KEF LS50 Meta Review (Speaker)

[testp]

tr

So you think in my use of Sat-nav to calculate the optimum route home I didn't take enough care? How much more care would one take?
Decades ago I had a Tom-Tom sat nav which you could easily edit the weighting of road types. I could "force" it to choose routes I knew would be better. One might have thought defaults would have advanced in the last 30 years but apparently not. Nothing recent has had such an intuitive interface, maybe I could go into my car sat nav and do similar adjustments but the interface is shite - as most software is nowadays.

try Wase app, wheter it is using any AI i dont know, but its optimized routes look good to me, i still use my car sat_nav as well, but if im interested about accurate time/traffic, apps are pretty good with that.

@Punchy_Power_Cat it doesnt hurt to test & try, if i would find a good looking base units to put ls50's to i might consider kef's as well

 

[sapphari]

I agree, yet if there is room for improvement I am at the door. There is.

The problem is that the likelihood of making things sound worse is much higher than realizing any improvement in this scenario. You'd be lucky to achieve parity, and in the process you will have spent time and money unnecessarily.

Erin has reviewed a few speakers that measure as well as the LS50 meta, and get louder with less compression and THD. They do cost more. But this solution is far more elegant and essentially ensures better performance than a complex setup.

 

[Frank Dernie]

Most of the time I don't need a map or GPS navigation (most of the time I am on a motorcycle, so don't take my eyes of the road), but when I do I have often forced Gmaps to take a different route. It's just a click here and there. And there are routes where Gmaps doesn't have its routes together, and I have seen it say "left on .." when in fact it should be right.

Exactly, they are crap.

It is dangerous to try and beat some sort of sense into them without stopping, then I might as well use a map and actually come up with a good route.
None are good in the country roads IME, in congested cities with a precise destination they are OK.

A few months ago in Wales on a route I knew well my car sat nav suddenly sent me on a detour down roads unsuitable for motorised traffic, no idea why but it was really crap and dangerous, not the first or last time but I don't trust my car, Google or Waze to choose an acceptable route on country roads any more.

 

[pablolie]

The problem is that the likelihood of making things sound worse is much higher than realizing any improvement in this scenario. You'd be lucky to achieve parity, and in the process you will have spent time and money unnecessarily.

Erin has reviewed a few speakers that measure as well as the LS50 meta, and get louder with less compression and THD. They do cost more. But this solution is far more elegant and essentially ensures better performance than a complex setup.

The highest xover I recall someone on ASR using for the LS50 is 200Hz. But I think they sound stellar at 80 or even 70Hz. And I think they play more than loud enough (medium sized room, cathedral ceilings, I sit 8ft away) and I don't hear any distortion. And anyone that thinks distortion measurements are super relevant when they listen at over 100dB SPL... well...

 

[Frank Dernie]

try Wase app, wheter it is using any AI i dont know, but its optimized routes look good to me, i still use my car sat_nav as well, but if im interested about accurate time/traffic, apps are pretty good with that.

Waze was the first one that sent me down completely unsuitable roads, scratched both sides of my car paintwork simultaneously that was a couple of years ago, my current car would not have fitted through the place I scratched my old car - I would have been faced with reversing 5 miles down a road 6" wider than my car. I only use Waze now for the last couple of miles in a congested town, where it seems good.
I have strayed way OT now so no more on the shortcomings of AI here from me.

 

[Punchy_Power_Cat]

The problem is that the likelihood of making things sound worse is much higher than realizing any improvement in this scenario.

Have you listened to tracks with a reduced range of 200-700Hz? There is not enough information to really pinpoint instruments or voices at a certain point in the stage, everything sounds "under water". The pinpointable information is being added from 700Hz, maybe from 500Hz on some tracks, I'm not picky about a certain value. I don't think I will face issues aligning the seperately driven woofers, at least not significately more than any three-way design would face. I will be building the lowtoner cabinets to ensure close proximity of cones. The rest will be measured and corrected by DSP.

 

[sapphari]

You are tying to solve a problem that either doesn't exist (you don't want to listen at high volume), or has already been solved (by other speakers that get louder with less distortion). I don't know how else to communicate this. Best of luck.

 

[Axo1989]

… Have a great rest of the weekend, and my participation in this topic is over, I am unfollowing it for good.

Haha, I’ve enjoyed your many farewell tours here !!

 

[Punchy_Power_Cat]

You are tying to solve a problem that either doesn't exist

I have found out a lot of things listening to known tracks with limited frequency ranges of various forms. For example that even playing with medium volume I discover unknown cues and symbols in known tracks. It is not just linear distortion to worry about, but there is imd-distortion that rises the more complex tones a single driver/cone plays. The less jobs/tones you give a driver to do, the better it can do the job. There is just no driver chassis that can play from 80Hz-2,1Khz (as KEF has crossed them) and do it all equally good the entire way. Show me a 5.25 driver that can do that. It's not happening. Even an 8 inch driver that comes close will be 800+ dollar the single driver chassis alone. There are tradeoffs even with more advanced cones.

 

[napfkuchen]

Like Erin said in his review of the R3 meta: If you apply room-correction there is no issue anyway. I probably don't have the expertise to detect flaws in the FR as Amir did just by listening to it. Therefore the only customization I have (after room-correction) are different target curves below 100 Hz. Still stunned by the pinpoint imaging accuracy of these speakers compared to the on-wall speakers they replaced.
Crossing over at 100 Hz, maybe 80 Hz was possible. Will be interesting to see (hear) if they can add some "value" with DiracART as there is no way for me to exchange the LS 50 metas for bigger speakers.

 

[Mike_Trueman]

My LS50 Meta's are high passed so the woofer is barely moving when playing loud.

And then there is this guy.

 

[testp]

My LS50 Meta's are high passed so the woofer is barely moving when playing loud.

And then there is this guy.

nice guy..!

 

[Blueprint]

My LS50 Meta's are high passed so the woofer is barely moving when playing loud.

And then there is this guy.

My old KEF R100s did this weird thing on a single bass note once where the bass driver became completely separated from the baffle. Not unlike what’s happening in the video, just further and much more slowly. Shit myself and have crossed them over at 100hz max since.

 

[40th Anniversary]

New KEF LS50 Meta owner here.
Purchased them used and decided to try them out to see what the fuss is all about. It was a convenient purchase literally around the block.

Well, well, I am quite impressed. Imaging is really good; soundstage is wide which I love!
The sound is detailed without being harsh. I love it.
And the bass, for which I was expecting a lean sounding speaker, is anything but. It is quite a refined listen actually.
Simply put, I can sit here and listen to music and "feel" 90% satisfied.

Subjectively I do find them a little off tone at times, but I do find that with many other speakers and it's probably just me that is off tone.
Comparatively speaking, my Neumanns sound perfect.

The metas can sound a little on the small side with some passages, so probably some limits to dynamic range.
They are being powered by a Musical Fidelity A1 Class "A" amplifier: not even breaking a sweat.

For comparisons, my speaker inventory includes the Neumann KH150 and a pair of SEAS A26 speakers with custom cabs (a little oversized).

Surprisingly enjoyable and exceeds my expectations. I put them on par with my Triangle Comète 40th speakers; but very different speakers!
The Comètes can play loud and far with that horn tweeter (and create air in the soundstage). I find they sound best 'loud'.
The Metas are more imaging champs and conjure up more detail. They sound best at low to moderate levels.

The KEF LS 50 Meta are adequate in the sense that old Rolls-Royce cars have adequate engine power.

Bottom line: I like 'em.

 

[kokono]

I think people who say they have no bass, use low power amplifiers. I find them quiet dynamic with a good punch. Maybe a little rolled off in highs, but only because my other speakers are a bit bright sounding.

 

[Digital_Thor]

I think people who say they have no bass, use low power amplifiers. I find them quiet dynamic with a good punch. Maybe a little rolled off in highs, but only because my other speakers are a bit bright sounding.

Well, could be an explanation, but I tried to give it all the power you could dream of, and that made no difference at all.
It is just a small coax, and definitely limited by this.
In my room it played like exactly what it is, and I had almost no bass at all,... Admittedly, my room is hard to fill with bass.. but still.
I sold them to my sister who use them to listen to piano recordings in her kitchen... Because they are definitely awesome for what they do well.... But not much bass.

 

[Purité Audio]

Choose a loudspeaker for its application, if you have a large room/ sit further away or want full-range sound then the LS50 is probably not the correct choice.
Keith

 

[pablolie]

Choose a loudspeaker for its application, if you have a large room/ sit further away or want full-range sound then the LS50 is probably not the correct choice.
Keith

Not by itself for sure. In my room -which isn't small, but certainly also not huge- the "problem" was easily overcome with a sub. If I played music loud, the next step would be two subs... but there would also be a limit there, of course. Like you said, pick based on your application.

 

[kokono]

A sub will suck off all the magic of those coaxial drives, bur then if the room is large, why bother with bookshelves..

 

[pablolie]

A sub will suck off all the magic of those coaxial drives

Why? A halfway capably integrated sub is non directional and operates in a different range. The coaxials can hence focus on what they do best (which we agree is not <80Hz bass).

bur then if the room is large, why bother with bookshelves..

There are bookshelf speakers that can fill a big room. But I agree that it wouldn't be the LS50.