LS50 and Classical

The KEF LS50 dont produce any bass. So of course they wont sound good. Humans can hear from 20-20khz. Go and look up the range that the LS50 can cover. They are desktop monitors for kids bedrooms. Not serious audiophiles. 

Why not add a subwoofer to get that bottom end.

Yes you need a sub with ls50s to get the whole deal classical or otherwise. Also the newer metas have greatly improved dispersion and do soundstage depth very well. Upgraded to those recently. An upgrade +sub would fit in your price range. I use a Klipsch sw308 sub with mine. KEF is just rolling out a new very compact 1000 watt sub that goes to 20hz and should go well with ls50s for $1500.

If you don’t have room for a sub, I’d suggest Harbeth p3ers or try the Totem bookshelves. There are so many good bookshelves now a days, you’ll get a lot of advice. Those are two brands I have owned and loved, although they sound nothing alike, I could live with either again. Both in your price range. 

Kenjit is wrong.  I was listening to the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th this evening thinking the LS50s sounded very good.  Source was Roon via Ethernet to ultraRendu, Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC, and Ayre A7e integrated.  I have a pair of Velodyne HGS-10s I plan to try with that setup.  A pair of HGS-15 supplements my KEF Reference 1s very nicely.

K quit being an orifice.. Not like you.. :-)

Yes they do sound nice.. I second that. A nice bass set up.. Very nice..

The right speaker in the right size room with a good near field set up..

Doesn't get much better..

Regards

No one has yet asked how big your room is, where the speakers are situated within the room, and where you sit to listen.  All of these are fundamental to achieving a good illusion of depth.  After that, we move on to room treatment.  There are many threads on both these topics.

If you want an excellent smallish speaker with great balance and great bass extension for its size, look no further than any of Fritz's models.  Talk with him about which model to choose.  Again many threads: just search Fritz.

I agree with what was said previously about using the LS50s full range.

I use the original LS50s (sexy red ones 😉) in my bedroom system supplemented by a 12" SVS sub, and the sound is awesome.

My biggest complaint is that I spend too much time listening to music instead of sleeping!

Power comes from a Peachtree Nova integrated, fronted by a Marantz receiver that routes everything under 80hz to the SVS sub, leaving the rest to the LS50s. 

It took me a while to get everything dialed in but now the hardware dissapears. Originally I just used the Peachtree integrated but at moderate volumes the LS50s struggled with the full range signal. 

I'm saving up for one of the Parasound 2.1 preamps and a Purifi power amp. This will be partially funded by selling off the Peachtree. 

Mark


 

To get a good full sound on classical that is not not two dimensional and flat requires a large free standing speaker capable of prodigious output and sound i do not know of any bookshelf model that will play classical correctly except for a full size vintage one with large drivers.

Falcon Acoustics la 3/5a or If you like deeper bass Graham Audio LS6. Both heaven for classical. Cheers Leonarend 

Adding a small sub (Rel T/5i) to augment the low end on LS50s provided a major improvement in my listening pleasure. The increased soundstage (depth, in particular) was significant and, with added body to music, the little Kefs no longer sounded small.

Adding a sub (or two) is highly recommended for anyone with small stand-mount speakers.  

turnbown, I noticed a distinct increase in sound stage when I raised the crossover of the pair of Velodyne HGS-15s that supplement KEF Reference 1s from 40 to 80 Hz.  I was surprised. 

LS50 won't sound good with classical no matter what you do. If you must stay with stand mounts you'll have to add a sub. But I'd definitely get rid of LS50 and replace with Harbeth or Sonus Faber. Alternatively, Focal micro utopia will sound much better than Kef. Here is one from audiogon in your range. Listen to samples on YouTube, you won't regret buying this speaker. 

ei001h166 posts01-24-2021 7:56pm"LS50 won't sound good with classical no matter what you do...."

I'm sure there are many happy owners that would disagree with you.

Count me among them.