if I've ever seen a real object that so strongly resembled a 90s-era video game asset. Could not look more like a car from a Playstation 1 game if it tried.

 

[MattHooper]

I get what you mean with slightly off putting in their design. Maybe it’s because, looking at these, your brain expect them to be a perfect sphere and is kind of confused that it’s almost a perfect Sphere but not quite. therefore you maybe experience some kind of uncanny valley effect for spheres of some sorts?!

I think you put your finger on something there.

Yes, it seems like there’s a sort of uncanny valley effect of where the KEF is not quite a sphere and not quite a box, almost as if it’s unsure what it wants to be.

I don’t get this same slightly offputting uncanny Valley effect from something like the deliberate egg shape of the Waveform Mach MC monitors I used to own:

I used to own quite a number of speakers and my kids just referred to these ones as “The Eggs.”

 

[stren]

Surprised they went to this price point with a 2 way. Also given that move I'm surprised they didn't so something like Purifi's surround to be able to push displacement more. Like many I think these are priced a bit high, particularly compared to the LS60. I like the looks though and it's something different compare to many other brands. Maybe sales will make them more palatable, I don't see myself buying them though - at that price point for bookshelves you're comparing to some really nice purifi 2 ways that will dig deeper.

 

[voodooless]

 

[kemmler3D]

I think you put your finger on something there.

Yes, it seems like there’s a sort of uncanny valley effect of where the KEF is not quite a sphere and not quite a box, almost as if it’s unsure what it wants to be.

I don’t get this same slightly offputting uncanny Valley effect from something like the deliberate egg shape of the Waveform Mach MC monitors I used to own:

View attachment 548173

I used to own quite a number of speakers and my kids just referred to these ones as “The Eggs.”

I think the shape is vaguely head-shaped, from the front the silhouette kind of reminds me of a crash test dummy head. Maybe that's what is giving people weird feelings about it.

I don't mind it, but I can see why the shape might seem odd. My guess is it looks different in person. The LS60 somehow feels way less deep / long in person vs. photos.

 

[MattHooper]

I think the shape is vaguely head-shaped, from the front the silhouette kind of reminds me of a crash test dummy head. Maybe that's what is giving people weird feelings about it.

Yes, there is that too!

It looks very much like the type of heads they’re putting on humanoid robots these days.

 

[Tell]

Well... they could've made it look like a generic SUV -- from that perspective it's refreshing.

View attachment 548164

Though those were the exact other soap bar like shape I was thinking about, cars and KEFs

 

[Descartes]

The resurrected Philips motional feedback is novel in a hifi product, isn’t it? KEF call it Velocity Control Technology.

£3,500 a pair here in Blighty, but when you add the stands they’re about the same as the LS60. That said, the looks are presumably for designer homes, rather than audio enthusiasts? I think they look great in that pearl finish.

https://www.whathifi.com/speakers/hi-fi-speakers/kef-ls-luxe

Just bla bla bla no measurement

 

[Michou]

A two-way active could potentially be using the VECO feedback technology KEF touted some moons ago. I’d be very interested in seeing measurements of that if so.

The concept actually goes back about 50 years. Philips was already doing something very similar with their MFB (Motional Feedback) powered speakers, particularly the compact 22RH541. The idea was essentially the same: monitor the woofer's actual movement and use a feedback loop to correct its behavior in real time.

It was a remarkably forward-thinking design, but the electronics, sensors and manufacturing tolerances of the day simply weren't mature enough for it to become mainstream. With today's DSP, processing power and far better components, it's no surprise to see manufacturers revisiting the same basic principle.

I'd be very interested to see independent measurements of KEF's implementation and how much of a measurable benefit the feedback system actually delivers.