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KEF LS50 Need Help

I have been auditioning the KEF LS50 for a week now. Very nice speaker overall and clearly understand why it is so well reviewed. The speaker sounded very poor out of the box and loosened up after about 2 hours and finally started to sing. I have 25+ hours on them now (of course KEF says 100-200 needed????).

The bottom line for me is that they do not have enough bottom end for my taste, and the vocals an high pitch violin, etc. can seem too loud and a bit harsh at times. My gut feeling is the speakers will not change much more from now? This is a reference type speaker in my opinion. I guess there is always a thin line between perfect detail and rich soulful sound. I am looking for both (like most people) with a slant towards the rich and soulful side for me. I am upgrading my dedicated listening system from Klipsch KG4. (not a bad speaker by the way, different league of course)

I am considering two options going forward. ($3,000 budget max and prefer closer to $2,000) I kinda knew I would need a sub when I decided to try the LS50.

1.Try a sub (and soon) before my return window expires. SVS SB it most probable to due generous demo policy. The KEF R400 would be nice to try but cost more than the speakers?? I would consider it if gave me the results I want.

2.Return LS50 and find a suitable floor standing that will not need a sub, like Salk Song Tower ($160 shipping each way- bummer), or possibly KEF R line, or other??

I guess I am hoping for some input from those with similar experiences and the choices you ended up making.

My set-up
McIntosh MC 2150 solid state
Parasound Halo P5 pre-amp
Airport express via Toslink to Preamp DAC
Rotel CD player via digital coax to Preamp DAC

I currently use Tributary A1 Silver RCA cables and Tributary 12AWG Speaker wires. Blue jeans digital cables 14 x 19 room carpeted 75% or the area
torxx
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torxx OP
12 posts
 
I have settled into the speaker / dual subs combo and am very pleased with the results. The set-up is growing on me from a visual perspective as well. The subs really match the look of LS50’s very well (matching piano black finish and the matt black grills on the subs match the front of the LS’s perfectly. I have not found the set-up of the subs to be all that challenging as many suggest. As stated earlier, I have the subs flanking the speakers which works well for me and possibly make the integration easier?? I was running some deep bass tones I found online and was amazed at how deep and clean the sound goes. I was shaking and buzzing everything in the room and the subs did not break a sweat. It really shows how the music source has so much to do with the end result. Any concerns I had about harsh or loud highs have vanished and I do not feel the need to change cables, however, I would like to experiment with some cable changes at some point in the future as my budget has blown wide open.
mapman's avatar
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mapman
15,679 posts
 
Have heard LS50 in larger and smaller rooms and believe the main issue will be the small size and bass response in many larger rooms.

A sub or two properly balanced in should eliminate that barrier.

ls ls 50s are fine speakers but small and laws of physics impose limits. Adding a sub or two should result in very high levels of performance that would be hard to beat otherwise.
torxx OP
12 posts
 
Final update: I did determine that any harshness or listening fatigue I was experiencing was due to room acoustics and the HVAC return vent which causes some ear response when music is playing. I spent some bucks on acoustic panels / bass traps which helped quite a bit, however, did not completely eliminate all issues. The LS50 are NOT harsh sounding at all and they are a fantastic speaker for the money. In the end I in-home demoed the Atlantic Technology AT-1 (idea was to eliminate subs) and The B&W CM-5 and the LS50 out performed them both.

I made the mistake of spending a couple of hours listening to the B&W 805D at a dealers listening room and quickly convinced myself that the 805D is the level of sound quality / realism that I require. Unfortunately The LS50 is not in the same league which is understandable as the 805D retails for $5k. The LS50 and subs got returned and I am at square one.
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