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A little Patience sometimes pays off! (Kef LS50 content)

I've been through an number of speakers as we all have.
We read about a certain speaker being this and that and so we buy it only to be underwhelmed and disappointed.
So it"s time to sell and move on to the next thing. Well what I've learned you cannot just substitute speaker A for speaker B and fully expect it to be everything others are raving about. Case in point is the Kef LS50s widely regarded as a fantastic little speaker (Class A by Stereophile's rating). Why is it that so many people like these yet so many people (including myself at first) are disappointed and think they are over hyped. So long story short with the right amp, new speaker cables and pulling these further out from the wall the Kefs are sounding every bit the great speaker most reviews exclaim them to be. Point is (the lesson I've leaned) is to work with what you have for while before changing to the next thing. I'm basically preaching to the Choir here I know but I wanted to share as I am sitting back and really enjoying the music. 
dougsat
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,271 posts
 
Im loving my LS50 wireless’.  I initially talked a friend into buying them and I bought the passive LS50’s.  I just coudn’t get mine to sound as good as the actives, so I returned the passives and went active.  I took them to another friends house and after he heard them he went and bought a pair the next day.  My brother was there and heard them as well.  He’s selling his peachtree nova pre /220 and kef qx5’s to buy a pair of Wireless LS50’s also.

Interesting that the persona came up here too.  I love the Personas!  I listen to them at my local stereo shop whenever I can.  The new premiere series is a nice inexpensive version.

I think Paradigm, Kef and Monitor Audio all have some great products currently in many different price points!
aarons915
2 posts
 
It surprises me that people don't understand that there is a reason why every other manufacturer uses a separate woofer and tweeter. The tweeter is mounted on the woofer, which changes position with signal. There is really no way an LS 50 can sound very good. Think about it, and then listen.

There are pros and cons to a coaxial driver and every system needs to be considered as an overall system, not just 1 component. The LS50 do have small drivers and the excursion needs to be low to sound their best since the cone acts as a waveguide for the tweeter. This is why they really need to be crossed over to a sub to sound their best, if you only have a 2nd order high pass I would cross between 100-120Hz. 

wildfoxinn
69 posts
 
This is why Andrew Jones says the ideal bookshelf speaker is a 3 way, coaxial with a separate woofer. You get the imaging of a coaxial with the woofer handling the bass frequencies which are less directional below 200hz.
yyzsantabarbara
4,463 posts
 
@wildfoxinn Andrew Jones former employer has such a speaker, the TAD ME1 (maybe he was involced in the design). It is an incredible monitor speaker. Too expensive for my pocket but sounds great nevertheless.
wildfoxinn
69 posts
 
@yyzsantabarbara KEF is also Andrew Jones’ former employer, (he really gets around!) They have the Kef R3 and Reference 1.
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