KEF LS60 Wireless Just Announced

[Pearljam5000]

When can we expect a smaller version of the Muon?

 

[harkpabst]

It's been a lot of fun reading this thread in one go with hindsight of today's knowledge. I will refuse the urge to cite one or the other posting here.

Impressive engineering. The only thing I dislike so far is the logo sticking out at the top. I'm wondering if there is any truth in the talk over at pink fish media regarding a full "range" of LS60 products. Hard to believe so far.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Yes but it would be nice to know how the A/D conversion is made.

And I'd also like it if it included WiSA.

 

[bamhamer]

The design and connectivity especially the sub out and earc are so fucking tempting to me...

Need to listen to them and decide if it's worth to replace my dynaudio focus 60xd for them but i almost fear it wouldn't be an acoustic upgrade :/

 

[retro]

And I'd also like it if it included WiSA.

No, you need to use your own ViSA..

 

[Sancus]

Do they say anything about multi-channel support with the HDMI input? I couldn't find anything so I'm leaning towards no...

I feel like Kef is so close to enabling a fully wireless LS50 II + LS60 setup with this product.

 

[windwolf447]

After the Uni-Q and Uni-Core,
I am announcing a new KEF technology here today...
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(I apologise sincerely if you find this a bad joke lol)

 

[McFly]

I wonder if they prototyped a 5” uni-Q and 6.5” sided version…

 

[sifi36]

I wonder if they prototyped a 5” uni-Q and 6.5” sided version…

That would be a Blade Two wouldn’t it?

 

[harkpabst]

That would be a Blade Two wouldn’t it?

They still might have. Just not when designing the LS60 Wireless.

In that What HiFi interview mentioned above @jackocleebrown states that a MF/LF crossover point around 400 Hz has been one initial design goal and the matching size of Uni-Q and woofers was determined backwards from there. Now, the question is why this crossover point (slightly higher than Blade) has been chosen. It's probably a fair guess that apart from the directivity target they knew from the start that this would lead to potentially smaller drive units.

 

[CrisOfTheFields]

Were so lucky to have three excellent choices of 3-way Active speakers IMO these are the three top conteders in their price range depending your budget IMO, only thing missing is a Asynchronous USB input on the digital speakers to complete them

Under 500$:
Edifier 2850db

Under 2000$:
Hivi Swan M5a

Under 5000$
Neuman KH310A

Under 7000$:
Kef LS60

 

[Emlin]

Were so lucky to have three excellent choices of 3-way Active speakers IMO these are the three top conteders in their price range depending your budget IMO, only thing missing is a Asynchronous USB input on the digital speakers to complete them

Under 500$:
Edifier 2850db

Under 2000$:
Hivi Swan M5a

Under 5000$
Neuman KH310A

Under 7000$:
Kef LS60

I'm disappointed by the inclusion of MQA, them having only 4.2 Bluetooth limited to AAC (why?) and that they are not cardioid. Oh, and they should be free...

 

[Axo1989]

Ah, I was right about the woofers after all

So the reason the blade comparison didn’t work was because the Uni-Q is smaller

You were. And a few others.

Assuming a standard-size Uni-Q (and not realising the leaked 200 mm width was the plinth, not the column) was an error in my measurement method also.

A lot of posts since yesterday! Scaling everything down does make more sense from a marketing and pricing point of view, compared to R11 and Blade 2.

 

[Mnyb]

Over 500 responses but has anyone participating in this discussion heard these yet?

Are they any specimens in the wild yet ? A few select reviewer may have them ?

Would really like to see Erin review this one .

I would really like to hear a pair .

 

[Mnyb]

Are they any specimens in the wild yet ? A few select reviewer may have them ?

Would really like to see Erin review this one .

I would really like to hear a pair .

Aha saw further up in the tread that some lucky bastards got em and heard them , did kef sneak out some to select better people ?

 

[CrisOfTheFields]

I'm disappointed by the inclusion of MQA, them having only 4.2 Bluetooth limited to AAC (why?) and that they are not cardioid. Oh, and they should be free...

At least the Kefs have roon capability it seems. They seem to be lacking somewhat in the digital department, for me a Async USB dac built-in would complete them, to keep the digital signal throughout with least conversions at close as possible to original. I use my laptaop as a media source but I guess most people will connect them to a smartTV with a HDMI ARC for most video content

 

[DMill]

Aha saw further up in the tread that some lucky bastards got em and heard them , did kef sneak out some to select better people ?

It seems based on the buzz that KEF has launched this product right. Leaking out images, specs, and even product is good marketing. All indications are it’s pretty damn good, but we will see as it makes it’s way into homes and people have a chance to evaluate it. To me active wireless speakers seem like a no-brainer. If they have built in amplification, room correction, streaming, dac, hdmi inputs etc. then they pretty much can replace an entire system for both stereo and HT. Do I think these are here yet? Definitely not. But they certainly show a glimpse at a possible future.

 

[Castiel83]

So now we can state the following, the LS60 has better bass than the LS50, but if you want good bass in movies, do you still need a subwoofer?

 

[Sancus]

So now we can state the following, the LS60 has better bass than the LS50, but if you want good bass in movies, do you still need a subwoofer?

The answer to this is always yes because of the LFE.

But no, these speakers are not subs or anything remotely sub equivalent.

 

[Zvu]

...Now, the question is why this crossover point (slightly higher than Blade) has been chosen. It's probably a fair guess that apart from the directivity target they knew from the start that this would lead to potentially smaller drive units.

One aspect could be - If you want a narrow cabinet, you must use smaller diameter midrange. If you use smaller midrange, you don't have enough cone surface area and distortion goes up at low frequencies. If distortion goes up at lows, you must move the crossover point higher.

Other aspect could be - 4" midrange crossed at 250Hz with 4 woofers per cabinet is a serious workout for that little fellow. Since at Kef they had to downsize the midrange voice coil, it now has less power than it's larger brothers from R and Blade/Ref series (they've reduced voice coil diameter for the midrange to get more cone surface area for it, but now they had to use 19mm tweeter since larger 25mm one wont fit). That probably pushed the mid-tweeter crossover higher aswell.

They could have used Nd magnet behind the midrange which would add more SPL capability for the small cone but that would probably drove the price up significantly.

There could be more but one must understand that in loudspeaker design you are dealing with chain reactions rather than isolated problems/goals so engineers with "tunnel vision" are less desirable