nopiano said:
I'm curious about the relationship between this R100 and the LS50 which seems to share the driver (though a different colour!) and different cabinet appearance. If anyone can highlight the main differences - in sound rather than looks - that would be great.
While they share similarities, they do sound quite different. The biggest difference is the cabinet and reflex port. I believe the engineers were given a free reign to make the best possible cabinet they could in order for the driver to work at its best without interference from the cabinet, which would usually be the case. The front panel (the most important panel) is comprised of two layers and is thicker than usual, and at it's thickest around the driver itself. Extra internal bracing has been drafted in order to reduce cabinet movement as much as possible. Even the port is quite different to the one used in the R Series and the Blade. KEF found that the port itself can produce standing waves, affecting efficiency. Stick your finger in the port and you'll be weirded out - the flare of the port is made of the usual material, but the inside is soft and flexible, in order to absorb these waves. If you tap the cabinet you'd be surprised - it seems even more dead than the Reference models. You can tell by listening to them that the UniQ driver is able to work freely of the cabinet.
Soundwise, they are more like studio monitors. The niceness of the R100's is gone. The R series sound very three dimensional, but the LS50 takes it further, able to project solid images in front of themselves. I use a few albums for demoing speakers - RHCP's Blood Sugar Sex Magic, while not a particularly refined recording, is very impressive in places, with extremely tight snare drums that most speakers just aren't neutral enough to reproduce properly. Dynamically, I'm surprised to say that they outdo the R300's (and many other speakers) quite comfortably.
Also, electric guitars are presented quite differently to most other speakers too. There's only a few other speakers that have done this to my mind - Royd's Minstrel and Miller & Kreisel's S150 satellite speakers are just two that have given me a new perspective on guitars in the past. Very few speakers present to you every note of distorted, grungey guitars, and to hear a track you know very well, only to find that the rythym or solo guitar is almost talking to you in a different language can sound quite odd at first, but once you settle into it you realise that many other speakers aren't giving you what they should be.
While they have pretty impressive bass for their size, these won't reach as deep as my R300's. They are more neutral though, making them a more informative speaker, and one that should be on anyone's demo shortlist who are looking for a small, informative speaker.