KEF LS50 Actives anyone?

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avole

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Yup, can be difficult, I know. Anyway, have a good pre-night period. I'm off to listen to the nobel laureate on my dansette ...
 

davedotco

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avole said:
Yup, can be difficult, I know. Anyway, have a good pre-night period. I'm off to listen to the nobel laureate on my dansette ...

Please enlighten me.

I guess you must be writing in code, that is the best explanation I have...*unknw*
 

luckylion100

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I'm delighted with my set up. I'd be very surprised if the KEF Active LS50's can match them. If they do great, it may be something i'd consider down the line. All depends... obviously I'd need to hear them, for now though I'm sure we'll debate this till the cows come home or someone actually purchases a pair upon release.

As for the being trapped within a single box thing, of course there's that. I've opted for the Yamaha WCX50 preamp so i'm not so limited. I'm not restricted to the AVI dac and as I have use of the Yamaha's EQ options I'm not limited to the AVI 'house' sound. I employ a EQ setting for many music genres and prefer the resulting sound, a little warmer and richer. to my ears My point is though, buy any of these active type options and you're not exactly hand cuffed.

And anyway a high majority of people on here are so obsessed with their swapping and collection of black or silver boxes I doubt the active route is for them. It's still hi-fi but each to their own.
 

avole

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for the boat. Either that, or the Dynaudios.

]I'll go with the easiest option, and, frankly, I'm sick of all the boxes and cables. But, and it's big one, I've yet to hear speakers - SF Minimas - that can match my own. The Dynaudios I like because they remove external boxes and cables, similarly with the Devialets. The Kefs sound like an option, if they're as good as they potentially could be, but in the context of a second (boat) system.

The active/passive thing really isn't a debate. Yes, there are theoretical advantages of the active route, but box design, materials used etc rather overwhelm them. Your speakers use open baffle designs, as mine do, but infinite baffle appear to be preferable. My own primitive experiments indicate infinite baffle give you tighter bass, but the down side is that they only go as low as box size allows.

I don't think it's to do with active/passive at all. There really isn't a world of difference as some claim.
 

davedotco

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chebby said:
davedotco said:
avole said:
Yup, can be difficult, I know. Anyway, have a good pre-night period. I'm off to listen to the nobel laureate on my dansette ...

Please enlighten me.

I guess you must be writing in code, that is the best explanation I have...*unknw*

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/topic-and-miscellaneous/bob-dylan-awarded-nobel-prize-literature

He is using the Zim's famous 'cut up' routine.

I'm kind of a long time fan, second single I ever bought was by the man. B Side was the finest ever live recording of 'Just like Tom Thumbs Blues' one of my favourite ever songs.

Absolutely unavailable these days.
 

gowiththeflow

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Leeps said:
.....KEF's decision to make a product like this could spark similar efforts from other mainstream manufacturers. ......

It's the other way around.

Other well known speaker manufacturers have been moving into the (HiFi / audiophile) wireless active arena for the last couple of years. Undoubtedly, watching where the market is going, KEF are following the trend that's been set by the likes of Dynaudio, Elac, Focal and others.

I expect KEF's R series, or their replacements, will see wireless active versions in due course.

z
 

Ajani

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daveh75 said:

Interesting enough product to return me from my HiFi grave to comment. KEF is really brave to launch an active version of the LS50. I know there have been a lot of persons calling on them to do so from the LS50 first launched. However, I already imagine loads of audiophiles dismissing it (without even auditioning it) and claiming that the 'cheap electronics' are holding it back. That you should get the passive version and combine it with some $4K amp instead...

Anyway, it's interesting enough that I might even get a pair, if I eventually regain my love for HiFi. I'll certainly enjoy reading the reviews about it.
 

daveh75

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gowiththeflow said:
It's the other way around.

Other well known speaker manufacturers have been moving into the (HiFi / audiophile) wireless active arena for the last couple of years. Undoubtedly, watching where the market is going, KEF are following the trend that's been set by the likes of Dynaudio, Elac, Focal and others.

I expect KEF's R series, or their replacements, will see wireless active versions in due course.

You know this isn't their first active wireless speaker, right?
 

gowiththeflow

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daveh75 said:
You know this isn't their first active wireless speaker, right?

Yes I do know that.

I'm talking about taking this technology in to the arena above the "desktop or computer monitor" market, into mainstream domestic "HiFi", or "Audiophile", territory. Much as Dynaudio's have done with its Xeo and Focus XD ranges.

Z
 

lpv

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Ajani said:
daveh75 said:

Interesting enough product to return me from my HiFi grave to comment. KEF is really brave to launch an active version of the LS50. I know there have been a lot of persons calling on them to do so from the LS50 first launched. However, I already imagine loads of audiophiles dismissing it (without even auditioning it) and claiming that the 'cheap electronics' are holding it back. That you should get the passive version and combine it with some $4K amp instead...

Anyway, it's interesting enough that I might even get a pair, if I eventually regain my love for HiFi. I'll certainly enjoy reading the reviews about it.

yeah, headphones are much better then most of the hifi
 

chebby

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gowiththeflow said:
daveh75 said:
You know this isn't their first active wireless speaker, right?

Yes I do know that.

I'm talking about taking this technology in to the arena above the "desktop or computer monitor" market, into mainstream domestic "HiFi", or "Audiophile", territory. Much as Dynaudio's have done with its Xeo and Focus XD ranges.

I'd never thought of their X300a speakers (wireless or standard) as belonging to the "desktop or computer monitor" market.
 

Frank Harvey

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manix said:
Anyway it's a bad idea putting all this stuff into one box (well two) from the point of view of reliability but hey people are happy with this idea now.

Basically you can't alter the amp

You can't alter the speakers

You can't alter the dac

You want to change how it sounds, go and buy a whole new unit.

The tech goes out of date, go buy a whole new unit.

The units go wrong bad enough you write off the whole lot off.

Resale value if the tech goes out of date - not a lot
Whilst these can be classed as all negatives, they're positives to those who are in the market for this type of speaker.

The heatsinking looks beefy enough, so I doubt any reliability will come from that angle. And I doubt very much the amplifiers in these have any relation to the problematic budget subs from years ago.
 

gowiththeflow

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chebby said:
I'd never thought of their X300a speakers (wireless or standard) as belonging to the "desktop or computer monitor" market.

That's exactly how they've marketed them at various times since first introduced. The theme has largely been about bringing "HiFi quality" to the desktop market.

"HiFi for your computer" is the current marketing slogan.

z
 

Esra

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Looking forward to get my hands on them.Total of 230 Watt to power them seems right and price although i think it is pretty steep seems right for a ready to go product if some good quality class d amps are used.Curios how it looks inside and which components are used.
 

gowiththeflow

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As bass performance is said to be one of the limitations of the passive LS50 and the new active model has a sub output, are there any suggestions of which subwoofers integrate well with this speaker?

z
 

Frank Harvey

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gowiththeflow said:
As bass performance is said to be one of the limitations of the passive LS50 and the new active model has a sub output, are there any suggestions of which subwoofers integrate well with this speaker?

z
Any presumably. I would guess the app allows control of the crossover frequency, so would just be a case of choosing the right one for the room.
 

lpv

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David@FrankHarvey said:
gowiththeflow said:
As bass performance is said to be one of the limitations of the passive LS50 and the new active model has a sub output, are there any suggestions of which subwoofers integrate well with this speaker?

z
Any presumably. I would guess the app allows control of the crossover frequency, so would just be a case of choosing the right one for the room.

interesting.. it almost sounds like you're saying there's no difference between subwoofers
 

Frank Harvey

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lpv said:
interesting.. it almost sounds like you're saying there's no difference between subwoofers
I probably didn't fully read your post and noticed the word 'integrate', as I was talking more from a compatibility point of view. As far as quality is concerned, you'd just be looking for a clean sub, so anything from the SVS models upwards. There's any number of high end subs you'll be able to use, as none of the higher end ones will produce intrusive distortions.
 

thewinelake.

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Is there going to be another long discussion about the power rating, or do they specify exactly what kind of watts they are?

Someone commented on heat sinks, but are you sure they're real heat sinks and not just some plastic moulding shaped like one?

That all said, this sounds very interesting and I would love to get to a dealer to listen to a pair - particularly if they'd let me bring my ADM9's along to compare.
 

Frank Harvey

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thewinelake. said:
Is there going to be another long discussion about the power rating, or do they specify exactly what kind of watts they are?
I don't know. I'm just surprised there's not been the usual attempts to assassinate the product's relevance and worth as yet.

Someone commented on heat sinks, but are you sure they're real heat sinks and not just some plastic moulding shaped like one?
What would be the point of plastic moulded heat sinks?!

Hopefully I'll get to find out more about them this week. Who knows, maybe even hear a pair!
 

thewinelake.

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Just found another picture of the back of them and it looks like they probably are real heat sinks. Just that in one image, the shape appeared to be too rounded and integrated with the port....

ls50w-detail-frontandrear.jpg
 

ErwinC

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What do they mean with the statement that the active LS50 contains a "streaming pre-amplifier"?

Is streaming functionality from a NAS (DLNA) available in the active LS50?
 

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