I picked up a pair of the LS50s (took a month for the back-order to be filled!) but the amps at the place where they were sold were a bit too rarefied in their audiophile quality and price-point.
So I bought on review data and trudged the LS50s to another place, and tested them with the Naim Unitilite, NAD C390DD, and the Peachtree Nova 125. I would have liked to have tried out the Rega Brio-R, but it was not carried at the store.
The disclaimer here is that I had not broken in the speakers at all. My old receiver was not even close to powerful enough to drive these speakers, and the music sounded truncated and tinny.
The Unitilite was effortless and clear, but I felt that the precision and detail it got out of the speaker was a bit too clinical for me. While exactness and precision are highly desirable for some, it was too clean for my tastes.
The NAD was warmer with a bit more bass and a chunkier midrange sound, but it still felt clinical. There was a slightly fuller soundstage, which I liked.
The Peachtree Nova 125 seemed to hit the sweetspot for me. The vocals were warmer and the room filled up with more bass, a treble that was less sharp in the higher ranges, yet was still clear and if less crisp than the other two receivers... still, it was on the crisper side of the soundstages I'm used to.
My take is on this speaker is that it does in fact need a powerful amplifier, as many have said. It is also really crisp and clean, as the "reference" moniker would suggest. So much so that if you pair it with an amp that is also similarly tweaked (or untweaked, as you see it), then you may end up with a completely reference-grade sound. I like colour, softness, and some rounding of the edges/fulness, which the Peachtree tube seemed to add wonderfully.
Of note, the fellow in the store was kinda pleased to be listening to the LS50s. He suggested that the only sub in the store worthy of these speakers (and in my price-range) was the Totem Storm. The speed and clarity of the speakers demanded a sub with the kind of speed of response that this sub offered. The music (ranging from jazz to classical to deep house) seemed to have an outer envolope of sound that added to the experience. The LS50s, in my opinion, need a sub. Oddly, the sound from the sub seemed to be just "outside" of the sound that the speakers produced. Like there was a small space between the bass and the music. The sub connected via pre-outs.
I expect that the speakers, which still have a slightly "boxed in" sound, will open up with hours of listening. Or perhaps I am simply adjusting in part to a higher quality of speaker that does less of the work for you.
Set-up: I have put the speakers on shelves, probably about 6-8 inches from the back wall. Not ideal, but it's the space I've got. The speaker wires are XLO HT PRO. Probably overkill, but there are a lot of wires running around, and I figured the shielding was necessary. Otherwise it's all digital where possible.
The next step is to set up a NAS drive. It is bloody difficult in Toronto to find a company that knows their stuff on computer networking. I'm thinking of going with the Sonos Connect (zp90) and then either getting an external HD or using my Time Capsule. I want to get rid of iTunes, yet still control all transfers from a laptop/iphone. More thread-reading
These threads were super-helpful in coming to an understanding of the speakers and potential amps, so thatnks all!
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