New KEF speaker?

[Sammy135]

I'm going to go on a limb and say CI - R series equivalent.

The CI - R series equivalent, 5160, 3160, etc. are missing meta. The new dominus CI line has it. But the ultra line doesn't. I hope they address this line up, before moving down to Q series.

I hope it's that. Plus, the CI ultra line, as great as it is, it is really old. A refresh would probably help.

 

[kemmler3D]

The baffle looks a bit curved in the photo of the black finish, so my guess is it has something in common with LS60, maybe even LS60 passive...

As for finishes, I personally am a huge fan of the matte LS60 finish, fits my room decor 100x better than e.g. piano black or even shiny blue. For about 25% of us, room decor is a limiting factor on what gear we can get, so...

 

[sweetchaos]

I've changed my mind.

Current Active LS60:

New image:

Why did Kef choose to cut off the left side of the woofer (in this new photo), and show more of the speaker to the right?
It's because Active LS60, as shown in the first photo, when facing the same direction, doesnt have much room before the edge starts to curve.

Hence, passive LS60.

 

[sigbergaudio]

I've changed my mind.

Current Active LS60:

New image:
View attachment 318631

Why did Kef choose to cut off the left side of the woofer (in this new photo), and show more of the speaker to the right?
It's because Active LS60, as shown in the first photo, when facing the same direction, doesnt have much room before the edge starts to curve.

Hence, passive LS60.

I'm pretty sure we have a comment from a Kef engineer on this forum somewhere saying a passive LS60 is highly unlikely, but I've been wrong before. It was some time in the 90s, the exact date eludes me.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

To me a passive ls60 at good price, black with no-bass is a win win for subwoofer integration…
If the speaker only make 80hz-20khz it should be very easy to integrate these without using a multichannel dac for cut the main speaker bass

 

[Soniclife]

I'm pretty sure we have a comment from a Kef engineer on this forum somewhere saying a passive LS60 is highly unlikely, but I've been wrong before. It was some time in the 90s, the exact date eludes me.

I remember something similar being said, for good technical reasons, but marketing might have changed their minds. My guess, stand mount ls60, possibly with woofers on the front so horizontal center is also possible.

 

[thewas]

I also strongly doubt that there ever will be a passive LS60 version as due to its compact size it was made active to get deep bass with low distortion out of it:

Modern passive loudspeakers can give remarkably high performance. One could even argue that the HiFi market’s fondness for passive loudspeakers has led manufacturers to develop drivers with extremely refined behaviour as a direct result of the limitations and restrictions of the passive format. Nevertheless, in terms of both absolute performance and flexibility, active has a significant advantage. The LS60 Wireless is designed to have a small footprint and slim profile so that it can sit comfortably in most people’s homes, not requiring special listening rooms or awkward positioning in the room. It provides flexible connectvity – allowing streaming from numerous services, podcasting, internet radio, connectivity for traditional HiFi equipment, Bluetooth sources and TV sound – all the while delivering a scale and quality of sound that is almost unbelievable. We’re proud of this engineering feat and excited to bring this product to the market. This white paper outlines some of the technical details and concepts behind the performance.”

Dr Jack Oclee-Brown, VP of Technology, KEF Audio.

...

The LS60 Wireless relies on DSP equalisation to extend the low frequency response. There are no ports and all sound is produced by driver movement. The internal air volume in the LF chamber is approximately 12.5 Litres. The peak volume displacement produced by the four LF driver cones is around 0.28 Litres. This means that, when the drivers are visibly moving, the cabinet volume is significantly modulated. Unchecked, this would lead to significant bass distortion that would degrade the sound quality. The LS60 Wireless uses KEF’s proprietary active distortion reduction system, Smart Distortion Control Technology (SDCT), to linearise the loudspeaker output. SDCT is a hybrid system (Figure 15) that indirectly senses cone velocity from the voice coil current, which is then fed into a negative feedback loop. The second component is a DSP model of the driver, which applies pre-correction to compensate for residual nonlinearities. This method provides a major reduction in distortion and is a key tool for a small speaker to produce deep, loud and clean bass.

...

With conventional loudspeakers, the bass extension is determined by the driver and enclosure design. The LS60 Wireless takes a different approach and relies on high volume displacement drivers, high power and DSP equalisation to extend the low frequency response. Provided there is both linear driver excursion and amplifier power available the bass extension can be extended as far as the user requires.

Source: https://assets.kef.com/product-support/ls60-wireless/LS60W_Whitepaper.pdf

 

[Vacceo]

I may be the odd man here, but I actually like KEF´s app for their active LS series. I got the LS50 WII for my mother as a replacement of a not great, lo-fi little system. It has effectively replaced a conventional FM tunner, a couple "boxes" and a remote. We also use it to overcome the limitations of a TV´s speakers (there´s so much you can do on a flat screen).

The app is extremelly easy to use for streaming, radio included. If only, the only part I wish I could do is controling the CD with the APP itself. In fact, I´d not mind getting a little CD/DVD/Blue Ray that was compatible with the app. Perphaps KEF could find interesting to team up with another manufacturer or release a series of compatible electronics to hook up extra sources beyond streaming (a phono preamp, a CD player...).

Hopefully, they have found a platform and system with expansion possibilites for the future. Alternativelly, I´d also love to use the app on an AVR so I could also apply its simplicity on more traditional passives like the IQ´s I have (or any other passive, actually).

 

[Descartes]

So what’s the new KEF speaker?

 

[Opal]

So what’s the new KEF speaker?

I dont think they mentioned any dates.. so we just wait...

 

[kemmler3D]

Thinking more soberly about this, passive LS60 really doesn't make sense, does it?

But they could be doing an LX60 or something, i.e. bookshelf form factor, LS60 concentric driver, and 2x instead of 4x the uni-core side woofers... would make sense because they've introduced some juicy new tech with the LS60/KC62 but you can't touch it for less than $6K or $1500 just for a sub.

This would explain the similar looking baffle / driver and would make more sense than a passive but otherwise similar LS60. The LS60 relies too much on DSP, no?

If I were KEF I'd be doing a beefy bookshelf and/or center channel based on the LS60 with similar mid and treble performance and maybe a higher roll-off in the bass around 60-70hz with probably a bit less bass output in general. Same streaming guts and such. Slightly wider baffle to enable interior volume suitable for some bass. Height closer to 18". MIGHT be vented but I would lean very slightly against that possibility.

$3500-4K MSRP per pair. So for $5500 you can get the LX60, KC62, and in a small room come out somewhere in the same neighborhood as the LS60 for a few bucks less.

That's my prediction...

 

[MrOtto]

How to jack up the price with beeing a douche bag: add something cool sounding like "Meta".

 

[Ron Texas]

Maybe a speaker which is laid out like the like the LS60 but with a driver complement from the R11 Meta and probably active. with a price around $9 or $10k.

 

[tifune]

From the picture I doubt it will be the case, but I'm hoping to see a 8" R-series like the Q950.

 

[Sammy135]

Wouldn't a passive ls60 be a cheaper and actually obtainable version of the blades?

I dont know the engineering behind the kef blade, but if this theoretical ls60 passive has those same sideways woofers, wouldn't that be the same tech as the blade, but less impressive and less inert cabinet?

 

[Vacceo]

If the LS60 was turned into a passive, I think it'd need extensive rework. It's a sealed design that needs the DSP to work the way it does.

Doable, indeed, but at that point you might as well get an R series passive.

 

[Puddingbuks]

Let’s hope for a LS80, with wider cabinet and beefier units.

 

[exm]

How to jack up the price with beeing a douche bag: add something cool sounding like "Meta".

The actual production cost difference are probably minimal. However, a lot of money was (and is) invested into R&D. I have heard the difference with Meta, and although it's minimal, it's there. But part of Meta is also reworking the crossover. Anyway.

 

[AudioJester]

Maybe its an active Blade??

 

[Purité Audio]

Wouldn’t that be good!
Keith