KEF LS60 Advice

[Chester]

Hi all

I am looking at a pair of LS60’s for our new kitchen but am after some advice from those more knowledgeable than I.

The speakers would be placed along a wall that is 2.3m away from a 3m island which is standard uk height, 0.9m. They would be pointed toward the island and I would mainly be listening from the other side. The wall behind the speakers and to the right of them is primarily glass.

1. Given the LS60 tweeter is approx 0.8m high, would this likely result in a lot of the sound energy hitting the island and greatly impacting the sound that reaches me?

2. With the amount of glass in the room, plus the island, would having a speaker like the LS60 be a bit pointless? As in, unlikely to ever really reap the full benefits. I’m not expecting audio perfection as the room and listening position are far from ideal but if it’s going to sound fairly naff regardless of speaker, I may as well save my money.

3. Listening position would be around 4m away. I’m not looking to rock out but having read comments on other threads, are these speakers likely to have enough juice to provide good volume levels? I would say I’m looking for around 80dB-85dB average listening level.

Home audition is not an option. That would be my ideal way of answering all these questions!

Thanks

 

[Shige]

Hi all

I am looking at a pair of LS60’s for our new kitchen but am after some advice from those more knowledgeable than I.

The speakers would be placed along a wall that is 2.3m away from a 3m island which is standard uk height, 0.9m. They would be pointed toward the island and I would mainly be listening from the other side. The wall behind the speakers and to the right of them is primarily glass.

1. Given the LS60 tweeter is approx 0.8m high, would this likely result in a lot of the sound energy hitting the island and greatly impacting the sound that reaches me?

2. With the amount of glass in the room, plus the island, would having a speaker like the LS60 be a bit pointless? As in, unlikely to ever really reap the full benefits. I’m not expecting audio perfection as the room and listening position are far from ideal but if it’s going to sound fairly naff regardless of speaker, I may as well save my money.

3. Listening position would be around 4m away. I’m not looking to rock out but having read comments on other threads, are these speakers likely to have enough juice to provide good volume levels? I would say I’m looking for around 80dB-85dB average listening level.

Home audition is not an option. That would be my ideal way of answering all these questions!

Thanks

Another consideration in a high traffic area like the kitchen is that there is no protective grill for the drivers.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I have not heard LS 60's but have owned LS 50's in both iterations (OG and Meta) since 2015. Based on that experience, my advice is as follows:

1). Because of their superior vertical directivity, any Kef Uni-Q will be rather insensitive to the relationship between the height difference between the listeners ears and the tweeter. Up to around 30 degrees height angle difference, it should be able to play with no concerns around height. And I at roughly eight feet away, you will not have much to worry about with the 3 foot tall island.

2. Because the reflected sound, will have roughly the same FR as the direct sound, the Kefs are as insensitive to rooms with hard surfaces as probably any high end speaker on the market. Lots of people have rooms with lotsa glass in them and still enjoy high end speakers.

3. You should have no problem playing those speakers at 80-85 db. It's only when you play them twice as loud (96 db) that you will run into noticeable issues. There may be some mild dynamic compression of peaks, sometimes, but I would bet it would be so minor you won't even notice.

For most people in most rooms, those speakers will be endgame, but you should listen for yourself before making the plunge, and you should also negotiate a 30 day return with restocking fee before you buy.

 

[Purité Audio]

I don’t think the tweeter height would be a problem, at what height will your ears be ?
Glass also isn’t particularly a problem although it is always cast as a demon, it just reflects and absorbs like like any other surface.
I listen at about 4 metres and they are plenty loud enough.
Keith

 

[BigFKahuna]

Your room sounds rather similar to mine, results here are stellar and I think you will be happy! Oh, and loud enough to get your neighbours involved.....

 

[Chester]

Thanks all for your thoughts on this.

 

[GA16SE]

I think that KEF LS60 speakers deserve a better place than a kitchen, where there might be moisture in excess. A less expensive speaker setup would be better suited there.

 

[BigFKahuna]

I think that KEF LS60 speakers deserve a better place than a kitchen, where there might be moisture in excess. A less expensive speaker setup would be better suited there.

I understand that LS60's in a traditional European style kitchen (I have been in many!) might not be ideal. If what the OP proposes is a setting like my "kitchen", which is really a great room setting that opens to a seating area and adjacent rooms, then I think humidity would not be an issue. I suppose then would the general ambient humidity of a high humid location such as the tropics be an issue?

 

[Chester]

Yes agreed, humidity would not be an issue in my room.

 

[Penelinfi]

More of an issue is oil carried by vapour . This eventually settles and builds up with dust, creating a yuk and more difficult to clean situation.
Perhaps if you have a good ventilation system it's less an issue.