KEF LS50 and NAD D 3020

[hybridauth_Google_112609744806573523641]

Hi!

I am looking for a new set of speakers for my computer, after reading for more than a month I think that I should go with a pair of KEF's LS50 and a NAD 3020D as the amplifier and DAC for them.

The only concern I have now is speaker placement, they will be really close from me (Computer desktop) But as they are designed for nearfield that is no problem. But they will have to be really near to the rear wall (2") I supose I should Use the foam for the bass port.Any experiences on this? Will I loose a lot of bass with that foam?

Thanks

 

[BigH]

I don't think thats is a good choice. Who says they are designed for near field?

I think for computer set up you would be better off with some active speakers.

 

[hybridauth_Google_112609744806573523641]

I don't think thats is a good choice. Who says they are designed for near field?

I think for computer set up you would be better off with some active speakers.

They are monitors, so that it one os its main functions. Multiple reviews say so. I don't want active speakers, they usually have shitti dacs and nearly no imputs. + I want a really high quality speakers I can lately use in other setups.

 

[BigH]

I don't think thats is a good choice. Who says they are designed for near field?

I think for computer set up you would be better off with some active speakers.

They are monitors, so that it one os its main functions. Multiple reviews say so. I don't want active speakers, they usually have shitti dacs and nearly no imputs. + I want a really high quality speakers I can lately use in other setups.

Monitors is just another name for speakers, I would not read too much into the name. If dac is a problem then just buy an external dac, many actives dont have dacs in them anyway. I don't think that amp is not really upto the LS50s either. There was a similar post a while ago, you may have use google search to find it. lS50s need a bit of space, if you use bungs then it tends to bung up the sound.

 

[ID.]

You will lose a bit of bass by using the port plugs, but you might find that preferable to the loose and flabby bass you might get by having the speakers too close to the wall.

Any yes, the term monitors is used very loosely these days. In fact that's what manufacturers seem to call just about any speaker that needs to be mounted on a stand, etc. Maybe they want to avoid the term bookshelf speaker so people don't do the speakers the disservice of placing them on a bookshelf.

I think they should be find nearfield. I don't know why you think active speakers have poor DACs. In my experience they rarely have DACs at all, so it's down to the quality of the DAC and preamp you match them with. My preference for that kind of setup is actives, particularly because they often have settings to adapt them to that kind of environment (bass shelving and other adjustments for placement on desks and close to walls), but the range of DACs and preamps (or combined DAC/preamps) is much more limited than the range of stereo amps.

 

[davedotco]

The Nad/Kef combination is a fairly expensive way to deliver what will be a compromised performance on a desktop, and clearly it is what the OP wants to buy.

I am quite sure that the Kefs will work extremely well in the nearfield but that is not the same thing as being suited to the desktop or close to a wall. This goes back to other discussions on here recently, the Kefs are 'balanced' to sound at their best clear of walls and other acousticly reflective surfaces.

If reflective surfaces come into play, in this case the desktop and rear wall, then the the non directional low frequencies will be reflected, greatly adding to the bass output. The mid and high frequencies are more directional so there is no reinforcement of these frequencies so the balance becomes bassy and unbalanced, even worse the bass is not just enhanced, it is muddied and smeared, not nice.

This is not some fancy theory but an explanation of what will happen if the equipment is used as planned, however the Nad and the Kefs are extremely fine components in their class and it is likely that with some flexibility on your part you will get something that sounds decent with the capability of doing even better down the line.

 

[Vladimir]

The KEF LS50 is a nearfield studio monitor as much as teenager's pimped-up Citroen Saxo is a racing car.

I too recommend buying active desktop studio monitors with some pads and not do costly improvisations.

"This 5 star amp goes with this 5 star speaker" is a proven formula for a disaster. Those products were judged on their own merrits and their positive reviews don't guarantee good results when combined together in everyone's individual application.

Harsh but true. *scratch_one-s_head*

 

[davedotco]

The KEF LS50 is a nearfield studio monitor as much as teenager's pimped-up Citroen Saxo is a racing car.

I too recommend buying active desktop studio monitors with some pads and not do costly improvisations.

"This 5 star amp goes with this 5 star speaker" is a proven formula for a disaster. Those products were judged on their own merrits and their positive reviews don't guarantee good results when combined together in everyone's individual application.

Harsh but true. *scratch_one-s_head*

Did anyone suggest that it was?

Interestingly the Kef X300 actives are sold as computer speakers, presumeably as they are going to be used on the desktop, I wonder if they are balanced differently.

 

[ID.]

The KEF LS50 is a nearfield studio monitor as much as teenager's pimped-up Citroen Saxo is a racing car.

I too recommend buying active desktop studio monitors with some pads and not do costly improvisations.

"This 5 star amp goes with this 5 star speaker" is a proven formula for a disaster. Those products were judged on their own merrits and their positive reviews don't guarantee good results when combined together in everyone's individual application.

Harsh but true. *scratch_one-s_head*

Did anyone suggest that it was?

Interestingly the Kef X300 actives are sold as computer speakers, presumeably as they are going to be used on the desktop, I wonder if they are balanced differently.

Not sure, but when I listend in store the X300s still sounded better on stands.

 

[hybridauth_Google_112609744806573523641]

Ok, so now I'm lost.

 

[Covenanter]

Ask n hifi enthusiasts for an opinion and you will get m different views. If n is any number from 2 upwards then m is also any number from 2 upwards but tends to be equal to n. Sometimes even if n=1 m will be greater than 1.

Chris

PS Go and listen to some stuff, don't depend on views posted here (unless they are mine!).

 

[Vladimir]

The KEF LS50 is a nearfield studio monitor as much as teenager's pimped-up Citroen Saxo is a racing car.

I too recommend buying active desktop studio monitors with some pads and not do costly improvisations.

"This 5 star amp goes with this 5 star speaker" is a proven formula for a disaster. Those products were judged on their own merrits and their positive reviews don't guarantee good results when combined together in everyone's individual application.

Harsh but true. *scratch_one-s_head*

Did anyone suggest that it was?

Interestingly the Kef X300 actives are sold as computer speakers, presumeably as they are going to be used on the desktop, I wonder if they are balanced differently.

I'm just listening to some angry Beethoven and writing pissy comments all over the forum. *biggrin*

With sane mind and good intentions I'd recommend the OP giving the active Dynaudio speakers a listen.

 

[CnoEvil]

IMO. If you stick with modest volumes and use acoustic isolation (Auralex (Speaker Dudes/MoPads or Adam Hall Pad Eco) for the speakers, you should be OK - but listen for yourself.

 

[hybridauth_Google_112609744806573523641]

IMO. If you stick with modest volumes and use acoustic isolation (Auralex (Speaker Dudes/MoPads or Adam Hall Pad Eco) for the speakers, you should be OK - but listen for yourself.

Yeah, I was going to use that Stands for them. I always listen at low volume (I am really close to the speakers)

 

[chebby]

The only concern I have now is speaker placement, they will be really close from me (Computer desktop) ...

In that case I would spend the equivalent sum of money (about £1200 in the UK) on the best DAC/Headphone amp + headphones you can get. They should sound a few orders of magnitude better than what you are suggesting.

 

[hybridauth_Google_112609744806573523641]

The only concern I have now is speaker placement, they will be really close from me (Computer desktop) ...

In that case I would spend the equivalent sum of money (about £1200 in the UK) on the best DAC/Headphone amp + headphones you can get. They should sound a few orders of magnitude better than what you are suggesting.

Paired with the KEF's you say?

 

[chebby]

The only concern I have now is speaker placement, they will be really close from me (Computer desktop) ...

In that case I would spend the equivalent sum of money (about £1200 in the UK) on the best DAC/Headphone amp + headphones you can get. They should sound a few orders of magnitude better than what you are suggesting.

Paired with the KEF's you say?

Instead of the NAD and the KEFs

 

[hybridauth_Google_112609744806573523641]

The only concern I have now is speaker placement, they will be really close from me (Computer desktop) ...

In that case I would spend the equivalent sum of money (about £1200 in the UK) on the best DAC/Headphone amp + headphones you can get. They should sound a few orders of magnitude better than what you are suggesting.

Paired with the KEF's you say?

Instead of the NAD and the KEFs

Oh, misread headphones. I don't like headphones I want to be able to move arround the room and listen to the music. Not having to be tied.

 

[CnoEvil]

Here is Stereophile's review of the D3020 and one of the speakers used was the LS50s where they say: - "but toward the end of the listening period I hooked it up to a pair of glorious KEF LS50s ($1499/pair) and turned the volume up high. I was bowled over by the sound, which easily matched the best I'd ever heard at home, and reminded me in many ways of what I'd recently experienced with the tubed Croft Phono Integrated ($1895)."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/entry-level-35

 

[hybridauth_Google_112609744806573523641]

Here is Stereophile's review of the D3020 and one of the speakers used was the LS50s where they say: - "but toward the end of the listening period I hooked it up to a pair of glorious KEF LS50s ($1499/pair) and turned the volume up high. I was bowled over by the sound, which easily matched the best I'd ever heard at home, and reminded me in many ways of what I'd recently experienced with the tubed Croft Phono Integrated ($1895)."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/entry-level-35

I guess I've chosen wisely

 

[CnoEvil]

Here is Stereophile's review of the D3020 and one of the speakers used was the LS50s where they say: - "but toward the end of the listening period I hooked it up to a pair of glorious KEF LS50s ($1499/pair) and turned the volume up high. I was bowled over by the sound, which easily matched the best I'd ever heard at home, and reminded me in many ways of what I'd recently experienced with the tubed Croft Phono Integrated ($1895)."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/entry-level-35

I guess I've chosen wisely

Don't take it as gospel, but it is encouraging.

 

[Vladimir]

Is that a Stephen Mejias review? *ROFL*

 

[davedotco]

Here is Stereophile's review of the D3020 and one of the speakers used was the LS50s where they say: - "but toward the end of the listening period I hooked it up to a pair of glorious KEF LS50s ($1499/pair) and turned the volume up high. I was bowled over by the sound, which easily matched the best I'd ever heard at home, and reminded me in many ways of what I'd recently experienced with the tubed Croft Phono Integrated ($1895)."

http://www.stereophile.com/content/entry-level-35

I guess I've chosen wisely

Only if you mount the speakers on proper stands, several feet from any wall and nowhere near any desktop as the reviewer would almost certainly have done.

As a desktop system, all bets are off. By the way, using bungs in the ports and isolation pads will not make a significant difference, not the right kind of difference anyway.

Anyway, as I said above, these are decent components and can be made to work somewhere in your home, buy them and try for yourself, practical hands on experience is worth a thousand posts.

 

[Esra]

IMO the NAD 3020+Kef LS50 is a superb combo as long as you can use stands and place the speakers at least 50-60cm away from the walls and don´t expect disco/party volumes.It gets pretty high without distortion so don´t worry,for listening the NAD is good enough and sufficient.Things get even better if you ad a quality sub like ,to name a small one, a REL T-Zero.Then all opens up and there is more air and stage.I wouldn´t recommend LS50 as desktop speakers placed near the wall, you can save your money and get similar result much much cheaper.

Only minus imo the NAD gets pretty hot,that is generally not a good thing.Future will show possible problems.Besides that and an untasty smell in the first days of use this combo would be/is one of my favourite at this pricerange.Unbelievable sound quality for the money.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

I'd go with the last few posets myself.

In the flesh the ls50's are pretty big for desktops. Around 30cm deep.

You will not get the full use of them as near field monitors - instead I'd suggest the amp with smaller designs.

Dali Zensor1, wharfdale diamonds 10.1, Tannoy DC1 or any other small quality speaker that will deliver has good a performance.

You'd save yourself a fair few bob too.

Try auditioning a few against the ls50's if you can.