KEF LS50 disappointment :(

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4Barry

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The Kef's sound a lot more 'modern' than (my memory of) the BC1's. By which I mean faster, more analytical or resolving. Both these speakers have a touch of magic with vocals compared to virtually any other speakers I've heard that don't cost megamoney. I can certainly live with the LS50's (now I've got them in the right place!) but I would probably still pick the BC1's for listening to classical music.
 

Jota180

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4Barry, maybe you need to be added to some list by the mods, I dunno. The forum acts a bit funny until you get added.

I bought Custom Design FS104 stands for my LS50's and they're really solid. I filled them 2/3 with mass loading material. There's better looking stands out there but these work a treat for me.
 

ChrisIRL

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4Barry said:
I do intend to get some new stands shortly for the LS50's.. Atecama Moseco's unless anyone wants to tell me otherwise.

Q acoustics concept 20 stands work great with them. Good height and very solid. They also have a resonance damping top plate too in keeping with the LS50 anti resonance design. As they are gloss black they are a nice visual match which is a bonus. It's like they are made for the LS50's imo.
 

davedotco

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4Barry said:
Hi Dave

The rest of my system currently consists of a Marantz CD6005 running through a Dac Magic DAC. My Linn turntable is resting at present whilst it awaits a new power supply. Naim 42/160 (Get out your history books!) pre/power amps. I have been using Spendor BC1's as my main speakers (most of the time) since I bought them new 37 years ago! A guest managed to blow both woofers a few months ago for me. I then had to use a pair of Wharfedale 9.1's from my bedroom system until, after a lot of listening and reading and umming and aahhing, I bought the Kef LS50's.

Ah, some of my favourite toys.

A long time ago I had a pair of BC1s, very nice. For a while I drove them with a Phase Linear 400, mine measured 273 watts, 1khz sinewave, single channel driven (we only had one dummy load that would take the power).

I hads some mates around and they laughed to see that I had replaced my Century L100 with the BC1s, as we were all a bit 'rockist' in those days I played the song 'Bad Company' (vinyl of course) quite loud.

The bar room piano and vocal opening was good, but Simon Kirke's drums, when they kicked in left them with their chins on the floor, very load and quite awsome. They knew nothing about my power amp as it was hidden in a cupboard and did not believe the power and dynamics of the '30 watt' BC1s.
 

shkumar4963

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@4Barry, talking about old speakers, I had a few Allison Acoustic Speakers. Great spund as i remember them. But the current Allison that I have can not compare with my new KEF LS50. I don't know why. It is either I remember my Allisons better than they ever were or Ls50s are just in a different league or the Allisons have lost their magic due to age. I would love to hear other's comments about possible explanations.

In short I just love LS50s especially their vocals.
 

4Barry

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davedotco said:
4Barry said:
Hi Dave

The rest of my system currently consists of a Marantz CD6005 running through a Dac Magic DAC. My Linn turntable is resting at present whilst it awaits a new power supply. Naim 42/160 (Get out your history books!) pre/power amps. I have been using Spendor BC1's as my main speakers (most of the time) since I bought them new 37 years ago! A guest managed to blow both woofers a few months ago for me. I then had to use a pair of Wharfedale 9.1's from my bedroom system until, after a lot of listening and reading and umming and aahhing, I bought the Kef LS50's.

Ah, some of my favourite toys.

A long time ago I had a pair of BC1s, very nice. For a while I drove them with a Phase Linear 400, mine measured 273 watts, 1khz sinewave, single channel driven (we only had one dummy load that would take the power).

I hads some mates around and they laughed to see that I had replaced my Century L100 with the BC1s, as we were all a bit 'rockist' in those days I played the song 'Bad Company' (vinyl of course) quite loud.

The bar room piano and vocal opening was good, but Simon Kirke's drums, when they kicked in left them with their chins on the floor, very load and quite awsome. They knew nothing about my power amp as it was hidden in a cupboard and did not believe the power and dynamics of the '30 watt' BC1s.

I've surprised a few visitors with the BC1's over the years! :) people tend to assume that they will be far too 'polite' by modern standards. Fixing my broken pair will be one of my next projects.
 

4Barry

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ChrisIRL said:
4Barry said:
I do intend to get some new stands shortly for the LS50's.. Atecama Moseco's unless anyone wants to tell me otherwise.

Q acoustics concept 20 stands work great with them. Good height and very solid. They also have a resonance damping top plate too in keeping with the LS50 anti resonance design. As they are gloss black they are a nice visual match which is a bonus. It's like they are made for the LS50's imo.

Thanks Chris. I'd like to try to have a listen to a few stands. But I don't suppose dealers will be too keen to give long demos of products they're not going to make much money from. I'm currently using Soundstyle Z2's (from my bedroom!). I'm sure I can do a bit better.
 

4Barry

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shkumar4963 said:
@4Barry, talking about old speakers, I had a few Allison Acoustic Speakers. Great spund as i remember them. But the current Allison that I have can not compare with my new KEF LS50. I don't know why. It is either I remember my Allisons better than they ever were or Ls50s are just in a different league or the Allisons have lost their magic due to age. I would love to hear other's comments about possible explanations.

In short I just love LS50s especially their vocals.

I've never heard the Allisons. But the LS50's are growing on me more every day. Had a great session yesterday evening!
 

4Barry

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It's interesting - every time I mention the manufacturer that begins with N and ends with aim it triggers the spam filter! All I was trying to say was that I intend to upgrade the 42 to a streaming pre-amp when funds allow.
 

shkumar4963

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4Barry said:
It's interesting - every time I mention the manufacturer that begins with N and ends with aim it triggers the spam filter!  All I was trying to say was that I intend to upgrade the 42 to a streaming pre-amp when funds allow.

That is funny. :)
 

davedotco

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Vladimir said:
Hint: the war,

More about the british obsession with it. For most normal people of my parents generation, the second World War was the only important thing in their lives, it overshadowed everything, births, marriage, death, everything.

Most of europe suffered far more than the british isles, presumably why we are able to poke so much fun at it.
 

Jota180

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davedotco said:
Vladimir said:
Hint: the war,

More about the british obsession with it. For most normal people of my parents generation, the second World War was the only important thing in their lives, it overshadowed everything, births, marriage, death, everything.

Most of europe suffered far more than the british isles, presumably why we are able to poke so much fun at it.

Totally. It was everywhere; films, TV, comics, magazines, newspapers and you couldn't escape it.
 

davedotco

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Interestingly, and in context with the thread cr@ping, whilst I was working part time in TCR, to help fund my degree, it was not uncommon for customers to simply refuse to buy japanese branded product.

Memories were still very strong, we are talking early 1970s here, less than 50 years ago.
 

Josh_85

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So I've had these speakers for a few weeks now and they're seriously amazing. The bass for a 5" driver is loud, tight and rythmic. There's some serious resolution in these speakers so I can see why those with weaker equipment have been having issues. I'm only running the Emotiva UPA-200 amp and XDA-2 dac which is just on the serviceable side when it comes to partnering equipment. These speakers are thursty imo need 100w plus to really shine, but I've heard them with the HegelH80 and they sound amazing. I'm looking at parterning them with the HegelH80 and the Chord Hugo, or a Peach Tree Nova 125se. I did have them sat on a pair of stands when I first got them and they sounded awesome straight out of the box, but now have them as my desktop set up and they've lost some of that magic. May have to look at putting the bungs in. As far as the second guy (not the OP) saying he was underwhelmed, I also noticed he said he was playing his music through ITUNES which at the time of his post's were lossy. When the source is bad it doesn't matter how good your speakers are, in fact the LS50'S will sound even worse with a poor source. Just my 2 cents, I'm not an expert.
 

shkumar4963

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Welcome Josh. I have had these speakers for close to a year now. One speaker developed a minor crack in it but KEF replaced that driver with no questions asked. So I am good. Yes, they are incredible speakers. I am running them with Parasound Amp. (A/B 100 W). But in some songs with a lot of low frequencies (less than 55 Hz or so), it shows that something is missing. So I am trying to get a sub for it. I have tried a low end and a medium end ($899) Sunfire sub but that just resulted in non-transparent muddy sound. Seems like lack of low frequencies gives it an extra sense of transparency and clarity. Any suggestions?

Also they seem to get muddled in any songs that has a large band like Rock Music. The transparency and clarity that they are famous for just are not there. So I feel that they are best for jazz music and vocals. What do you think? Do you see the same behavior with complex music with a lot of intruments.
 
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