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That would be a significant step up. I suggest speakers with strong bass capability AND subwoofers, because they hand off to each other much better.
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KEF LS50 Upgrade
- Thread starter simplywyn
- Start date
Try putting your sub in your listening position, then do the crawl...
- Thread Starter
- #23
I may just do this then
- Thread Starter
- #24
I don’t think it’ll make a blistering difference as I’ve already positioned it relatively well
Certainly could be. For future reference then.
Can really help narrow down placement choices in a less random way. Room nodes/nulls can be crazy and maddeningly frustrating.Sounds like the LS50's, nice as they can be (I really do like mine), aren't really suited for your current use. Let us know what you end up moving to and how you like it.
- Thread Starter
- #27
Certainly could be. For future reference then.
Sounds like the LS50's, nice as they can be (I really do like mine), aren't really suited for your current use. Let us know what you end up moving to and how you like it.
Totally, I get what you mean and I’ve moved the sub around several times, there’s limited space as to where I can move it so I’ve just optimized with what I can do with the bass it can produce and I don’t think it’s a placement problem.
I think the general theory here is that LS50 can sound amazing but it seems like I will need to dish out quite a bit of dough and time for them to work well
I’d rather just buy the next set, then see what I can do with my LS50 as maybe an office speaker
Steve Dallas
Major Contributor
Random thoughts...
If you want absolute scale, you want floorstanders.
Having said that, the KEF R3 is a noticeable step up from the LS50 in terms of bass response, while retaining most of what people like about the LS50, although it does have a different response curve--making them sound like the better-rounded, more refined, less exciting brother in the family. If you want to stay in the KEF world, the R5 floorstanders also look interesting.
You may be able to add a second sub and solve your problem for fairly low outlay. I am running a pair of LS50s in my media room with a 150W amp and a pair of SVS SB2000 subs and room correction with very satisfactory results. I think my crossover is set at 90Hz, and this is guided by in-room measurements using a UMIK and REW.
It is pretty much impossible to go wrong with Revel.
You don't need to spend a lot of money to obtain "audiophile" type stands. A pair of Monoprice Monolith stands with Dynamat on the bases and columns filled with baking soda runs right around $150 and sounds better than all the typical consumer stuff, and likely as good as good as anything else. You can buy baking soda in 12 Lbs bags in the pool supplies department of most big box stores, and you would need roughly 2.5 bags.
^ I added a strip of Dynamat to the spike rails too, after chasing down a resonance after this photo was taken.
If you want absolute scale, you want floorstanders.
Having said that, the KEF R3 is a noticeable step up from the LS50 in terms of bass response, while retaining most of what people like about the LS50, although it does have a different response curve--making them sound like the better-rounded, more refined, less exciting brother in the family. If you want to stay in the KEF world, the R5 floorstanders also look interesting.
You may be able to add a second sub and solve your problem for fairly low outlay. I am running a pair of LS50s in my media room with a 150W amp and a pair of SVS SB2000 subs and room correction with very satisfactory results. I think my crossover is set at 90Hz, and this is guided by in-room measurements using a UMIK and REW.
It is pretty much impossible to go wrong with Revel.
You don't need to spend a lot of money to obtain "audiophile" type stands. A pair of Monoprice Monolith stands with Dynamat on the bases and columns filled with baking soda runs right around $150 and sounds better than all the typical consumer stuff, and likely as good as good as anything else. You can buy baking soda in 12 Lbs bags in the pool supplies department of most big box stores, and you would need roughly 2.5 bags.
^ I added a strip of Dynamat to the spike rails too, after chasing down a resonance after this photo was taken.
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Baking soda...that's a new one to me.
mhardy6647
Grand Contributor
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baking soda?
OK, what's the rationale that selects baking soda for this application -- as opposed to, say, lead shot (or bismuth shot), or salt, or sugar, or sand, or ground-up PS Audio products (kidding, just kidding)?
Inquiring (Enquiring) minds want to know!
OK, what's the rationale that selects baking soda for this application -- as opposed to, say, lead shot (or bismuth shot), or salt, or sugar, or sand, or ground-up PS Audio products (kidding, just kidding)?
Inquiring (Enquiring) minds want to know!
I have the cheap Monoprice stands, was going to try some play sand from ebay. One thing I have learned is you don't want to give up on a speaker until you have proper amplification. Go as far as some would say is "overkill" for a speaker before you judge them.
Steve Dallas
Major Contributor
baking soda?
OK, what's the rationale that selects baking soda for this application -- as opposed to, say, lead shot (or bismuth shot), or salt, or sugar, or sand, or ground-up PS Audio products (kidding, just kidding)?
Inquiring (Enquiring) minds want to know!
It is clean, dry, inexpensive, odor-free, silica-free, lead-free, non-hygroscopic, non-corrosive, ready-to-use, and has a density of .97 g per cubic centimeter, which is dense enough to deaden all resonance in the column(s) of a speaker stand. Anything denser than that is overkill. When I filled mine, each stand weighed an additional 16 Lbs.
A knuckle rap on each column barely yields a sound, as if the entire stand has been sucked into a vacuum inside a black hole of anti-resonance-detail-revealing greatness.
I have tried all the other stuff over the past 20 years, and baking soda works as well of any of them. Obviously, there is some argument to made for using bird shot at the bottom of the stand to make it more bottom-heavy if needed. I used 4 balls of Blue-Tack on the top plate under each speaker to hold them in place.
I just happened to have several bags of baking soda for the pool, and figured I could try it risk-free (still usable in the pool!). It worked just as well as previous, much more elaborate treatments I have used before, with much less effort than drying supposedly "dry" sand in the oven. Just be sure to pack it by whacking the columns with a rubber mallet as you fill them. A "full" column will compress ~3" after a good whacking.
Aw hell... I forgot something. We should all be adding filler a little bit at a time to "tune" our stands to... something... something.
Obviously, ground up PSA Noise Harvesters is the best, but most expensive solution. Think of all the harvested noise!
Anyway this has the be the most hyphens I have ever used in a single post!
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- Thread Starter
- #33
Thanks for all the great replies, was not expecting such amazing wealth of knowledge here. I may take some advice and see what I can do to improve the LS50 or if the wife approves move to revel haha
I’ve learned a lot of things on this forum, but this might be the most unexpected.It is clean, dry, inexpensive, odor-free, silica-free, lead-free, non-hygroscopic, non-corrosive, ready-to-use, and has a density of .97 g per cubic centimeter, which is dense enough to deaden all resonance in the column(s) of a speaker stand. Anything denser than that is overkill. When I filled mine, each stand weighed an additional 16 Lbs.
A knuckle rap on each column barely yields a sound, as if the entire stand has been sucked into a vacuum inside a black hole of anti-resonance-detail-revealing greatness.
I have tried all the other stuff over the past 20 years, and baking soda works as well of any of them. Obviously, there is some argument to made for using bird shot at the bottom of the stand to make it more bottom-heavy if needed. I used 4 balls of Blue-Tack on the top plate under each speaker to hold them in place.
I just happened to have several bags of baking soda for the pool, and figured I could try it risk-free (still usable in the pool!). It worked just as well as previous, much more elaborate treatments I have used before, with much less effort than drying supposedly "dry" sand in the oven. Just be sure to pack it by whacking the columns with a rubber mallet as you fill them. A "full" column will compress ~3" after a good whacking.
Aw hell... I forgot something. We should all be adding filler a little bit at a time to "tune" our stands to... something... something.
Obviously, ground up PSA Noise Harvesters is the best, but most expensive solution. Think of all the harvested noise!
Anyway this has the be the most hyphens I have ever used in a single post!
It is clean, dry, inexpensive, odor-free, silica-free, lead-free, non-hygroscopic, non-corrosive, ready-to-use, and has a density of .97 g per cubic centimeter, which is dense enough to deaden all resonance in the column(s) of a speaker stand. Anything denser than that is overkill. When I filled mine, each stand weighed an additional 16 Lbs.
A knuckle rap on each column barely yields a sound, as if the entire stand has been sucked into a vacuum inside a black hole of anti-resonance-detail-revealing greatness.
I have tried all the other stuff over the past 20 years, and baking soda works as well of any of them. Obviously, there is some argument to made for using bird shot at the bottom of the stand to make it more bottom-heavy if needed. I used 4 balls of Blue-Tack on the top plate under each speaker to hold them in place.
I just happened to have several bags of baking soda for the pool, and figured I could try it risk-free (still usable in the pool!). It worked just as well as previous, much more elaborate treatments I have used before, with much less effort than drying supposedly "dry" sand in the oven. Just be sure to pack it by whacking the columns with a rubber mallet as you fill them. A "full" column will compress ~3" after a good whacking.
Aw hell... I forgot something. We should all be adding filler a little bit at a time to "tune" our stands to... something... something.
Obviously, ground up PSA Noise Harvesters is the best, but most expensive solution. Think of all the harvested noise!
Anyway this has the be the most hyphens I have ever used in a single post!
Aquarium gravel...
Steve Dallas
Major Contributor
BTW, I spent around $500 for a pair of Sound Anchor stands for my study, as they need to be custom heights due to the floor being way out of level and my using an office chair in there. They sound no better than the Monoliths described above. You want a stand to sound "not there," and both options accomplish that equally well.
- Thread Starter
- #37
Do stand make a big deal at all? I have them on regular stands I bought off Sanus wooden speaker stands I bought off bestbuy - they are MDF I think and hollow (just all wood). Is it worth to upgrade the stands?
There won't be any audible difference, just buy whatever stands put your speakers at the height you need them to be. If you want them to look nice and want to spend more there's nothing wrong with it but you won't hear any audible difference.
- Thread Starter
- #39
I've noticed that if I put my weights ontop of those sanus stands and my speakers on top of the weight, I hear a slight improvement to base. But yeah maybe not.
Steve Dallas
Major Contributor
Rap them you knuckles and see if you hear any ring. If the stands are resonant, they will resonate when the speaker plays tones at the resonant frequencies. That can color what you are hearing from the speakers. The main thing people notice with totally inert stands is cleaner bass.
