Erin’s KEF ls60 review comment

[phoenixdogfan]

For what it's worth, in this measurement what you see is the tweeter thermal protection kicking in. That's what causes the extreme compression in the treble. This is triggered by using a high level sine sweep for the measurement. Music signals don't have anything like a white spectrum so don't trigger the protection in the same extreme way. To trigger it on music you have to be playing at max output on content with extreme levels of treble energy. Our go to test track for this is by Metallica.

At the low end you do indeed see DSP limiting to protect the bass drivers from over excursion.

So if I had a pair of subs and crossed over at about 120 hz with a L-R 24 db/octave on the high pass, could I expect to be able to hit brief 105 db peaks at one meter distance in a smaller room without triggering the limiter and/or compression.

 

[meracus]

I tested some spl of what I can see the loudest I could do at about 3 metres listening distance
And I reached about 89/90 db peaks on the spl app on my phone …. And from a quick calc i came to 97 db odd at 1m
Is this the limit of a ls60 then before you start to have issues ?

 

[meracus]

Had another demo of the ls60 at the kef lounge
I must say , the service was excellent , it was unhurried , courteous and friendly nothing was too much trouble ( the hooked a pair of subs )
The speakers where 3m away from the listening seat as requested , the sound was nothing short of lovely and I can’t recommend highly enough the experience
Unfortunately the speaker isn’t meant to play too loud , it doesn’t distort per se but it changes character with louder spl demands
Such a shame as it’s the best looking active around if you don’t want a monkey coffin
Im really sorry that it didn’t work out

 

[ThELiZ]

I visited the KEF Gallery on Saturday. What a fantastic experience! The guys were super helpful and pleasant. I hadn't booked a demo, but did hear the LS60 (almost certainly in the same position as OP) and was very surprised by the sound quality in an obviously compromised position. I would have loved to of had a demo downstairs, but that will have to be for another day. They are far more attractive in the flesh than in photos. I'd always thought they were butt ugly, but was pleasantly surprised. My wife really liked the look of them, and the sound of them.

I had the opportunity to listen to the XIO and was even more impressed (not like for like)! What they have managed to do with that thing is astounding. It's easily the best soundbar I've heard (not heard anything pricier than Q990D - And it was a far more natural sounding experience).

 

[Vacceo]

Had another demo of the ls60 at the kef lounge
I must say , the service was excellent , it was unhurried , courteous and friendly nothing was too much trouble ( the hooked a pair of subs )
The speakers where 3m away from the listening seat as requested , the sound was nothing short of lovely and I can’t recommend highly enough the experience
Unfortunately the speaker isn’t meant to play too loud , it doesn’t distort per se but it changes character with louder spl demands
Such a shame as it’s the best looking active around if you don’t want a monkey coffin
Im really sorry that it didn’t work out

If your user case is 3 meters away or more, it´s not a speaker for you. I wish we all had issues like that, to be fair, because that means your listening space is quite large.