Kef LS50 Wireless 2 price increase!

[Deleted member 196306]

I recently sold my pair. Very good, just fancied using passive, non-Class D set ups again.

Which speakers do you have now?

 

[RoA]

Quad S2, the same as I had previously.

 

[Eaton]

Who’s going to pay £2500 for these speakers though?

All the people who realize that it still is, even at the increased price, a good value. The number of people interested in the KEF Wireless II is not on the decrease. Demand will continue, and it will probably still continue to be in short supply. I wanted weeks for pair. Shortages of all parts and increased shipping costs to say nothing of inflation which is resulting in increased prices for parts is the reason. It's not just KEF. Look around. It's happening in every sector. It will likely continue.

Evaluating the KEF value is difficult for some, especially those that have bad or incorrect size room or placement or a bad front end (music source). If you have a respectfully decemt front end, and you are playing quality source material, and it's set up intelligently with good placement in a room that isn't working against it, one will simply be blown away at the value the KEF Wireless gives you, even at the new increased price. I also have a music playback system that is twenty times the cost of the KEF wireless II, and I'm a per

 

[Eaton]

opps .. Sorry! Got disconnected. My additional comment was cut off. It was meant to continue with "and I am a person who has high expectations for music reproduction. I bought the KEF Wireless II for my wife, because she didn't want to deal with all the fancy gear I have. She wanted something simpler to use. So after purchasing the KEF for her, I got an opportunity to listen to it with my own digital front end that I use for my own listening. My feelings are that if you do set it up correctly in an appropriate space, any discerning listener will be surprised at the value the KEF Wireless II represents. Please try to buy separates at the same price, as this active speaker combo. No, it's not as good as my own system. But it's still darn good for the money. And not at all a stupid buy at the new price. Far from it.

 

[Deleted member 196519]

opps .. Sorry! Got disconnected. My additional comment was cut off. It was meant to continue with "and I am a person who has high expectations for music reproduction. I bought the KEF Wireless II for my wife, because she didn't want to deal with all the fancy gear I have. She wanted something simpler to use. So after purchasing the KEF for her, I got an opportunity to listen to it with my own digital front end that I use for my own listening. My feelings are that if you do set it up correctly in an appropriate space, any discerning listener will be surprised at the value the KEF Wireless II represents. Please try to buy separates at the same price, as this active speaker combo. No, it's not as good as my own system. But it's still darn good for the money. And not at all a stupid buy at the new price. Far from it.

Have you heard the first pair?

 

[Eaton]

Have you heard the first pair?

The first pair? Do you mean the version before the Wireless II?

 

[Deleted member 196519]

The first pair? Do you mean the version before the Wireless II?

Yes.

 

[Eaton]

Yes.

Not in a very long time, and not under the conditions that could allow me to talk about the differences between a series one compared to version two. I say that because I have come to understand that our impressions of speakers, which, let's face it, is at the back end of the system, really depends upon everything that comes before it. Even with the Series II, I can hear differences when switching the cables (not big differences, but enough so that some people would either be critical of them in some fashion), and much larger differences when connecting directly to a LAN connection, especially with a good LAN connection ... like say an Innuos PhoenixNET switch; not that it's an entirely different speaker, but quite different. Of course, when it comes to the actual digital source that I am playing from, and the recording itself, all the of the qualities of the recordings also condition our response of how good we think the speakers are. So those all have to be the same ... if we are going to compare one version against another (not to mention the levels have be the same too). So these comparisons can be made, and people make them all the time. But also, all these differing factors make people's off the cuff comments about a pair of speakers so unfair and also so inaccurate. So I could tell you that I liked the the Series I when I heard it in a store in a room that wasn't right for it, and set up in a place that wasn't idea of it (and sitting in a room also with about forty other speakers in it), and being played through a system which I didn't really know at all. But under those conditions, I couldn't really tell you at all how they compared to the Series II. Well, I could tell you actually, but it would fail to be a good comparison and it wouldn't be worth much, and would be nothing to relay upon.

I am not trying to evade your question. Perhaps you have deal on a Series I and wonder what you are missing. I don't know. If you are a Tidal subscriber or want to be, you'd be missing the MQA. I think the KEF sounds very good listening to Tidal MQA, but then the only way I have heard it is on my main network, which has that Innuos switch, which I feel does help somewhat with the sound quality when streaming. Most people will be buying the KEF Wireless II as their main playback system, so they won't being have an $3000 ethernet switch on their network, right? But in my case, I bought the KEF Wireless II as system for my wife who didn't want to mess with the audio system that I had assembled for myself. She didn't want to turn on my tube amps and let them warm up, and all the other things that might bug her about using my own system. So the improvements I have made to the front end of my system, like the music server that feeds the KEF Wirelesss over my network, won't be available to most users. So my comments ... to a larger degree are irrelevant for most people.

However, I can say this much, and I stand by it. If you have a good front end, the KEF Wireless II can sound very very good, and way better than any system of separates that I have heard for $2800 or for that matter, 2500 English pounds, whatever that is in $ ... what maybe $3300. That's not going to help you determine whether or not you should be a LS50 Series I, but then as I said, I can't really determine what the difference is going to be there. I'd imagine the differences would be the changes to the speaker design itself (which is documented in a number of reviews) and the changes in the amps ... which is probably going to effect the amount of perceivable "headroom" and effortlessness at higher volumes (though it might alter one's perception of tonal quality, which might have been chronicled by KEF reviewer John Darko). And lastly, the addition of MQA for uses like TIDAL and other MQA sources, on which, I think, the jury is still out. But I should mention that when I've listened to Tidal via the KEF, it sounded very nice indeed and almost as good as a local file on the hard drive on the music server, which is saying something! Certainly, it is very listenable via Tidal MQA. Personally, though I think the Qobuz, which doesn't offer MQA sounds very good also. So, I wouldn't think it's MQA or bust.

I hope this helps you a little. But you know, because the entire audio chain was completely different from the listening with the KEF now, blurting out any comparison would only be useless. You need really to find someone who has tested at home and without changing a thing in the chain. And I would, once again remind you, or anyone, that if they are trying to access the quality of the KEF Wireless II that they should have a quality frontend preceding it. Otherwise, you know, "garbage in and garbage out."

 

[Deleted member 196519]

Not in a very long time, and not under the conditions that could allow me to talk about the differences between a series one compared to version two. I say that because I have come to understand that our impressions of speakers, which, let's face it, is at the back end of the system, really depends upon everything that comes before it. Even with the Series II, I can hear differences when switching the cables (not big differences, but enough so that some people would either be critical of them in some fashion), and much larger differences when connecting directly to a LAN connection, especially with a good LAN connection ... like say an Innuos PhoenixNET switch; not that it's an entirely different speaker, but quite different. Of course, when it comes to the actual digital source that I am playing from, and the recording itself, all the of the qualities of the recordings also condition our response of how good we think the speakers are. So those all have to be the same ... if we are going to compare one version against another (not to mention the levels have be the same too). So these comparisons can be made, and people make them all the time. But also, all these differing factors make people's off the cuff comments about a pair of speakers so unfair and also so inaccurate. So I could tell you that I liked the the Series I when I heard it in a store in a room that wasn't right for it, and set up in a place that wasn't idea of it (and sitting in a room also with about forty other speakers in it), and being played through a system which I didn't really know at all. But under those conditions, I couldn't really tell you at all how they compared to the Series II. Well, I could tell you actually, but it would fail to be a good comparison and it wouldn't be worth much, and would be nothing to relay upon.

I am not trying to evade your question. Perhaps you have deal on a Series I and wonder what you are missing. I don't know. If you are a Tidal subscriber or want to be, you'd be missing the MQA. I think the KEF sounds very good listening to Tidal MQA, but then the only way I have heard it is on my main network, which has that Innuos switch, which I feel does help somewhat with the sound quality when streaming. Most people will be buying the KEF Wireless II as their main playback system, so they won't being have an $3000 ethernet switch on their network, right? But in my case, I bought the KEF Wireless II as system for my wife who didn't want to mess with the audio system that I had assembled for myself. She didn't want to turn on my tube amps and let them warm up, and all the other things that might bug her about using my own system. So the improvements I have made to the front end of my system, like the music server that feeds the KEF Wirelesss over my network, won't be available to most users. So my comments ... to a larger degree are irrelevant for most people.

However, I can say this much, and I stand by it. If you have a good front end, the KEF Wireless II can sound very very good, and way better than any system of separates that I have heard for $2800 or for that matter, 2500 English pounds, whatever that is in $ ... what maybe $3300. That's not going to help you determine whether or not you should be a LS50 Series I, but then as I said, I can't really determine what the difference is going to be there. I'd imagine the differences would be the changes to the speaker design itself (which is documented in a number of reviews) and the changes in the amps ... which is probably going to effect the amount of perceivable "headroom" and effortlessness at higher volumes (though it might alter one's perception of tonal quality, which might have been chronicled by KEF reviewer John Darko). And lastly, the addition of MQA for uses like TIDAL and other MQA sources, on which, I think, the jury is still out. But I should mention that when I've listened to Tidal via the KEF, it sounded very nice indeed and almost as good as a local file on the hard drive on the music server, which is saying something! Certainly, it is very listenable via Tidal MQA. Personally, though I think the Qobuz, which doesn't offer MQA sounds very good also. So, I wouldn't think it's MQA or bust.

I hope this helps you a little. But you know, because the entire audio chain was completely different from the listening with the KEF now, blurting out any comparison would only be useless. You need really to find someone who has tested at home and without changing a thing in the chain. And I would, once again remind you, or anyone, that if they are trying to access the quality of the KEF Wireless II that they should have a quality frontend preceding it. Otherwise, you know, "garbage in and garbage out."

Ok. Thanks.

 

[Deleted member 196519]

Back to normal price:

KEF LS50 WIRELESS II Carbon Black The Ultimate Wireless HiFi Speakers

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