KEF LS50 disappointment :(

[Frank Harvey]

So it can’t be that it’s a poorly designed cash cow, the fault anyways lies with the newb. Come on!

Have you heard them? Have you heard them in an appropriate system?

Before moving to the speakers I have now, I was using five of them in a 5.1 set up - if they didn't perform with music or movies, and were, in your words, badly designed, they'd never got as far as being in my system. If I hadn't had the chance to move to my current speakers, I'd still be using them now, and it would have taken a pretty special speaker to have removed them from my system.

As for the fault 'lying with the newb', that's your words not mine. I'm certainly not blaming anything on the OP - I'm trying to help him.

 

[TrevC]

An AV amp will work fine if it is powerful enough. The KEFs are bass light, as are all small stand mounters, if you look at the Stereophile response curve it is very obvious. I think a sub is essential with these if anything resembling deep bass is required.

Specs are one thing, listening to them quite another. As I said before, they won't reach as deep as larger speakers, but their overall balance is not bass light. The drivers and the cabinet don't help to exaggerate bass in the way that most speakers do. If anyone wants proof that these speakers aren't 'bass light', just try No Doubt's Hella Good. With this track, anyone listening blind would probably think they're listening to floorstanders.

Which makes the OPs experience with them all the more puzzling.

 

[TrevC]

Can't you just send them back? Even if you buy stuff over the internet, distance-selling regulations give you a cooling-off period. It's the law. I think plain and simple you don't like them. It doesn't matter what anyone else says. I'm also cringing at suggestions you try changing the mains cables to your amp etc. Come on guys this is a newby who fundamentally doesn't like the sound of his speakers and is looking for proper advice. Don't feed him ridiculous voodoo nonsense. It doesn't help him when he's already struggling to sort good advice from bull----. Even if you're a believer then you've still got to admit it won't make the night and day differences he's looking for.

It makes me cringe too.

 

[Frank Harvey]

And that’s why chemical chance gave not just one but two ears, to make up for only having one brain.

So it wasn't to be able to detect sound within space then? We have two ears for the same reason we have two eyes - depth perception and placement. With only one, direction and distance is tricky. Having two brains wouldn't really make up for having one ear.

 

[Benny25]

Hello

Impossible with these speaker !

I bought LS50 last month and i have never heard a speakers like that !!! I love them and i use them every day !

You must check :

- quality of your cables 2.5mn minimum

- be careful with the distance with the wall. See the notice, you must respect a distance of 50 cm between speaker and wall.

- i advise to use your amplifier with direct source butom switched on.

The minimum distance is 20 cm.

- if the distance is inferior too 50cm use rubber plugs provided with speakers (two types of plugs accordance with distance.

- it's also important to use a good standspeaker very heavy, for these high-range speakers i advise a very heavy stands, personnelly i choice Soundstyle brand model Z1

http://www.soundstyle.net/

NB : i'm not agree with the choice of What Hifi of Norstone Stylum 1 with these speaker. These stands are so light and the solution of one column is not adapted the heavy speaker like LS50. With Z1 use 4 pieces of bluetac (Patafix in french) on each corners. I see that in excellente shop in Blackpool (thanks to Audio T).

With these stands you can increase weight to incorporate sand or special lead for hifi into feet if you want improve stability.

If my advise don't work it's perhaps a production problems (call Kef company they are wonderful !) or test with another amplifier.

Excuse me for my english, i hope that i help you.

Best regards. Dom.

 

[Benny25]

I forget a last advice :

- it's essential to use good iron spike (don't use your speakers without spikes) it's very important for the LS50 because the quality of bass is very very high (the better that i have never heard !!!). very loud, very clear, incredible effect.

I hope have help somebody. See you later.

Dom.

 

[CnoEvil]

And that’s why chemical chance gave not just one but two ears, to make up for only having one brain.

So it wasn't to be able to detect sound within space then? We have two ears for the same reason we have two eyes - depth perception and placement. With only one, direction and distance is tricky. Having two brains wouldn't really make up for having one ear.

I think Hifi forums are populated by aliens with two brains, one ear and two mouths. :twisted:

 

[Frank Harvey]

Those reviews can almost come across as sales pitches at times and very convincing as a result.

So you think the whole LS50 concept is a big fat lie?

I'm in no way experienced in this game, but I also had the LS50's for a few days and hated them. For their size, bass was decent I thought, but not exactly agile or detailed. They were also very detailed.

Did you experiment with the bungs? I never once found the bass lacking agility, if anything, Agility was far greater than many other speakers so I could hear more texture, and pitch changes, however subtle, were easier to hear.

But I found them pretty poor elsewhere - the forward upper mid/lower treble was fatiguing/bright and the overall tonal balance was quite 'metallic' and soulless. There is something to be said perhaps for speakers sounding like they look. i.e. metal drivers, metal tweeters = metallic sound.

The LS50 is a more accurate speaker than the R100 - I find the R Series a little laid back compared to the LS50, which I think is why some people prefer them. I was going to say neither is right or wrong, but the LS50 is more 'right'. Our preferences don't make things right, accuracy does.

To me, they are a clinical step too far from the R series, but that is just my opinion. Lots of others prefer the more refined, but unforgiving and forward LS50.

The LS50 was never designed to be R Series. The LS50 was designed with a more 'no holds barred' approach, to bring a more accurate presentation, more like you'd find in a studio. You certainly wouldn't find the R Series in a studio, because they're not designed for studio use.

As I've mentioned in the very early days of the LS50, it is quite easy to hear how different they are to 'hi-fi' speakers. For me, one of the biggest differences in their presentation is the sound of electric guitars. It might sound funny, but the distortion they produce sounds very different on them. Another area is the reproduction of cymbals/crash cymbals - some can reproduce these 'out of the box', whereas many other speakers give away their location because of poorer high frequency performance.

Again, I feel that many unfairly dismiss a product when they don't understand the technology, nor the reasons behind something that makes it sound different to the pack. I've seen this with other products too.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I think Hifi forums are populated by aliens with two brains, one ear and two mouths. :twisted:

I'm all for two brains and no mouth in some cases 🙂

 

[ISAC69]

MarkJones83

Change your receiver to a decent stereo amp . Change your optical cable to a good RCA interconnect , upgrade your sources and than you will hear

what your speakers are really able to do . This is the sipmple true.

 

[Peptdi]

My local Hi Fi dealer is giving me a part ex for my Monitor Audio's. I just wish they would do a straight swap for my Entire Naim system for a UNITI light?

 

[Crocodile]

Warning - this thread contains nuts.

 

[CnoEvil]

Warning - this thread contains nuts.

As does my family tree. :twisted:

 

[plastic penguin]

Warning - this thread contains nuts.

As does my family tree. :twisted:

Make sure the storm doesn't knock it over. 😛ray:

 

[CnoEvil]

Warning - this thread contains nuts.

As does my family tree. :twisted:

Make sure the storm doesn't knock it over. 😛ray:

No odds, as I've been "out of my tree" for some time!

 

[MUSICRAFT]

MarkJones83

Change your receiver to a decent stereo amp . Change your optical cable to a good RCA interconnect , upgrade your sources and than you will hear

what your speakers are really able to do . This is the sipmple true.

Hi ISAC69

MarkJones83 already has a decent stereo amp built into his Yamaha DSP-A3090 AV amplifier

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[MUSICRAFT]

MarkJones83

Change your optical cable to a good RCA interconnect

Hi ISAC69

If he chooses to do this then a basic interconnect will be more then good enough which (if he hasn't got any) can be bought for a £1 or so from local electrical stores/market

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[davedotco]

Much of this thread is missing the point by such a distance as to be complete nonsense.

The OP, has bought a pair of speakers, generally regarded highly in hi-fi terms, that does not come close to doing what he wants them to do.

This in due to inexperiance on the part of the OP and a fundamental miss-understanding of what 'good hi-fi' is all about, in fact a 'good hi-fi' system is probably the last thing the OP wants or needs.

There is a simple solution, that will not cost a huge amount and will, pretty much, guarantee the OP a system that does exactly what he wants.

It's simple, get rid of the Kefs for the best price possible, return for refund if possible, and buy a pair of Adam Studio monitors, either A7x (£800) or A8x (£1000) and drive them off your amps pre outs. Thet have a reasonable degree of flexibility given the controls on the back panal and a prodigeous output, particularly in the bass region. Played at sensible levels with 'real' music and they sound pretty refined but put on something with a bit of bass and a bit of attitude and they turn into monsters.

Just make sure you warn the neighbours.

 

[JoelSim]

Hi Mark,

Having read through this post I feel sorry that your system isn't doing what you need it to do.

I would suggest taking your speakers to a dealer and listening to them with some amplifiers. A stereo amp will sound immeasurably better than an AV amp for starters, but much of it is in how products work with each other. Of course you won't get the full story by doing this as the sound is room-specific too.

A case in point that I encountered recently was listening to a portable headphone amp. On some Musical Fidelity EB-30s (which are quite bassy) the sound sounded fantastic, the volume went higher and it all worked. When tried with some Shure earphones (which are more neutral) it sounded horrible, screechy and just plain wrong.

Funny thing is without the amp the Shures are a much more accomplished earphone.

I can't comment on the KEFs because I haven't heard them, but having been in the WHF testing room, and seen what they do, the review will have been done properly.

Good luck.

 

[namefail]

I usually find that people who play down a particular speaker's capabilities or strengths don't really understand the technology behind them, or haven't done any research into why they do what they do.

So it can’t be that it’s a poorly designed cash cow, the fault anyways lies with the newb. Come on!

Have you heard them? Have you heard them in an appropriate system?

Before moving to the speakers I have now, I was using five of them in a 5.1 set up - if they didn't perform with music or movies, and were, in your words, badly designed, they'd never got as far as being in my system. If I hadn't had the chance to move to my current speakers, I'd still be using them now, and it would have taken a pretty special speaker to have removed them from my system.

As for the fault 'lying with the newb', that's your words not mine. I'm certainly not blaming anything on the OP - I'm trying to help him.

My reply had nothing to do with the KEFs or the OP (as I suspect you know) rather your statement regarding your perception of individuals finding fault with speakers being down to their experience, knowledge and sophistication of auditory palette. But I'll give you points for the attempted diversion.

I shall, however, answer your questions; I have not heard the undoubtedly fine KEFs in question. And re my post about ears and brain, GOOD NEWS, your sense of humour bypass medal is in the post along with a shovel in case you inclined to keep on digging. 🙂

 

[MarkJones83]

Thanks for all responses and also apology from David.

Sitting here listening to a few fave albums it does feel like there's a bit of an echo in here. Am moving to a new flat next week that in additional to being carpeted and having curtains, has been sound proofed by the landlord too. Would be interested to see what effect this will have if any on my music enjoyment 🙂

Oh, someone asked for me to check if they are in phase, and they are although I did discover that the speakers were wired wrong in the sense that the amp thinks that the left speaker is the right one and visa versa. I've changed them to be the correct way around now.

 

[BenLaw]

:O

 

[Overdose]

MarkJones83

Change your receiver to a decent stereo amp . Change your optical cable to a good RCA interconnect , upgrade your sources and than you will hear

what your speakers are really able to do . This is the sipmple true.

So your advice is for the OP to change everything else in his system because he doesn't like his speakers?

 

[JoelSim]

Thanks for all responses and also apology from David. Sitting here listening to a few fave albums it does feel like there's a bit of an echo in here. Am moving to a new flat next week that in additional to being carpeted and having curtains, has been sound proofed by the landlord too. Would be interested to see what effect this will have if any on my music enjoyment 🙂 Oh, someone asked for me to check if they are in phase, and they are although I did discover that the speakers were wired wrong in the sense that the amp thinks that the left speaker is the right one and visa versa. I've changed them to be the correct way around now.

I wouldn't have thought that would make a difference, the Left and Right, that is.

 

[Tacty]

eh, another case of an excellent product which works good only with a certain types of music, in certain conditions, under certain weather, and needs to change everything in the system to sounds good, including rewiring a house, moving all the furniture, changing carpets, trashing down some walls, or better rebuilt the house completely or better yet built a new house just for hifi 😛