Question KEF wireless setup: your thoughts or anticipated problems

[tbinnington]

Hey all - thanks to the helpful comments on this forum, I'm narrowing in on a new two-room KEF-based audio setup. I wanted to propose it here to see what people thought, but more importantly, to see if there were any foreseeable problems with my idea before I buy. Thank you a whole ton, in advance!

Room 1 (roughly 12' x 12'): KEF LSX Wireless II + subwoofer
- not sure which sub yet
- speakers connected via wire (since wireless only allows 24/48 sampling with the LSX, right?)
- connected to TV via HDMI ARC

Room 2 (roughly 12' x 20', with speakers along the 12' wall): KEF LS50 Wireless II, no sub
- connected to CD player (yes, I want this) via coax input

My main questions:
- Is is easily possible to stream from Tidal on all 4 for multiroom audio (you can mismatch LSX II Wireless with LS50 Wireless II right)? Which set would be the "primary", that receives the stream?
- Is it possible to have multiroom CD audio, using the LS50 as the primary (with the CD input) and LSX as secondary?
- I'm adding the sub to the LSXs because they're smaller and will also use for movie audio. Will the LS50 likely be sufficient without a sub, for Room 2? We have very low ceilings, fwiw.

As you might have gathered, I'm a bit new to wireless and streaming. Coming from vintage world where I played only CDs. Thank you!

 

[nopiano]

I’ve never had such a system, though I’ve heard them at demos and the LS50W sound very good.

Have you considered this recent post?

LS50 ‘wireless’ 🤣😂

forums.whathifi.com

 

[tbinnington]

I’ve never had such a system, though I’ve heard them at demos and the LS50W sound very good.

Have you considered this recent post?

LS50 ‘wireless’ 🤣😂

forums.whathifi.com

Thanks, that's kinda funny

I'm less concerned with wires as I am with separate components on my shelf.

 

[nopiano]

Thanks, that's kinda funny

I'm less concerned with wires as I am with separate components on my shelf.

Do you have a local dealer, because they’d surely guide you on all this? I’m hoping your speakers will get their own stands, especially the LS50.

I’m not a sub expert by any means but I think your larger room would easily cope with a sub too, though I fully appreciate the TV setup will need it if you’re into high impact movies!

 

[RoA]

I owned the LS50 Meta Wireless for about a year. Good speakers with a relaxed sound. The reason I've sold them was it's DSP or more particular, how it dealt with bass. I could never get to make the bass sound natural. If you are using a sub with them you maybe get better results if you cross them over at perhaps 70 to 80 Hertz.

 

[tbinnington]

Uh, can anyone comment on whether this combined LSXII and LS50WII setup would actually work? Thanks

 

[leemccann1]

Hey all - thanks to the helpful comments on this forum, I'm narrowing in on a new two-room KEF-based audio setup. I wanted to propose it here to see what people thought, but more importantly, to see if there were any foreseeable problems with my idea before I buy. Thank you a whole ton, in advance!

Room 1 (roughly 12' x 12'): KEF LSX Wireless II + subwoofer
- not sure which sub yet
- speakers connected via wire (since wireless only allows 24/48 sampling with the LSX, right?)
- connected to TV via HDMI ARC

Room 2 (roughly 12' x 20', with speakers along the 12' wall): KEF LS50 Wireless II, no sub
- connected to CD player (yes, I want this) via coax input

My main questions:
- Is is easily possible to stream from Tidal on all 4 for multiroom audio (you can mismatch LSX II Wireless with LS50 Wireless II right)? Which set would be the "primary", that receives the stream?
- Is it possible to have multiroom CD audio, using the LS50 as the primary (with the CD input) and LSX as secondary?
- I'm adding the sub to the LSXs because they're smaller and will also use for movie audio. Will the LS50 likely be sufficient without a sub, for Room 2? We have very low ceilings, fwiw.

As you might have gathered, I'm a bit new to wireless and streaming. Coming from vintage world where I played only CDs. Thank you!

hi - I dont think you can stream from the speakers to another speaker as such, more that they use the KEF app to stream from a streaming platform to the speakers, so Tidal could be streamed to all the speakers but (i dont think) adding a cd player into the LS50's would pass back out to the LSX, if you had your music on a server then you could stream to all the speakers. Or you can use airplay 2 / roon etc

as for the room set up, not sure which is your primary listening room but id prioritise giving the LS50's the best of it all, I have a monitor audio silver sub with mine but I use in my living room 15x12 and they are better with the sub, not just louder more bass etc just bigger all round sound. That said even without the sub they sound great, somaybe experiment with which is best for you. Ive not heard the LSX so cant comment on what they sound like with or without a sub.

 

[leemccann1]

also im not sure id be that concerned about 'multi room' anymore, when sonos first came out it made sense but with air play and streaming now does it really matter if the speakers 'connect' to each other? if room 2 is for movies as good as the LSX are reviewed would a sound bar (sonos arc) and sub actually be better? depends I guess if you want room 2 to be for music also but if you can only be in one room at once move to room 1 with the LS50's....! just my opinion.

 

[leemccann1]

sorry think I got room 1 and 2 wrong way round but think you get the point

 

[tbinnington]

Thanks both, fair enough. I was hoping there would be a multi-room configuration that didn't necessitate me ripping all my CDs and going the whole network/Roon/NAS route.

Room 1 is for both TV and music, otherwise our existing soundbar would be enough. Room 2 is music only. But when I play music, I just want it to come through both rooms at once.

Lately, I've even been wondering if a set of Audio Pro speakers would better accomplish what I want. There would be compromises on the sound quality, obviously, but wondering if they might be tolerable given the convenience (for example, I could add CD transport to the Audio Pro in one room and have that in both rooms at same time, or, could stream to one room or the other, or both, using their app).

 

[leemccann1]

just to be clear, if you have a streaming platform like Tidal as mentioned the above is possible. Its just the cd source (again not 100%) that you wouldnt be able to play into both. can you not just turn it up?