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KEF LS50 or Wharfedale Reva 2 -- which would you buy?

Hi all,

I am considering upgrading my speakers and am between the KEF LS50 and Wharfedale Reva 2 speakers. I'm not able to hear either one where I am located so am looking for some input.

I am also able to get the Reva 2s for about half the price of the LS50, but if the KEFs are the right move I am ok spending more time saving for them.

Some notes to consider:

- Speakers will be used only for music, not TV/ movies
- Receiver is an older Denon DRA 825R (90 watts/ channel into 8 ohms). Minimum is 6ohms (please don't suggest I get the UB5s).
- Turntable is Pro-ject Carbon Debut
- Room is about 15x17 apartment living room
- I listen to everything from classic rock to jazz to classical. I don't listen to hip hop, house, or modern pop.

I am really just looking for beautiful sounding (and nice looking) speakers at $1k or less (I can get the LS50 for $1k or the Reva 2s for $450). I live in an apartment so the music is never loud, just looking for great sounding speakers.

The reviews on both seem very good. The LS50 is clearly a more popular speaker. I guess the question there is -- is it worth an extra $550 for me?

Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!
coaster86
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,271 posts
 
“but the compactness of so much trying to project from one area of a speaker design seemed to lose some definition and sparkle.“

...huh?

I too bought my setup from Magnolia, simply because I had to put some on my credit card.  Most employees at Magnolia are clowns and their c.s. Is borderline awful.  Just try getting them on the telephone at the store.  In addition, they have to order most of what I buy there yet they can’t nail down a delivery date and when it does come in, there a 50/50 shot at it being the right product. Do yourself and local community a favor and support your local “mom and pop” hifi store whenever possible.

I am not a B&W fan but I do agree that at Magnolia, they did have more sparkle up top than the kefs.  They were being demo’d through a $2000 integrated Marantz.
coaster86 OP
12 posts
 
@skipskip -- I'm a big fan of the older Denons. Glad to hear you are too. And thanks for the feedback on the speakers.





wim1983's avatar
wim1983
221 posts
 
As a matter of fact, some people prefer the Wharfedale Denton over LS50, try to dig out the discussions from various forums.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
Get something clean sounding that has distinct phrasing.  I've heard Monitor is warm but clear especially the Silver series.
rsure
29 posts
 
@b_limo I had the issues with the KEF LS50 actives just 3 months in (had bought them in March 2017). The first issue was no sound coming from the left speaker. The second problem was a ticking sound from the left tweeter and the last two replacements were because the speakers used to shut-down at higher volumes and would need a restart.

For each of these problems I was given a new replacement unit by the dealer but eventually I told them to just give me a refund. BTW I had also purchased 2 additional years of a dealer warranty but was really fed up of not having a system to listen to so often.

I did met with some regional KEF staff who the dealer had put me onto and they just told me they couldn’t figure out why this was happening and they hadn’t been experiencing such issues elsewhere. 

They did did mention that it could be because of a power supply issue but the dealer did visit my house to check and said that was not a problem and also I haven’t had issues with any other elcectronic devices at my place.

Anyways, I hope you have better luck with your unit and maybe worthwhile to consider adding to your warranty if that’s possible.
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