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

That is an older Denon, but from a time when Denon was making solid, nice receivers.  I had the DRA 625 and loved it.  At the time, I was using it with Polk bookshelf speakers.  It is the type of receiver that Zu Audio says mates well with its Dirty Weekenders.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTZX9FfZF4w


Rich  

Hi. Coaster!  Let me share my LS50 experience with you.

I put together a new system last Thanksgiving timeframe.  I had been without for a couple of years so its really nice to get back into the hobby!

I’ll just get to the point quickly here.  The LS50’s are great speakers; don’t buy them, lol.  They are incredibly hard to drive and as a result, be prepared to spend anywhere between $1500-$2500 on the front end.  I had a McCormack Micro Line Drive, B&K reference 4420 amp, audioquest red dragonfly, jitterbug, analysis plus speaker cables (oval 8?), Rel T9i subwoofer.

I burned the speakers in for 50+ hours.

They do vocals and imaging and acoustic guitars amazingly well but they have little to no bass and on quite a bit material, they sound very very thin.  The Rel T9i did not make up the difference like I had thought.

I’m thinking that someone will chime in and say that they sound amazing hooked up to their pass labs or conrad johnson equipment but I digress.

My advice would be to decide whats important to you soundwise and then put together a system that will be fulfilling to you.

The Passive LS50’s did not play rock music well at allfor me.  3 doors down “the road I’m on” sounded awful.  The LS50’s had no dynamics, zero slam (someone will tell me it was my preamp and that I need a good tube preamp / quicksilver, audio research etc).

Bottom line, I was not trying to buy a $1000 pre, $1500 amp, $800 dac, $800 in cables, just to achieve a sound that was almost as good as the Kef LS50 Wireless ($2200) only without the bass or magical imaging that I am hearing from the Active version.

I decided to sell / return all my gear, pocket $500, and end up with an amazing sound on all types of music while visually getting rid of a laptop, pre amp, amp, speaker cables, interconnects, over size power cords etc. Oh, and now I have remote control over music selection and as bad as the remote is (its bad, lol), its still better than no remote control which is what I had been using for the past 5 years.

So, to summarize, buy the Active LS50’s and selleverything else, OR, buy some speakers that have sound characteristics that you are looking for and that sound good with your Denon. Easy to drive speakers that sound good with a variety of amplification and sound good with Classic Rock should be what you are looking for.  ZU is a good recommendation in that regard.

Buut, if you can swing it, the Active LS50’s are pretty special and a downright bargain considering what you get in a small, neat package.

Good Luck withyour search and have fun! Stressing out, like I often do, will heighten the chances of a wrong choice.  Let your ears be the judge and if it doesn’t sound good to you after your purchase, and after you’ve burned them in, return them and try something else.  Don’t go down the “upgrade everything inorder to make the speakers that you don’t like sound decent” road.

@rar1 thanks Rich. I love the line where Guttenberg says something along the lines of ’Zu isn’t about making speakers that measure well and blah blah blah. Zu is about making speakers that kick a--.’

@b_limo thanks for that review of the LS50s, especially the last bit of advice about not upgrading in an inefficient way. Totally agree with the sentiment. I think overall, and I could be wrong, but the 90watt/ channel Denon DRA-825r amp that I have should be fine with the relatively inefficient KEF LS50s. Its known to be a powerhouse amp. Granted its older, but this thing is intense. Also, I don’t listen to music loud (I can’t - my neighbor is my landlord...) so I think it should work. The wireless set is great, and likely a pretty significant step up, but its beyond my price range at this time.

I don’t have any personal experience with that Denon but it does seem to get good reviews.

The thing is, the kefs will dip to 4 ohms (even 3) at certain freqs. so I think its best to have an amp that definately doubles down in power.  If the amp doesn’t do that, it can sound bright with these already bright / revealing speakers.

It looks like the Denon is rated for speakers 6-16 ohms.  The power looks to be 90 watts at 8 ohms and 140 at 4 ohms.  For comparison, the B&K Reference that I was using is rated at 225 at 8 ohms and 350 at 4 ohms; it was barely enough to wake them up.  

Also, a high effiecient speaker like a ZU will sound far more dynamic and involving at low volumes compared to the passive LS50’s with anything less than something like a Rogue Audio Sphinx or Hegel H150, in my oppinion.

I’m not trying to be argumentative here either so please don’t take it that way!  Just thinking outload :)

I have kept the LS50s for 4-5 months driven by a marantz integrated 8400.  I thought they sounded bigger than they look.  Objectively, I found them even with my Totem Hawks in terms of imaging/soundstaging, detail/transparency/resolution.  I have sold them because the Hawks sounded fuller and bigger, with stronger bass going down to 30Hz.
The LS50s are a very capable speaker, a bargain at the current price, and I would have kept them if I had not the hawks.
I also have tried the UB5.  The UB5 may have more even bass, but they are not near as refined as the LS50s.
Some may have found the LS50s somewhat bright - I did not hear that, but I felt the metal cone sounded fast and clear in the medium while a little over-emphasized, slower in the mid-bass (about a foot from wall and rear-speaker).
If I have the opportunity, I may buy them again.  Hard to beat the qualities of the KEF coaxial for the money.