KEF LS50 Meta Review (Speaker)

[Larry B. Larabee]

I've had the R3's in three different apartment/rooms with different dimensions from medium large to currently small.

Do you get generally better results with the speakers on the long wall, easier setup, lower room interaction, more accurate tonality?

 

[Ataraxia]

Do you get generally better results with the speakers on the long wall, easier setup, lower room interaction, more accurate tonality?

I believe so. I don't recall tonality but imaging was best for sure in the first pic, the largest room. Th first room the imaging was excellent, I'd consistently get tricked into sound originating outside the room. Second was still pretty good, the third and current apartment you can see It's all scrunched together and with the big TV not ideal. Soundstage is still very enjoyable but not as good as could be at all. I actually bought Metas thinking they would work better in the living room but they really did not for me, so I put the R3's back there and the Metas on my desk.

 

[Descartes]

I believe so. I don't recall tonality but imaging was best for sure in the first pic, the largest room. Th first room the imaging was excellent, I'd consistently get tricked into sound originating outside the room. Second was still pretty good, the third and current apartment you can see It's all scrunched together and with the big TV not ideal. Soundstage is still very enjoyable but not as good as could be at all. I actually bought Metas thinking they would work better in the living room but they really did not for me, so I put the R3's back there and the Metas on my desk.


View attachment 173905

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No center channel!

 

[Ataraxia]

No center channel!

I'm torn between really liking a phantom center that cannot be mistaken for coming out of the center speaker, and getting a center channel for movies only...

If I ever get two rooms I'll probably set up a 5.1 and a 2.1 channel for music only... This is kind of a work in progress for me and depending on the rooms I'm in.

 

[Descartes]

I'm torn between really liking a phantom center that cannot be mistaken for coming out of the center speaker, and getting a center channel for movies only...

If I ever get two rooms I'll probably set up a 5.1 and a 2.1 channel for music only... This is kind of a work in progress for me and depending on the rooms I'm in.

A center channel is critical for proper movie watching

 

[withoutsuit]

Did anyone compared sealed vs. open ports? I've just bought them and I'm wondering, if sealing it would improve the sound (at the moment it hast lp/hp at 80hz with sub).

 

[trevor_bartram]

While my hearing is impaired by Menieres disease I can hear the difference between the Metas and most other speakers when reproducing female vocals. There is more body and detail with the Metas. The only other speaker that came close is the B&W 705 S2 (at twice the price). I can liken the difference to listening on my Sennheiser HD580 headphones (that sound like the Metas) versus my Paradigm Studio Reference 20 V2 mini monitors (that don't). Are there any other speakers that can pull off this trick (hopefully less expensive) or should I stick with my Paradigms?

 

[Ataraxia]

While my hearing is impaired by Menieres disease I can hear the difference between the Metas and most other speakers when reproducing female vocals. There is more body and detail with the Metas. The only other speaker that came close is the B&W 705 S2 (at twice the price). I can liken the difference to listening on my Sennheiser HD580 headphones (that sound like the Metas) versus my Paradigm Studio Reference 20 V2 mini monitors (that don't). Are there any other speakers that can pull off this trick (hopefully less expensive) or should I stick with my Paradigms?

Q150's to me seem to have detail similar to the Metas, but not quite the body. But there are similarities so could be worth a shot.

 

[trevor_bartram]

Q150's to me seem to have detail similar to the Metas, but not quite the body. But there are similarities so could be worth a shot.

Yes, the Q150's have the same tonality but not the clarity, detail and body very noticeable in female vocals. That is also missing in my Studio 20s. The search continues.

 

[Ataraxia]

Yes, the Q150's have the same tonality but not the clarity, detail and body very noticeable in female vocals. That is also missing in my Studio 20s. The search continues.

The Polk R100 and R200 have gotten a few extremely good reviews.

Polk R100 Bookshelf Speaker Review

Polk R100 Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

I saw a review the R200's even compete with Metas.

 

[alont]

Something I just noticed in the measurements - seems like compared to the R3, the LS50 Meta project a lot of energy backwards up to around 1100 hz - why is this?

Here's the LS50 Meta's horizontal contour plot, as measured by Amir:

Here's the R3's normalized horizontal contour plot, taken from Erin's review of the R3:

Maybe the R3 has additional absorption material inside the enclosure? Could that explain the difference?

Wouldn't this mean that the LS50 meta is more prone to to SBIR at higher frequencies?

 

[muad]

Something I just noticed in the measurements - seems like compared to the R3, the LS50 Meta project a lot of energy backwards up to around 1100 hz - why is this?

Here's the LS50 Meta's horizontal contour plot, as measured by Amir:

Here's the R3's normalized horizontal contour plot, taken from Erin's review of the R3:

Maybe the R3 has additional absorption material inside the enclosure? Could that explain the difference?

Wouldn't this mean that the LS50 meta is more prone to to SBIR at higher frequencies?

The R3 plot is lower resolution with 3 db between colours, that's enough to obscure the plot and create a disparity between them

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

The R3 plot is lower resolution with 3 db between colours, that's enough to obscure the plot and create a disparity between them

I guess it's the plot res but anyway the R3 at 1khz-2khz have that part yellow and that does mean -12dB ~, the LS50M have that part in red, which is very different

R series use Layering (UNIQ) + bracing

 

[muad]

But that could be the difference of 0.1db... You can't tell because the resolution is too different

The GitHub measurements would be more accurate, but I'm not infront of a PC to post the difference

I'd say it's the plot res but anyway the R3 at 1khz-2khz have that part yellow and that does mean -12dB ~, the LS50M have that part in red, which is very different

R series use Layering (UNIQ) + bracing

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

But that could be the difference of 0.1db... You can't tell because the resolution is too different

The GitHub measurements would be more accurate, but I'm not infront of a PC to post the difference

I disagree, both scale is at 1dB not 0.1dB.


One scale is 3dB + 3 dB, and the other with more res at 1db + 1dB. Is not hard to see the difference.

 

[muad]

I disagree, both scale is at 1dB not 0.1dB.


One scale is 3dB + 3 dB, and the other with more res at 1db + 1dB. Is not hard to see the difference.

So at 2.9db will the colour change from orange to yellow? While the 1db scale, will show the change sooner? I'm not saying they're the same... The difference won't be a big to the eye if the db scale is the same

Compare the graphs here for parity.

A collection of loudspeakers measurements

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

So at 2.9db will the colour change from orange to yellow? While the 1db scale, will show the change sooner? I'm not saying they're the same... The difference won't be a big to the eye if the db scale is the same

Compare the graphs here for parity.

A collection of loudspeakers measurements

They are sufficient different to see clearly the difference, at 1.5 khz~ it's not even orange, it's yellow.. and the ls50m it's more like a red

Im not saying this will be accuare, but is not that hard to see that difference

I'd say the difference it's because the UNIQ have their own layering in the R series.

 

[alont]

Here's the R3's non-normalized plot from the ASR review:

Also clearly demonstrates the difference.

 

[muad]

Here's the R3's non-normalized plot from the ASR review:
View attachment 176466
Also clearly demonstrates the difference.

Ok, here's a direct comparison with the same scales. The difference is even more than shown in the previous posts.

 

[muad]

Probably best explained by the port output as shown in the ASR review of the LS50M