KEF LS50 vs Dynaudio Contour 1.3 MkII vs Thiel 1.6

I don’t know if they are available in the USA yet, but Acoustic Energy just released an active version of their AE1.

DeKay

Dancub,

I had a lot of Bryston gear in the past, 3B-ST, 4B-ST, PP300, 7B-SST, and BP-25 (pre-amp) that are all sold now due to downsizing. I never heard the B60 though I think it is supposed to be smoother sounding that anything I have listed above.

At one time I also had the Thiel SCS4 with the PP300 (essentially a 4B-SST) and it was pretty good. Not as good in near field as the KEF LS50, but pretty good for it’s price in a larger room. Heck I like my KEF LS50 over my prior Revel Salon 1 ($20K speaker) driven by 7B-SST (of course comparison is near-field only). I am also using a very cheap Parasound A23 amp with the KEF LS50.

If you are not crazy for bass then I would recommend the LS50. I have them on my office desktop (on Isoaccustic stands) and it is such an nice monitor for near-field. I will never sell these speakers and will pass them to the next room in the house as I get bigger speakers..

The reason I want to try the Benchmark over the Parasound is that the Parasound is dying and needs replacement. The Benchmark is touted as being measured as the quietest amp in any price range.

yyzsantabarbara  - I had my 1.6 Theils in a near field set up before changing my room and they really worked well. However, it's my home office and listening room and they don't exactly fit on my desk. With my latest rearrangement the space works better but I can't quite do a near field in it.  On the amp side, the B-60 ought to be pumping 120W into the Thiels (4 ohms) but apparently that's not enough.  So my plan, again, is to up the amp power and then go from there.

Funny, when I start getting "the itch" to change things, listening rather than reading reviews has served me best.  When I was much younger, I can remember running thru a bunch of mid-fi speakers based on looking in magazines. Then one day I wandered into a store in Eugene Or and listened to a weird looking set of speakers that sounded amazing.  Turns out they were Maggies and my journey into better sound began.  So it's all ears going forward.

IME, amp choice is as important for the KEF LS50s as it is for most speakers.  I'm using a 175 watt into 8Ω Ayre VX-5 Twenty.  I use two Velodyne HGS-10s low-passed at 100 Hz by a Beveridge RM-3.  The sound with a good SACD played on my Ayre C-5xeMP is superb with great sound staging that can be deep and detailed if it's on the disc.  I admit the Ayre stuff is pricy even used.  I'm using a K-5xeMP preamp, but looking for a used KX-5 Twenty.

db

Well - and this is nod to soix - I just happened to find an amp that's more powerful than my B60 nearby (OK...two hours near) and it's now installed. Bryston 4B SST.   So I've gone from 60w/channel to 300w/channel into 8 ohms.  My Thiels are 4 ohms so they're seeing more I presume. 

I've generally categorized my attempts at upgrades as "nope-maybe-yep". The 4B is a definitely a yep, maybe a YEP-YEP.

Thanks soix, the Thiels are now really paying attention to what's going on.  What's surprising to me is that the soundstage is more distinct...don't understand how that works but not going to argue about it...it works.