• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

KEF LS50 Meta Review (Speaker)

Mnyb

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Messages
2,638
Likes
3,599
Location
Sweden, Västerås
Hmm nice :) i get an Osborn computer feeling here , I’m very intrigued by KEF nowadays and would consider them
But I’ll wait untill there is meta coaxials in the R range ?
 

Eetu

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 11, 2020
Messages
763
Likes
1,180
Location
Helsinki
Thanks! 1-2k wiggles aside as good as I was expecting.

Can anyone explain if/how the efforts to minimise diffractions (rounded cabinet) show up in the measurements vs the R3 with its sharp edges?
 

Tangband

Major Contributor
Joined
Sep 3, 2019
Messages
2,994
Likes
2,789
Location
Sweden
Two subs that you can use as stands and you end up with a nearly perfect speaker. And this to a not to bad price.
That genelec sub fits nice fr9m the optics for me.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ef-ls50-meta-review-speaker.25574/post-871554

Even better would be buying the Kef R5 instead. Then you have a crossover at 400 Hz and you can play much stronger with less distortion.
A 5 1/2 inch coaxial such as the one in ls50 meta is gonna struggle if you play loud and crossover at 80 Hz .
D6A2C7CF-D87E-4D72-AE90-CCAABAEBD0F8.jpeg
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,384
Location
Seattle Area
@amirm What are we seeing with the impulse response? A single cycle? Is this supplied by the Klippel's DAC and amplified?
This is a computed impulse from the frequency sweep. Inverse FFT is performed post computation of sound field and elimination of the room. In other words, there is a lot math involved and some accuracy may be lost causing those small wiggles. I do have an in-room, unprocessed version:
Impulse response h(t).png


Maybe I should post these instead.
 

tomtoo

Major Contributor
Joined
Nov 20, 2019
Messages
3,607
Likes
4,514
Location
Germany
Even better would be buying the Kef R5 instead. Then you have a crossover at 400 Hz and you can play much stronger with less distortion.
A 5 1/2 inch coaxial such as the one in ls50 meta is gonna struggle if you play loud and crossover at 80 Hz . View attachment 145934


If i have two subs i see no reason why i should crossover at 80Hz?
 
OP
amirm

amirm

Founder/Admin
Staff Member
CFO (Chief Fun Officer)
Joined
Feb 13, 2016
Messages
44,368
Likes
234,384
Location
Seattle Area

Tangband

Major Contributor
Joined
Sep 3, 2019
Messages
2,994
Likes
2,789
Location
Sweden
Thanks! 1-2k wiggles aside as good as I was expecting.

Can anyone explain if/how the efforts to minimise diffractions (rounded cabinet) show up in the measurements vs the R3 with its sharp edges?
With a waveguide ( as the uni-q unit is functioning in R3 ) you dont need a rounded cabinet. Theres gonna be minimal diffraction.

With waveguides for the tweeter you dont need rounded cabinets.
 

restorer-john

Grand Contributor
Joined
Mar 1, 2018
Messages
12,579
Likes
38,277
Location
Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
This is a computed impulse from the frequency sweep. Inverse FFT is performed post computation of sound field and elimination of the room. In other words, there is a lot math involved and some accuracy may be lost causing those small wiggles.

That explains it. Thanks. :)
 

DACs_Lover

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
Messages
94
Likes
238
With 2.1 channel system, how do you guy separate a low frequency to sub? Kindly name the hardware thank you.
 

thewas

Master Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 15, 2020
Messages
6,739
Likes
16,171
@amirm What are we seeing with the impulse response? A single cycle? Is this supplied by the Klippel's DAC and amplified? Because there's a bunch of cycles in 3 distinct (pre-ringing-like) groups in the leadup to the impulse itself. Is it a series of impulses where you have just captured one or a single one?

Also, what is the cabinet made of- moulded plastic?
The front baffle is some rigid polymere and the rest is MDF(!) with damped inner bracing making it feeling and sounding very dead/damped at a "knocking test".
 

YSC

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 31, 2019
Messages
3,194
Likes
2,570
In Europe average apartment size is 50m2. Size vary from 35-75m2 in over 90%. Houses are rare in cities that exist for 600-700 years or more. With apartment of 75m2, you get living room about 25m2 at best. Kef LS50 meta is quite enough. If you add a sub, you will easily rattle neighbours glassware.
That’s where very small subs utilising wall gain like the KC62 and genelec 7040 shines. Yes they won’t have near enough juice for a house living room but for <20m2 rooms they are overpowering already
 

DSJR

Major Contributor
Joined
Jan 27, 2020
Messages
3,312
Likes
4,425
Location
Suffolk Coastal, UK
"I was not a fan of the original..."

I purchased the LS50 after reading all the rave reviews people gave it on the internet and was thoroughly disappoint with it. Nice to see that I wasn't the only one that was not a fan. Wish I had returned them within the return period, but missed it. Oh well, have since added EQ and now they sound much better to me.

Speaker Toni did an excellent video comparing the LS50 to the LS3/5a. This comparison is accurate. Use headphones. His LS50 had the same tonal character as mine do. With the miniDSP 2x4HD I made my LS50 sound like the LS3/5a in the video by reducing the mids a bit and boosting the top end a bit.


Apologies here but WHY ON EARTH would you want to make any speaker sound like an LS3/5A? This latter was designed from the outset to reproduce distortion and hiss in a BBC OB van and accurate music reproduction had nothing whatever to do with it - the BBC had far better monitors available at the time for that purpose, although nothing for very high level monitoring back then. By the way, 3/5A's were NEVER used with grilles off - made the deliberately engineered hf fizz even worse ;) Falcon make the closest version of the original and that's the mid 80's version with upper mid 'quack-n-screech' Stereophile have tested two versions of this make now and the second issue does seem slightly better but still rough as a badger's backside really - it'd be annihilated here!
 

YSC

Major Contributor
Joined
Dec 31, 2019
Messages
3,194
Likes
2,570
With 2.1 channel system, how do you guy separate a low frequency to sub? Kindly name the hardware thank you.
I use built in high pass from the 7040, but if your sub don’t have one, you either have a mini dsp to set those cross over, or you have a sub with low pass where you match and measure it with the roll off slope of your main monitors, I think normal AVR having the sub output channel does the same thing
 
Top Bottom