LS50 Meta vs LS50 with EQ

[Dave-Oh]

Its great to hear that because that is on the top of my list now to power the stubborn ls50. What are you pairing it with?

I have a new Bluesound Node, a Musical fidelity DAC and using a Musical Fidelity integrated amp as the preamp with the RCA preamp outs to the Anthem amplifier. Right now I have a pair of floorstanding Martin Logan speakers, Motion 40, but the reason I got the Anthem amp is that I am building a pair of Dennis Murphy’s BMR‘s and I know I‘ll need more power. I found a good deal on the MCA 225 so I purchased it last week and hooked it up to the Martin Logan’s. Immense improvement vs the Musical fidelity integrated. That amp (M2si) is only rated for 76 W but it’s a competent design with some current capability. I like the M2si, but it’s nothing like the Anthem. It actually seems to transform the speakers into something bigger and better. I’ve had several good power amps but nothing has sounded as dynamic as this one.

 

[Ron Texas]

I have (and others) wondered about the ASR measurements of the LS50. They look different from a lot of other measurements published. They were one of the earliest speakers measured on the Klippel here so it's possible a rematch would produce slightly different results. Personally, I have never measured the bump at 5 khz and that's high up enough that the room effects are minimal.

 

[Notwist]

I’ve been following these discussions on the LS50 line. I did direct A/B testing of the LS50 Wireless 1’s (based on the original LS50) vs. LS50 Wireless 2 (based on the LS50 Metas). The LS50 Wireless 1’s were DSP adjusted for the room and then EQ-ed (individual left and right speaker filters) using REW, while the LS50 Wireless 2’s we’re just DSP adjusted. Same subwoofer connected to both and a 90Hz crossover.

No matter how much tweaking I did with additional EQ-ing I could not get the LS50 Wireless 1’s to match the same clarity I heard from the Wireless 2’s. The Wireless 2’s were just consistently clearer and more detailed without losing impact in lower regions. I can only imagine what EQ-ing the Wireless 2’s will do to further enhance them.

To be clear: the Wireless 1’s sounded very good. But the Wireless 2’s were just better.

Also: to anybody debating whether to get the Wireless 1’s for their USB connection option or the Wireless 2’s for their sound improvements, I did A/B testing from my PC via USB and Optical out, and I don’t believe I could tell a difference, and more importantly the speaker improvements in the Wireless 2 outweigh whatever benefits the USB input brings. That being said…I hope KEF brings back the USB input for the next iteration.

 

[lc155]

As I've said elsewhere, I had a huge 2% THD spike at 2.5kHz in one of my KEF LS50 Metas, and I wasn't certain there was anything wrong for weeks. So I do doubt I could hear the THD difference on that graph.

You had a defective speaker or something? Interested in the details.

 

[KMO]

You had a defective speaker or something? Interested in the details.

Don't think I should clutter up this thread with more about it, but I posted about it over on AVS Forum here.