Looking for some advice for a full hifi system

[Zerrex]

I am quite new to the world of hifi, and looking for a complete set up that i can use both as pc audio (gaming and movies) as well as streaming over WiFi (preferably tidal). My current set up consists of a ls50 wireless pair and a kef r400b subwoofer. Now the speakers stopped working and they cant seem te be repaired. The subwoofer is still fine and I will definitely keep using it. I got used to the high quality sound and don't want to go without anymore, but at the same time I'm frustrated with the rather low lifespan of my speakers. I guess that's a risk with all in one systems. If I would go with a dedicated amp and passive speakers, keeping my r400b subwoofer, what else would I need? Any suggestions for a complete build? I'm willing to spend up to about 10k euro in total, at least if I can expect a very long life span for the equipment. A 2.1 setup is good enough for me I think. Any help will be much appreciated

 

[skinnypuppy71]

Hi zerrex, sorry to hear about the failure of the ls50's, I nearly bought a pair some years ago, with that budget, your world's pretty much your oyster, although no need to spend as much to get a good quality system, I'm assuming you're going to use your pc as the streamer, if you have lots of music on that, I'd consider getting a roon subscription for streaming along with your tidal subscription, they work very nicely together, you'll need a decent dac to connect the pc to, I'm assuming you'll use a USB connection, I'd probably go for one of the r2r ladder dacs from the likes of denafrips, As for Amplifiers and speakers, you really should go and hear these for yourself at a dealers demo room if at all possible, if not then it'll be a hit or a miss whether you're pleased with whatever you've purchased, Blind buy, I'd go with a Exposure 3510 amplifier and Neats petite classic speakers ( yes! I own a pair and they're excellent, unoffensive sounding speakers) on a set of solid steel stands as the dimensions of the Neats go very well with them.....Good luck on your journey and I'm sure lots of folks will give you more guidance.

 

[Zerrex]

Hi zerrex, sorry to hear about the failure of the ls50's, I nearly bought a pair some years ago, with that budget, your world's pretty much your oyster, although no need to spend as much to get a good quality system, I'm assuming you're going to use your pc as the streamer, if you have lots of music on that, I'd consider getting a roon subscription for streaming along with your tidal subscription, they work very nicely together, you'll need a decent dac to connect the pc to, I'm assuming you'll use a USB connection, I'd probably go for one of the r2r ladder dacs from the likes of denafrips, As for Amplifiers and speakers, you really should go and hear these for yourself at a dealers demo room if at all possible, if not then it'll be a hit or a miss whether you're pleased with whatever you've purchased, Blind buy, I'd go with a Exposure 3510 amplifier and Neats petite classic speakers ( yes! I own a pair and they're excellent, unoffensive sounding speakers) on a set of solid steel stands as the dimensions of the Neats go very well with them.....Good luck on your journey and I'm sure lots of folks will give you more guidance.

Thanks a lot for your reply! I will mostly use my pc as steamer indeed, but I do like the ability to stream directly from my phone, which was a possibility with the ls50s. But I can always buy a streamer later if I feel the need. I will definitely check out your suggestions in detail.

 

[camcroft]

Thanks a lot for your reply! I will mostly use my pc as steamer indeed, but I do like the ability to stream directly from my phone, which was a possibility with the ls50s. But I can always buy a streamer later if I feel the need. I will definitely check out your suggestions in detail.

You say you will use your pc as a steamer.. What for veggies and the likes.

 

[Zerrex]

You say you will use your pc as a steamer.. What for veggies and the likes.

Hah, with cpu temperatures these days it shouldn't be impossible 😂

 

[daytona600]

CABASSE Baltic / Riga / Pearl
Baltic 5 On-wall | 3-way coaxial speaker - Cabasse

 

[skinnypuppy71]

Thanks a lot for your reply! I will mostly use my pc as steamer indeed, but I do like the ability to stream directly from my phone, which was a possibility with the ls50s. But I can always buy a streamer later if I feel the need. I will definitely check out your suggestions in detail.

If your pc is connected to the Internet which I assume it is, you can use your phone or tablet as a remote control with tidal connect and if using roon, it also has a control app with tidal built in, far better than streaming directly from your mobile device.

 

[Al ears]

If your pc is connected to the Internet which I assume it is, you can use your phone or tablet as a remote control with tidal connect and if using roon, it also has a control app with tidal built in, far better than streaming directly from your mobile device.

So forgive my ignorance, but you can't get a Roon app for your phone?
What if he doesn't want to go through the rigmarole of booting up the PC every time?

 

[SteveR750]

Thete is an a mobile Roon app, but it's a controller / satellite. I don't think you can set one up as your core. I could be wrong, so worth investigating perhaps?

 

[skinnypuppy71]

It's a roon control app...it let's you control your music from your mobile device, also Roon arc has recently been released which gives you streaming access to your library on the move from a mobile phone as well as being able to download content from your roon library to your mobile device.

 

[Din5]

Presumably your KEF speaker drivers & crossovers are still ok ? if so you could try opening the speakers, disconnect the crossovers from internal amp, then reconnect the crossovers to an external hifi amplifier ?

 

[Zerrex]

Presumably your KEF speaker drivers & crossovers are still ok ? if so you could try opening the speakers, disconnect the crossovers from internal amp, then reconnect the crossovers to an external hifi amplifier ?

That could actually work. I'll try to figure out how to do that as I know pretty much nothing about hardware. Thanks for the idea

 

[nopiano]

Presumably your KEF speaker drivers & crossovers are still ok ? if so you could try opening the speakers, disconnect the crossovers from internal amp, then reconnect the crossovers to an external hifi amplifier ?

That’s a nice idea, but there won’t be conventional passive crossovers inside active KEF Speakers. I believe much of all of the sound shaping is digital.

I was going to ask @Zerrex how old they are, as I thought the warranty might still be active.

 

[Zerrex]

That’s a nice idea, but there won’t be conventional passive crossovers inside active KEF Speakers. I was going to ask @Zerrex how old they are, as I thought the warranty might still be active.

They're about 4 years old only. But I only had 2 years of warranty.
Can you explain a bit more what you mean with the conventional passive crossover please?

 

[nopiano]

They're about 4 years old only. But I only had 2 years of warranty.
Can you explain a bit more what you mean with the conventional passive crossover please?

Ok, well regular ‘passive’ speakers have crossovers made of physical components. As a minimum, there’s a capacitor to stop the bass reaching the tweeter, but most are more complex than that. The crossover sits on a circuit board inside the speaker, and the speaker terminals connect to that.

In a proper active speaker, like your KEFs, the crossover ‘duties’ are performed in the digital domain - DSP if you like. So there’s no board of components to connect a regular amp to. (There are a few designs that can be swapped, passive to active with modifications, such as ATC’s £10k+ SCM50 but that’s not helpful here)

On the warranty, I’d still ask KEF to see if they might help. It’s worth a call.

 

[nopiano]

Helpful block diagram on page numbered 19 in this KEF document.

https://assets.kef.com/pdf_doc/LS50Meta/KEF-LS50Meta-LS50WirelessII-WhitePaper.pdf

 

[Din5]

That's an interesting document that Nopiano posted above. I see a crossover is illustrated on page 7, so after checking, if these are not damaged perhaps they could still be used.
Alternatively, as first choice, I would phone KEF and explain the situation, maybe they can offer to repair them, or point you to one of their service agents.
I sent a faulty KEF "powered sub" back to KEF, they were very helpful indeed and fixed the problem....... so worth a try as your speakers are high quality and worth the repair.
Let us know how you get on.

 

[nopiano]

That's an interesting document that Nopiano posted above. I see a crossover is illustrated on page 7, so after checking, if these are not damaged perhaps they could still be used.
Alternatively, as first choice, I would phone KEF and explain the situation, maybe they can offer to repair them, or point you to one of their service agents.
I sent a faulty KEF "powered sub" back to KEF, they were very helpful indeed and fixed the problem....... so worth a try as your speakers are high quality and worth the repair.
Let us know how you get on.

That’s the passive version on page 7, so yes it has a regular crossover.

 

[James105]

That's an interesting document that Nopiano posted above. I see a crossover is illustrated on page 7, so after checking, if these are not damaged perhaps they could still be used.
Alternatively, as first choice, I would phone KEF and explain the situation, maybe they can offer to repair them, or point you to one of their service agents.
I sent a faulty KEF "powered sub" back to KEF, they were very helpful indeed and fixed the problem....... so worth a try as your speakers are high quality and worth the repair.
Let us know how you get on.

I had a similar experience with KEF on a Kube 2 sub 6 or 7 years ago, I took the back plate (amp and cover) out sent it to them. I think they charged me 25 quid. Again last year my NAD390 wouldn't power up, officially cant be repaired no boards, sent it to 7Oaks 12 quids worth of parts and £50 Labour.

It's well worth a one call to see if they can be fixed.

 

[Zerrex]

Thanks guys, I just contacted kef and they referred me to a local service center, I'll bring them in and see if they can do something, will probably be for Friday that would save me a lot of money hah

 

[Din5]

Well done, they will be well worth repairing.

 

[Zerrex]

I had a similar experience with KEF on a Kube 2 sub 6 or 7 years ago, I took the back plate (amp and cover) out sent it to them. I think they charged me 25 quid. Again last year my NAD390 wouldn't power up, officially cant be repaired no boards, sent it to 7Oaks 12 quids worth of parts and £50 Labour.

It's well worth a one call to see if they can be fixed.

Sorry to bump this after a while but this worked indeed, I contacted Kef and they redirected me to a service center. Kef is willing to provide the parts and I only pay for the labour costs. Thanks a lot again I guess I won't be going for any new ones for now

 

[nopiano]

Sorry to bump this after a while but this worked indeed, I contacted Kef and they redirected me to a service center. Kef is willing to provide the parts and I only pay for the labour costs. Thanks a lot again I guess I won't be going for any new ones for now

Great result, and I really appreciate the update. It’s very thoughtful to return with this extra insight.