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KEF LS60 Wireless Just Announced

nothingman

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It makes sense what they’ve done to differentiate the products. If they do a full size UniQ and 6.5in woofers, then the cannibalization to the Blade 2 (which just got a major refresh) is just too apparent. I wouldn’t bet on it anytime soon.

I think this new LS70 LS60 (whoops!) makes a ton of sense the more I look at everything, and it seems clear there can’t be a passive version with the physical and electrical demands of the Uni-Core design, so I don’t really know where they take this other than other active offerings. I’d love to use my miniDSP SHD to handle all of my inputs and system-wide Dirac and then hook that up to the LS70 LS60 with the coax output. Would keep the I/O cable situation on the LS70 LS60 clean, and the SHD could properly time-align a couple subwoofers as well and skip the LS70’s LS60’s sub out.
 
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harkpabst

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I think this new LS70 makes a ton of sense the more I look at everything, and it seems clear there can’t be a passive version with the physical and electrical demands of the Uni-Core design, so I don’t really know where they take this other than other active offerings. I’d love to use my miniDSP SHD to handle all of my inputs and system-wide Dirac and then hook that up to the LS70 with the coax output. Would keep the I/O cable situation on the LS70 clean, and the SHD could properly time-align a couple subwoofers as well and skip the LS70’s sub out.
You have four LS70s just in this paragraph when we've just seen the introduction of LS60. Hold your breath. :D
 

Daka

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But ex demo are significantly cheaper and the workmanship on the Ref 5 is immaculate. As for SQ the Ref 5 is very good - it would be a great demo to hear Ref 5 vs LS60 + 2 KF92.
As a calibration, Jack Oclee Brown, in one of his recent interviews, reckoned that he might prefer the LS60 (no mention of subs) to the R7. I would have thought that might have been a relatively easy call though.
Cheapest I’ve seen is £9k still more than LS60 + kf92. If you prefer the looks and don’t mind spending more and heavily invested into high end separates then yes reference would be for you.

LS60 I would be comparing to r11/ref 5 not r7 ?
Check the white paper. It has wider soundstage also. Reference will have lower distortion and they calibrate pair to max 0.5db difference and that’s why you pay so much more. But it is questionable if regular Joe would hear the difference.
 

Ron Texas

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There's not even an LS50W center channel yet so discussing a multichannel system at this time seems like pure fantasy to me.
 
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Aafnp

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So I’m looking at replacing my active ATCs. What would be a better bet? Ls60’s or used Neumann kh420’s?
 

EdW

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I hope with the push to products like LS60 the integrated amps will last a long time. Can I count on longevity and repair history like Genelec stuff?
You raise the question at the back of many people’s minds. Loudspeakers are the most expensive part of any system by a large margin. Good loudspeakers can still sound superb after 15-20 years. Speaker integrated electronics, particularly where we don’t get to see the build quality, ventilation etc. is less likely to be as long lived and parts/repair might be hard to find. KEF offer 2 years warranty on their active speakers and 5 years on their passives.
 

nothingman

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And let’s face it, the track record on the KC62 is woefully bad. They shipped it with audio-detect circuitry that is hard to wake up and maintain power-on, a loud thump at shutdown noise, and reversed polarity on the line-outs. Worse, they made a mess of acknowledging the issue, offering repairs (which had to be done in person, no firmware possible), and even now, units that are supposed to be all fixed from the factory still have wake issues for a lot of people. The engineering side of KEF is obviously stellar, the support (especially from KEF USA) is a liability. Less important on passives, very important on state of the art actives.
 

HeadDoc12

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Any leaks pointing to this?
Oh, not at all. I just figure that the LS60 is KEF committing to the LS line as more than just a special occasion thing. Assuming that active speakers continue to get more popular, as consumers realize the advantages, I just predict that KEF will pursue this design philosophy into as many areas as possible. They will be ok with hurting Reference and Blade sales if the market is demanding all-in-one solutions. My dream: A truly full-range, slightly bigger LS60 with Class D amps for all three drivers (Eigentakt, of course), whatever the latest WiFi and Bluetooth standards are, more connectivity options (USB-A seems to be in demand in this thread, for example) with real room correction. I feel like it is what almost everyone at ASR is looking for. It would not be cheap (I probably won't be able to afford it - maybe around US$15K?), but it would just destroy any passive setup out there.
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

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I still think the R7 crossover @⁨ 60hz/80hz with subs is a better deal
There is a minidsp for doing crossovers pretty easy


But this speaker have dispersion, so...bigger soundstage
 

NYfan2

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I don't know it this information has been posted already because I didn't read the whole thread.

Today I attended a demonstration of the new KEF Reference Meta and the KEF Blade Meta and there was also a "suprise"ofcourse it was the LS60 wireless. The KEF representative spent quiet some time explaining the LS60 and he repeated several times that for KEF this is the future in loudspeaker development.

Some specs.
3-way active
500W amplifier class D for the bass units
100W amplifier class D for the mid unit
100W amplifier class AB for the tweeter.
Weight 32 kilos
price: € 6500,- (in the Netherlands)

Every amplifier has it's own DAC with DSP.
Bass goes down to 26Hz thanks to DSP.

In the KEF app it's possible to connect to almost every streaming provider available. Also Spotifi connect and Tidal connect and Roon
It's possible to adjust the sound of the speakers but I don't know if parametric eq is available.
Every amplifier has a small cooling fan but there is passive cooling through an opening in the bottom of the speaker the air runs behind the amplifier section and the exhaust is just above the amplifier section.

Ofcourse some songs were played on the LS60, for me the mid-high is too bright and to much upfront, I don't know how the LS50 sound to have a reference. But I could compare it with the Reference 5 and the Blade 1 that were also demoed today and these were better in that regard (ofcourse there is a huge price difference). The bass is amazing and the speakers can play very loud. Also bass is automatically adjust at lower levels bij DSP so at low sound levels these speakers still sound very good.

At the end the representative of KEF announced that another big suprise is coming this summer, he didn't want to say what it is but it also works with the KEF app so it must be another wireless product.

Some photos.
IMG_20220513_161411.jpg


IMG_20220513_161437.jpg


IMG_20220513_161453.jpg
 

Reed

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I think the decision comes down to use and room. I have the LS50W2 plus 2 KC62s set-up you describe, and I am VERY happy. I use them for streaming hi-res music, vinyl, and TV. I live in a large city in the US, and my house has an open floorplan on the first floor, so not great from the acoustic perspective. I do listen to plenty of bass-heavy music, and also plenty that the LS50s can handle without subs. I do have the newer generation of KC62s, so the problem you describe is not as bad as when they first came out. In my experience, the signal doesn't have to be that loud to kick the subs on. And remember, the LS50W2s can play down to 45hz, so they sounded pretty great before I added the subs. The chimney issue you describe factors in, but really might not turn out to affect the sound that much at all. I suspect you'd be happy with either setup you choose, but if I were shopping today, I might go for the LS60s, because I know the placement of my subs is based much more on convenience and aesthetics than sound quality. The LS60 seems more user-friendly in terms of placement, and I wouldn't miss the extra bass too much. But I also have a different setup in another part of my house if I want to watch a big, dumb action movie.
Do you miss not having a center channel for TV? We rarely watch any action films but dialog is important.
 

HeadDoc12

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Do you miss not having a center channel for TV? We rarely watch any action films but dialog is important.
I don't. I had a Bluesound Soundbar hooked up to the TV before, and I don't really notice a difference regarding dialogue. Everything else sounds better, of course, but I still perceive the dialogue as coming from the screen. Also, my current TV is ARC-compatible, but not eARC, so when I get around to upgrading that, I expect the sound to improve somewhat, not that it needs it.
 

HarmonicTHD

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I still think the R7 crossover @⁨ 60hz/80hz with subs is a better deal
There is a minidsp for doing crossovers pretty easy


But this speaker have dispersion, so...bigger soundstage
Could you elaborate your first point please?

Genuinely curious.

Yesterday when I read the details on the LS60, I considered briefly selling my non-Meta Reference 3 (but keep the KF92s). But if you think that even the R7 plus subs would be better, I could put the thought aside.
 

EdW

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Could you elaborate your first point please?

Genuinely curious.

Yesterday when I read the details on the LS60, I considered briefly selling my non-Meta Reference 3 (but keep the KF92s). But if you think that even the R7 plus subs would be better, I could put the thought aside.
Ref 3 + 2 KF92 should be a superb system for music or as part of a home theatre setup.
 

Daka

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I don't know it this information has been posted already because I didn't read the whole thread.

Today I attended a demonstration of the new KEF Reference Meta and the KEF Blade Meta and there was also a "suprise"ofcourse it was the LS60 wireless. The KEF representative spent quiet some time explaining the LS60 and he repeated several times that for KEF this is the future in loudspeaker development.

Some specs.
3-way active
500W amplifier class D for the bass units
100W amplifier class D for the mid unit
100W amplifier class AB for the tweeter.
Weight 32 kilos
price: € 6500,- (in the Netherlands)

Every amplifier has it's own DAC with DSP.
Bass goes down to 26Hz thanks to DSP.

In the KEF app it's possible to connect to almost every streaming provider available. Also Spotifi connect and Tidal connect and Roon
It's possible to adjust the sound of the speakers but I don't know if parametric eq is available.
Every amplifier has a small cooling fan but there is passive cooling through an opening in the bottom of the speaker the air runs behind the amplifier section and the exhaust is just above the amplifier section.

Ofcourse some songs were played on the LS60, for me the mid-high is too bright and to much upfront, I don't know how the LS50 sound to have a reference. But I could compare it with the Reference 5 and the Blade 1 that were also demoed today and these were better in that regard (ofcourse there is a huge price difference). The bass is amazing and the speakers can play very loud. Also bass is automatically adjust at lower levels bij DSP so at low sound levels these speakers still sound very good.

At the end the representative of KEF announced that another big suprise is coming this summer, he didn't want to say what it is but it also works with the KEF app so it must be another wireless product.

Some photos.
View attachment 206497

View attachment 206498

View attachment 206500
How did you find ls60 soundstage compared to reference 5? Is it wider?
Obviously ls60 has got EQ built in so you can make them more to your liking.
 
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BrokenEnglishGuy

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Could you elaborate your first point please?

Genuinely curious.

Yesterday when I read the details on the LS60, I considered briefly selling my non-Meta Reference 3 (but keep the KF92s). But if you think that even the R7 plus subs would be better, I could put the thought aside.
Better is a big Word, for me its better for my pocket, btw I prefer ur speaker vs ls60, you can make them a very good full range system with minidsp

My first point? The minidsp thing?
You can cut the R7 100hz-20khz and then add good subs, but you need a dsp
For me its better, the LS60 is all you want but still are using 5.25" woofers in a very expensive price tag






Now the thing is apparently because it has bigger dispersion than the normal reference and r series

I dont know, its a weird speaker the LS60. These 5.25 woofers are not better than the unicore 6.5" from kc62 for sub tasks
 
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