Question speakers for electrocompanient eci 80d, better alternative to kef ls50 meta

[janul]

Dear audio enthusiasts,

I have new electrocompanient eci 80d. Currently I am using kef ls 50meta. My issue is that the imaging is so sharp that once the singer voice does not stay on one place during play, actually when the singer changes tonality of his voice, (probably the recording is not that great), it moves sidevise and back and again. To me it is a bit annoing and unnatural. I would like to hear from you about some better speaker recomendation for this amplifier. I would like to have simmilar level of transparency but maybee not that "sharp" imaging. The budget is 2K EUR, but if there is something really special for the price I can invest up to 3K EUR. Single drivers, open baffle is welcomed and a bit more than 85 db would be nice too. Or If any advice how to set kef ls 50meta to dont do that, I will like to hear. Sometimes I hear like different syllables of vocal are coming from different place.

so to summarize,

roomsize; it is 30 sq meters but it is not square shape.

The speakers are positioned in the middle of 6m wall with about 2 meter from each side wall and 1 meter from front wall. So yes listening triangle is aprox 2, 2 , 2

can I somehow set kef ls50 meta to image vices more naturaly? (maybee acoustic pannels between the speakers, I do not know really)

What are your speaker recomendations for electrocompaniet eci 80d?

Thank you in advance

 

[skinnypuppy71]

Neat petite classic are excellent little standmounts with solid imaging.

View: https://youtu.be/Qz9urOOkxME?si=Piv6J8T5p1bHaPsR

 

[Integralista]

Hi

Dynaudio Special 40 will heal your problem.

Electrocompanient is a longterm very good tandem partner for Dynaudio speakers.
Your ECI 80 is not optimal for lets.say big florstanders, but very good 2 way stand speakers are optimum. Big Mac like Electrocompanient ECI 6 MK2 easily drive even Dynaudio Contour 60i at my friend' s house. Just give some min 50 hours to Dynaudio to wake them up. They are really improving with the time. Special 40 are not cheap but solide speakers are never cheap, their pound/kg value is high. Kef LS 50 Mate are very good but for something like Rega Elex etc or Cambridge Audio CXA 81. And try 3-4 different speaker cables. Sound will be changing and you may do a fine tuning.

BR

Juraj

 

[janul]

Neat petite classic are excellent little standmounts with solid imaging.

View: https://youtu.be/Qz9urOOkxME?si=Piv6J8T5p1bHaPsR

Thank you for reminder , totally forgot about them, lets check

 

[janul]

Hi

Dynaudio Special 40 will heal your problem.

Electrocompanient is a longterm very good tandem partner for Dynaudio speakers.
Your ECI 80 is not optimal for lets.say big florstanders, but very good 2 way stand speakers are optimum. Big Mac like Electrocompanient ECI 6 MK2 easily drive even Dynaudio Contour 60i at my friend' s house. Just give some min 50 hours to Dynaudio to wake them up. They are really improving with the time. Special 40 are not cheap but solide speakers are never cheap, their pound/kg value is high. Kef LS 50 Mate are very good but for something like Rega Elex etc or Cambridge Audio CXA 81. And try 3-4 different speaker cables. Sound will be changing and you may do a fine tuning.

BR

Juraj

Thank you, will check those too,

 

[nopiano]

How are the LS50 positioned? If toed in, which is how I liked them, I suggest setting them to fire straight ahead. This will widen the image and may lessen the effect that seems to bother you.

I liked the new small Epos at last weekend’s Bristol Show, and they were under £2,000. I think they are called model 7.

ES-7N – Epos Loudspeakers

epos-loudspeakers.com

 

[James105]

Dear audio enthusiasts,

I have new electrocompanient eci 80d. Currently I am using kef ls 50meta. My issue is that the imaging is so sharp that once the singer voice does not stay on one place during play, actually when the singer changes tonality of his voice, (probably the recording is not that great), it moves sidevise and back and again. To me it is a bit annoing and unnatural. I would like to hear from you about some better speaker recomendation for this amplifier. I would like to have simmilar level of transparency but maybee not that "sharp" imaging. The budget is 2K, but if there is something really special for the price I can invest up to 3K. Single drivers, open baffle is welcomed and a bit more than 85 db would be nice too. Or If any advice how to set kef ls 50meta to dont do that, I will like to hear. Sometimes I hear like different syllables of vocal are coming from different place.

so to summarize,

can I somehow set kef ls50 meta to image vices more naturaly? (maybee acoustic pannels between the speakers, I do not know really)

What are your speaker recomendations for electrocompaniet eci 80d?

Thank you in advance

If I had 2K to spend I'd be looking at Dali Rubicon 5.

 

[janul]

If I had 2K to spend I'd be looking at Dali Rubicon 5.

I was considering rubicon 2 when I had cxa 81. Seems that dali has something to offer based on meny reviews, Imo rubicon 5s are more expensive than 2k arent they. But rubicon 2s for my listening levels would be blast already, bass included

 

[Gray]

How are the LS50 positioned? If toed in, which is how I liked them, I suggest setting them to fire straight ahead. This will widen the image and may lessen the effect that seems to bother you.

I liked the new small Epos at last weekend’s Bristol Show, and they were under £2,000. I think they are called model 7.

ES-7N – Epos Loudspeakers

epos-loudspeakers.com

I like the pictures that I've seen of those Epos - and the fact that they're front ported (I wish more standmounts were).

 

[nopiano]

I like the pictures that I've seen of those Epos - and the fact that they're front ported (I wish more standmounts were).

They’re very clever too - a switch on the back tailors the balance for wall/shelf or stand mounting. Given how often folks want to place close to a wall or on an actual bookshelf it’s surprising this is so rare.

 

[Al ears]

If I had 2K to spend I'd be looking at Dali Rubicon 5.

2k what?
He hasn't specified currency unless I am missing something.
Nor has he mentioned room size etc. So how anyone ca n offer anything other than speakers that happen to be more sensitive, I don't know.....

 

[janul]

How are the LS50 positioned? If toed in, which is how I liked them, I suggest setting them to fire straight ahead. This will widen the image and may lessen the effect that seems to bother you.

I liked the new small Epos at last weekend’s Bristol Show, and they were under £2,000. I think they are called model 7.

ES-7N – Epos Loudspeakers

epos-loudspeakers.com

Epos is new to me, I will definitely check them out as my preference is small speakers.

 

[janul]

2k what?
He hasn't specified currency unless I am missing something.
Nor has he mentioned room size etc. So how anyone ca n offer anything other than speakers that happen to be more sensitive, I don't know.....

EUR/USD make your choice. I added also in to the post. You know, maybee one year I am whatching reviews and if sombody tells me 2K I do not use to hesitate about currency.

roomsize also added i the post

 

[janul]

How are the LS50 positioned? If toed in, which is how I liked them, I suggest setting them to fire straight ahead. This will widen the image and may lessen the effect that seems to bother you.

I liked the new small Epos at last weekend’s Bristol Show, and they were under £2,000. I think they are called model 7.

ES-7N – Epos Loudspeakers

epos-loudspeakers.com

it is 2meter between and listening distance slightly above 2m , aprox 1 meter from front wall, the distance from side walls is 2 meter each, room is big but not square shape, and currently I have them slightly toe in. On Tuesday I will have some time to play with them again, . I had them straight to the room and while it helps, not by much and overall sound is best to me like that. This can change when I add a bit of some accousitcs treatment, will see

 

[James105]

I was considering rubicon 2 when I had cxa 81. Seems that dali has something to offer based on meny reviews, Imo rubicon 5s are more expensive than 2k arent they. But rubicon 2s for my listening levels would be blast already, bass included

Dealers in the UK are selling them for £2000 but you are right they where as high as £2800 at one point which I'd consider in the 2-3000 euro range. I don't think the footprint is really any larger than stand mouted speakers. Of course prices fluctuate from region to region so it can be difficult.

 

[janul]

Dealers in the UK are selling them for £2000 but you are right they where as high as £2800 at one point which I'd consider in the 2-3000 euro range. I don't think the footprint is really any larger than stand mouted speakers. Of course prices fluctuate from region to region so it can be difficult.

3 K is ok, I have read some reviews one them and I remember that overall sound is very good and the bass is strong, I can tell you, I am ok with the bass from ls50 metas , however, eci 80d is not bass "bumped" amplifier so it could be still ok

 

[janul]

How are the LS50 positioned? If toed in, which is how I liked them, I suggest setting them to fire straight ahead. This will widen the image and may lessen the effect that seems to bother you.

I liked the new small Epos at last weekend’s Bristol Show, and they were under £2,000. I think they are called model 7.

ES-7N – Epos Loudspeakers

epos-loudspeakers.com

those seems to be nice, for now I am with neat petit and Epos. Never had chance to give them audition, in Slovakia there is almost no dealer for those brands , but there will be way to give them a try.

 

[Fandango Andy]

Dear audio enthusiasts,

I have new electrocompanient eci 80d. Currently I am using kef ls 50meta. My issue is that the imaging is so sharp that once the singer voice does not stay on one place during play, actually when the singer changes tonality of his voice, (probably the recording is not that great), it moves sidevise and back and again. To me it is a bit annoing and unnatural. I would like to hear from you about some better speaker recomendation for this amplifier. I would like to have simmilar level of transparency but maybee not that "sharp" imaging. The budget is 2K EUR, but if there is something really special for the price I can invest up to 3K EUR. Single drivers, open baffle is welcomed and a bit more than 85 db would be nice too. Or If any advice how to set kef ls 50meta to dont do that, I will like to hear. Sometimes I hear like different syllables of vocal are coming from different place.

so to summarize,

roomsize; it is 30 sq meters but it is not square shape.

The speakers are positioned in the middle of 6m wall with about 2 meter from each side wall and 1 meter from front wall. So yes listening triangle is aprox 2, 2 , 2

can I somehow set kef ls50 meta to image vices more naturaly? (maybee acoustic pannels between the speakers, I do not know really)

What are your speaker recomendations for electrocompaniet eci 80d?

Thank you in advance

Try playing around with the positioning. KEF suggest they should be between 300mm and 1m from the wall behind (measured from the rear of thr speaker) depending on the room. They suggest not to toe them in, but there is no harm in trying.

Also, what are they sat on? Do you have decent stands?

 

[janul]

Try playing around with the positioning. KEF suggest they should be between 300mm and 1m from the wall behind (measured from the rear of thr speaker) depending on the room. They suggest not to toe them in, but there is no harm in trying.

Also, what are they sat on? Do you have decent stands?

Doing that. I didnt see in owners manual the maximum distance from the wall. What I saw is when possitioned over . 0.5 meter the port plugs are not needed. Toing in owners manual is 0 - 15 degrees, which I am somwhere in between. Stands are norstone nothing special but filled with sand did make a change also with cheap speakers. Height is tie on my ears. Yesterday I removed accoustic phoam from the wall behind me and It is better, I do not feel any loose in clarity.
But also added supra dc filter before amp so maybee that does somthing too

 

[nikita5]

Another option to explore could be the Bowers & Wilkins 705 S2. These speakers excel in delivering precise imaging and depth, with a dynamic range that can truly shine when paired with a high-quality amplifier like the ECI 80D. Their detailed midrange and articulate bass response make them a compelling choice for listeners who prioritize realism and nuance in their music playback..

 

[janul]

Another option to explore could be the Bowers & Wilkins 705 S2. These speakers excel in delivering precise imaging and depth, with a dynamic range that can truly shine when paired with a high-quality amplifier like the ECI 80D. Their detailed midrange and articulate bass response make them a compelling choice for listeners who prioritize realism and nuance in their music playback.

Hello, thank you for advise. I am still in process of choosing speakers so I will definitely shortlist those. In the meanwhile I contacted guys from altitudo audio which seems to have quite a bit experience with pairing in general and fortunately they do sell also electrocompaniet. They recomended audiophisics, audiovector, pmc, elipson and triangle. From those I am going to try audiophisics classics for sure. Regarding Bowers I was always very curious.
My actual issue with paring ls50 meta to eci 80d is only vocals. Using speaker cables like my chord epic xl is almost obligatory between kef and electrocompaniet. While this combination performes absolutely phenomenal for listening any complex music, classical orchestra, electronics, when it comes to vocals the recording of singer voice has to be top notch , then everything is ok. The problem starts when there are reverbs, siblings. LS 50 meta has quite a bit of nature of outlining the tones in the soundstage. This results many times that the reverb appears like be unnaturaly placed on a specific place of the soundstage. While I pair it with something like svs amplifier, the problem is much less pronounced. You can hear it but is not that pronounced. Well electrocompaniet while being nicely smooth it has quite a bit of revealing nature. Now Why I was telling this, I will try bowers becouse I like speakers which do image. Maybee they will manage this better so the sounstage will be much more "natural". I belive 706 would be greate enaugh for me dispite tweeter placement is in the case. Thank you for your help.

 

[nopiano]

The problem starts when there are reverbs, siblings. LS 50 meta has quite a bit of nature of outlining the tones in the soundstage. This results many times that the reverb appears like be unnaturaly placed on a specific place of the soundstage.

Your further thoughts are very interesting. My honest reaction is you are reporting the failings in the recording, because your kit is exposing the artificiality of many studio mixes.

Try to hear some unamplified performance live. That might be a choir, a Spanish guitar, a local folk singer, an organ or piano recital. Anything to reset your expectations of natural sound.

 

[janul]

Your further thoughts are very interesting. My honest reaction is you are reporting the failings in the recording, because your kit is exposing the artificiality of many studio mixes.

Try to hear some unamplified performance live. That might be a choir, a Spanish guitar, a local folk singer, an organ or piano recital. Anything to reset your expectations of natural sound.

Will try definitely. If you have some tips for such a recordings I will apreciate, but am going to try find something my self of course.

 

[janul]

Your further thoughts are very interesting. My honest reaction is you are reporting the failings in the recording, because your kit is exposing the artificiality of many studio mixes.

Try to hear some unamplified performance live. That might be a choir, a Spanish guitar, a local folk singer, an organ or piano recital. Anything to reset your expectations of natural sound.

Or did you mean live events?

 

[janul]

Your further thoughts are very interesting. My honest reaction is you are reporting the failings in the recording, because your kit is exposing the artificiality of many studio mixes.

Try to hear some unamplified performance live. That might be a choir, a Spanish guitar, a local folk singer, an organ or piano recital. Anything to reset your expectations of natural sound.

Or coulod be this ok by your opinion?

The World's Greatest Audiophile Vocal Recordings, by Various Artists

12 track album

cheskyrecords.bandcamp.com